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.

I'll just sit at the piano a lot an play like through different chord exercises and kind of just throwing my hands down on the piano from one chord to the next to see what happens.

Ninety-nine percent of the music that was of any interest to me when I was growing up came out of the black community.

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

My name is on the thing, but the reality of it is, when I get up there on stage, I'm part of a band. I'm part of a unit. It's like a basketball team.

I think 'Horace Silver' was actually the first live jazz group I ever heard back when I was a kid in St. Louis. So along with most players of my generation, I have a real affection for the music of 'Horace Silver.

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.