As a melody instrument player, it's all about getting from one note to the next, and those intervals and how you navigate your way through these vertical structures of chords. You realize that everything's moving forward and it's all linear.

Music is just kind of an expression of who I am. It's what I do.

Jazz music by its very nature is just a conglomerate of a lot of different kinds of music.

You're only as good as your last record.

To me, the object of practicing is to allow you to play what you hear. But you're always hearing new things, so you never get to the end of it.

Its all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave well enough alone. And that's a lifelong quest.

Jazz music should be inclusive. Smooth jazz to me rules out a certain kind of drama and a certain tension that I think all music needs. Especially jazz music, since improvising is one of the cornerstones of what jazz is. And when you smooth it out, you take all the drama out of it.