I see what you’re saying; when you’re in front of President Obama and everything…

That’s the biggest thing you can do, and this is what’s up? Come on, man.

Is there any interest in them to do something again with you?

I have no idea. Let me tell you something, man. The world is so weird. Like I want to tell you something. When I heard Bobby McFerrin the other night… WBGO played him for about an hour. This new thing he has with voices… it’s very pleasant.^[16] I love Bobby McFerrin. But ever since he made “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” it’s like he got lost. In other words, they don’t know what to do with him. I mean, he’s probably making much more money than me; he’s more prestigious. I see him on Channel 13, and so on and so on. But…. I don’t get it. He’s probably got a good manager that keeps him in things and the money comes in and the gigs that he gets are top notch. That’s the story of my life. Everything I do is great! I just don’t do a lot. You know, I’ve got a great family, I’ve got a great wife, I’ve got a house… I’ve got everything. I eat. You know what I mean? I’m not sick.

The thing about it… I would like to do much better just for my horn’s sake, and I love my horn so much. And I’m hearing things that’re so beautiful and I don’t have the enthusiasm to go out like I used to and be at everybody’s space and do everything. I don’t feel like that. That’s missing out of me. But, I’m not angry with anybody. I’m not jealous of anything. I just miss what’s in my horn not being able to… not getting more enthusiasm to want to do more. I don’t have a soul mate. My last musical soul mate was John Patton.^[17] I don’t get that every day… I miss that. Tony [Williams] was a soul mate of mine, before he went with Miles. Me and Bobby [Hutcherson] were soul mates. Beaver Harris became a soul mate.

What about Jackie McLean?

Jackie was a big, beautiful golden feather in my hat. We did everything in a very short period of time. He was one big, gigantic golden feather that came along. And he made people respect me. He made me his music director and anywhere we played or Blue Note, he made them really respect me. He said: “This is my music director.” He didn’t worry about nothin’; he just let me run the music. And everywhere that we played he made people give me respect. No other musician has ever done that. Been big enough to love me like that, to put themselves second. He knew how big he was. That was just his love. That was really pure love. But see, that only happened a short period of time, and he had to get back to his business because that was my thing.^[18] He was smart enough to know okay, I can’t do Grachan’s thing for the rest of my life. I have to get back to do my thing. But he left me with something. It’s just unfortunate I didn’t have the substantial guidance with people with power to guide me right, you dig? I’ve got my wife. My wife and I are partners now, but she’s not a jazz artist. She’s an artist, she’s a musician, she’s a poet.

Was she a teacher in Newark?

Yeah, she’s retired. She been retired for about three years now. From Louise A. Spencer; she taught the Gifted and Talented students for about twelve years.

How long have you been married?

Forty-something years. Her and her mother, before her mother passed, what I have… me and wife got it together. Like I showed you the record. She put the graphic stuff. She’s the business director and I’m the artistic director for our businesses.

How many children do you have?

Six. And they’re all very successful. They’re very supportive. My mother said my six children are my first six million dollars. And it’s becoming pretty true. In a sense. They all worked very hard; they knew they had to work hard. We gave them a good foundation; they all went to all private schools — middle school and high school — and after that they were on their own; they all got scholarships and finished college. You know? So, you know, and they’re all very close. They’re all doing their thing, but they check-in at home.

I feel like I’m very successful in a very strange way. I can do what I want to do. I just don’t have as much activity as I would like to have to keep me feeling the way I really want to feel, but hey, I’m nearly a hundred, man [laughs]. I’m seventy-four. I’m feeling great. I realize that, uh, I could have done a lot more for myself. That’s what I realize. And I think my attitude gets in the way sometimes because I did so much so fast. You know, I don’t really have the energy or the enthusiasm to do it that way again and I don’t think I should have to.

You were in your twenties when you did Evolution?

I was twenty-six. So, you know, those two and everything else, the BYG, everything that I’ve done has really carried me all this time. I mean to the point where… that’s the other thing I can’t understand. When I see my musical statements, I can’t understand why people don’t want to hear me.

I don’t understand it, either. That’s part of why I want to write this book.

It just seems very strange.

Well, let me ask you this… do you think any of this has to do with the fact that you’ve been in Newark? Because Newark has been in a state of decline.

It probably has a lot to do with it. And I’m looking forward to getting out of Newark very soon. I’ve been here too long to not have visited my family in Florida, for example. I have plans in December to go away for a while and visit my brothers down in Florida and kind of speculate and see what’s going on there, in South Beach. If I find something substantial. I mean, I can do anything. My wife wouldn’t care if I went to Timbuktoo if I could get some work and be happy. She’d be happy. So, I have her support with that. I need a good agent. I need somebody that… like you! Yeah!