"It's very important to [understand] where jazz comes from and [what] makes it so important as an art form," he later added during an interview with Seven Days at a downtown Burlington café. "We're creating for the sake of creativity. That's why we do it. What are we capable of in a positive way?"

The Brian McCarthy Nonet performs The Better Angels of Our Nature for the second time on Friday, August 18, at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro.

Read more on the Seven Days website.

Brian McCarthy is an affiliate artist at the University of Vermont, where he teaches private lessons for classical and jazz saxophone.