AFRICA. Birds, whales, WATER, wind, unflinching sincerity, loyalty, unbelievable acts of courage, astronomic phenomena; my Dreams, the SUN. The indelible harmonic alignment of Billy Strayhorn, the warm, smiling face of Billy Higgins, the easy genius of my daughter; the country grammar of Master Juno Lewis, the MOON... Dianne Reeves, Amel Larrieux, GHASEM Batamuntu, my GREAT Aunt - Frances Waller, Phoebe Snow, Zamzam, THE HOLY TRIUNE - Rita, Judy, and Marcia - also known as The I-Threes, The Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra and the Great Voice of U.G.M.A.A. (Union of God's Musicians and Artists' Ascension) - under the Supreme Leadership of Horace Tapscott, Dwight Trible, Natalie Cole, Stevie, Hawai'i Nei, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Rage, David Hugo Boarman (9/0) R.I.P, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Nancy Wilson, Ishmael Reed, my GRANDfather - William I. Lee, Jr., Robert Nesta Marley, Sarah Vaughn, James Baldwin, Boston & Shena - THE MuthaWit Experience, ISAAC Smith, Cheik Ante Diop, Chinua Achebe, Octavia Butler, Flora Purim, McCoy Tyner, Matt Lavelle, Surrealist Will Alexander, Clifford Brown, Dadesi Komolafi... the knowledge that I am a part of this grand experiment...