Jo Reed: Even though you’re known as a jazz drummer Tootie, in fact, you’re attracted to wide swathes of music and play music from around the world.

Tootie Heath: Yes, I do. And this is what I want to say about jazz and the honor of having been chosen as a jazz master. You become a jazz master by opening yourself up to other cultures and other music from around the world. Once you learn something about other cultures and especially if you're a drummer, you should know drums from all these different rhythms around it. The Latino people have their own type of rhythm, the reggae, the Jamaican reggae beat is also different. The Swing rhythm is also different. So you have all of these different genres and then they're all identifiable with a culture that goes along with it so that's what I like to say, the reason why I like to thank jazz, because it led me to all these other types of music that exist.,/p>