Not with the Rochester Philharmonic, but I formed my own orchestra, made up of musicians from the Eastman School, where I'm on the faculty now, direct the Jazz Ensemble and teach improvisation classes.

There's not much in the way of written-down arrangements - just things that Gerry and I have worked out, from playing spontaneously together and hanging on to whatever seems to fall in right.

Whether it's string writing or whatever, I try to write for what each instrumentalist can do best.

In 1994, I started touring again and I recorded two albums for Chesky Jazz.

I can count on one hand the number of instrumental hits there have been over the last 10 years.

I do not mind having written the song at all. I just wish that I had written it in a different key, as the high d is hard to play. I am glad that I wrote something that brought joy to millions of people.

I was blessed to work with The Jazz Messengers when the two piano players were Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea.