Don't be a perfectionist... leave that to the classical musicians.

Do you think Duke Ellington didn't listen to Debussy? Louis Armstrong loved opera, did you know that? Name me a jazz pianist who wasn't influenced by European music!

Jazz stands for freedom.

Kinship doesn't come from skin color. It's in your soul and your mind.

If I told you all the people that have secretly told me I've influenced them, you'd never believe it, and you'll never see it in print, either.

There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play which is dangerously where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before.

It's like a whole orchestra, the piano for me. And also it's to me the greatest instrument. I shouldn't say that, but I believe that this is the only instrument I can really feel happy about playing.