I just think music is so intrinsically linked with images in the culture that we live in that youll be hard-pressed to have an experience with the music without a preconceived notion.

I fear that I won't get better and that I won't have time to practice. To be called a "jazz musician" - it's a big responsibility.

For what I can imagine and feel and think and hear, I can hardly do anything on the acoustic bass. It used to be just pure frustration of imagining so much more and being able to get to a certain level of execution.

Up-and-coming musicians can easily reach out and find a loving teacher, and that's definitely what happened to me.

I did grow up in a rough neighborhood in Portland, which is an abstract concept for anybody who's rolled through Portland because now it looks like a TV set, literally.

You can grow up with literally nothing and you don’t suffer if you know you’re loved and valued.

There's the juiciest music that makes me so happy, music that I need on that deserted island when I'm stranded for the rest of my life, and nobody cares that it's there.