Alan Menken, for example, is one of my heroes for all of the music he's written for Disney.

Barry Manilow is a guy who's had a tremendous longevity that few have had in the music business. I'm in awe of what he does.

You have to be willing to get back on that horse and try it again if the mood strikes. That was one of the great pieces of wisdom that I got early on in my career in terms of being blocked. If you get to a creative roadblock, you can sit there and rack your brain.

The collaboration wish list is huge, very long. It goes from people like Elton John, for whom I have an unbelievable amount of respect, to Snoop Dogg, whom I also respect a great deal.

I think that there have been times, especially with writing songs, where you sit in a room with somebody, and they could be a very well-respected songwriter, but for whatever reason, the chemistry is just not right.

That's the beautiful thing about the saxophone. It can peacefully coexist with just about anything - whether it's hip-hop, rap, rock music, pop, R&B or jazz, there's a place for the saxophone in all of those styles.

I feel like collaboration in music has allowed me to grow musically beyond my wildest dreams.