But if you listen to great piano players, both classical and jazz, theres a huge range of dynamics and colors and emotional expression thats possible with the instrument.

Most people learn to improvise on their own, listening to records, endless hours of noodling on their instrument in the bedroom with all their spare time. That's traditionally how people learn.

Certainly one of the more common experiences in the jazz field is discovering someone new. Improvising musicians are capable of being musical travelers, voyagers. We want to join in on whatever we hear. There is a freedom to wander the musical landscape.

It hasn't been hard getting nominated, but winning it is another thing. The competition is tough.

Improvising musicians are musical travelers, voyagers. There is a freedom to wander the musical landscape.

I grew up in a farm town in Indiana. In the early years I played by myself, because there were no other musicians around.

I think I always have been someone who likes to push at the edges of things, looking for something different.