Randy Weston on traveling.

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Randy Weston on the meaning of 'jazz'.

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Randy Weston on first hearing Thelonious Monk.

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Transcription

Q: “Can you recall what you first thought when you heard Monk?

A: Randy Weston: “If I very well, I thought he couldn't play the piano. I said, "This guy can't play very well, you know." But I said he's with Coleman Hawkins, so something is happening, and the first time I heard ‘Ruby My Dear’, I heard Coleman Hawkins play it with Monk, you know.”

Interviewer: “Yeah.”

Randy Weston: “And something made me go back and when I heard him play again, I suddenly realized that he was into a direction that I wanted to go in and I was unconsciously searching for, you know, to have that kind of rhythmic freedom when you're playing the piano. The piano is also a percussion instrument, you know, and has many colors and shadings you can get on the piano and Monk opened the door for me. So when I had enough courage to go and speak to him, he invited me by his home, and he never gave me a piano lesson ever, but he gave me piano lessons in so many ways just being around him. You know, he was a great, great teacher.”