Jazz Great Jimmy Heath, 90, Still Going Strong

2017 is the 100th anniversary of the first piece of recorded jazz. And to James Edward "Jimmy" Heath, jazz is life, and life is jazz. He plays sax and flute and also composes and arranges music.
And what a life Jimmy Heath has lived -- all 90 years of it. He has spent 50 of those years living in an apartment in Queen. And he has played that saxophone of his -- the brass worn down from decades of use -- with just about everyone: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis Clark Kelly Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Benny Golson, and others.
Now a National Endowment for the Arts jazz master, Jimmy got his start way back in the 1940s. In 1975, Jimmy and his brothers formed the Heath Brothers band, which has endured through decades, making them one of the most important jazz families.
Even now, the Jimmy Heath Big Band is in demand. During our interview, he took a call and had to turn down a gig at the Blue Note because he was already booked.
Does he ever think about retiring?
No. Music is life, and life is music, he said. If he weren't talking to Fox 5 for the interview, he would have been on his computer writing big band music.
--DAN BOWENS
Produced by Peter Facini, Fox 5 News Managing Editor