I had the classic 40 meltdown. I did. It's embarrassing. It was pretty funny. But then I recovered. To me it was like a second adolescence. Hormonally my body was changing my mind was changing and so my relationship to myself and the world around me came to this assault of finiteness.

Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise and take chances and don't be a perfectionist - leave that to the classical musicians.

I had spent many years pursuing excellence because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom and that was far more important.

America is a such a melting pot I'm not sure if roast chicken is the classic comfort food for everybody.

This June I'll travel once again to the Food and Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen Colorado. For many years my dear friend Julia Child and I have teamed up to teach classes together at the event for the past seven years my daughter Claudine has been my cooking partner on stage.

You have to know the classics if you want to cook modern food.

I love inventive food but I want the classic dishes to taste like how I remember them. I get a little bummed out when there is too much fancy stuff going on and it doesn't resemble the original dish at all.

I don't buy into any of that hogwash. They put that out to sell tickets. It's just a classic horror movie with the Greek drama formula of good versus evil and lots of fear.

I used to be a classic workaholic and after seeing how little work and career really mean when you reach the end of your life I put a new emphasis on things I believe count more. These things include: family friends being part of a community and appreciating the little joys of the average day.

Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.