It is appropriate and touching that John is so appreciated, as shown by all these tributes.   There may be hope for our civilization after all!

John was a jewel of a gentleman who lived in a world in which it was very difficult to be a gentleman, white or black, rich or poor. Like another earlier hero, he showed us how.

You ask how I know?   I was privelaged to record him in April 1963 in Annapolis, Maryland for a couple of days.