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

You're only as good as your last record.

I look at the artistic process as like experiencing the world, channeling it through your personality and sending it back out there. That's the process.

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

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.

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.

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.