You know, being America, being the land of "number ones", everyone wants to be a leader before they follow.

Everybody talks about finding your voice. Do your homework and your voice will find you.

The way to learn the language is to rip off other players. As Benny Golson told me, "We all start off sounding like other cats. And gradually, a lick here or there,we start to sound like ourselves. But it takes a long time to do so..." That'swhat he told me, and it worked for me.

I like to make records sound good. I'm more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what's the point?

One of the things that I loved about listening to Miles Davis is that Miles always had an instinct for which musicians were great for what situations. He could always pick a band, and that was the thing that separated him from everybody else.

My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.

I gave up my base in popular culture when I left the Tonight Show.