It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story.
“My teachers treated me as a diamond in the rough, someone who needed smoothing.”
“As long as your intention is pure, and you know what you're in it for, then you're alright. And I'm in it because I enjoy it. I take it seriously... real seriously. I mean I could sit and talk all day about the music.”