Barbara Carroll is one of the first great lady jazz pianists. She's totally American on the inside, whereas Marian McPartland, who is also brilliant, is British-born so she had to acquire a feeling for the music.
But life is tough and if you're creative, it's tougher.
Even in today's opera world, the position of the black tenor is problematic.
I admire Simon Rattle's way with the orchestral works by Szymanowski, which are really fascinating.
I also had the great pleasure of hearing Maurizio Pollini play Debussy - not one hackneyed piece did he play.
I heard Metropolitan Opera broadcasts every Sunday, as well as orchestral concerts from New York, Chicago, and other cities.
I link them together myself, but Robeson was many, many different things. He possessed a brilliant instrument, but did not do much opera.
I listen constantly to classical music and I find that stretches my imagination.
I listen constantly to classical music and I find that stretches my imagination. I listen to some contemporary and even cutting-edge things.
I was very young at the time, and I mainly appreciated their vocal qualities, even though I was already living as they did - as black performers in a white world.
If you try to do that in pop music - to play only rare show tunes, for example - people don't come.
Once in a while, I try to sneak in something less known anyway.
Strayhorn was certainly inspired by many modern classical composers like Delius, Debussy, and Ravel.
Think of the brass it must have taken for Marian Anderson and Roland Hayes to sing programs of German lieder in Salzburg in the 1930s.
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