The juxtaposition of words - the color, feeling, and sound of the words together - has as much to do with the story as the narrative itself does.

In some of the L.A. clubs, people can act too cool to get into your music. That can get to be a bit much.

I had sort of exhausted all the avenues playing in Detroit. So again, through the stewardship of my brother, I ended up in California and went to the Musicians Institute in L.A. I wanted to get better as a player.

I feel like in order to challenge yourself you have to get out of and do things that feel wrong at first and find new things. It's important to look for those things.

Jazz can be so serious, no sense of humor.

Playing well with others is important - not being too flashy, just keeping good time and of course coming up with cool beats. A good snare drum, kick drum, high hat. Just getting good at the hand feet coordination.

I'm a musician. It's what I do! I wouldn't be too good at anything else.