It’s up to the surgeon to caption or define what he or she is doing. So, I think it’s up to the musicians to define — there are many definitions of jazz that are unacceptable in the dictionary; unacceptable. There’s a piece of software out there called Jazz, it has nothing to do with music. I’m not paranoid about the term — what we’ve done is sophisticate it; a word that meant nothing. But now you find that it’s attracting thousands and thousands of people from all over the world to study this great art form. It’s American classical music, that’s what it is in my opinion. That’s my opinion. That’s my take on it.

And when did I coin the phrase? Back in 1982 when my wife produced a record called American Classical Music at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. That’s what it’s called. Now it’s a collector’s item. If you want to pay $300 or $400, you can send me a check, or send my office a check, and I will send you a copy. It’s a collector’s item now; American classical music. That’s when I coined the phrase.