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.

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

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

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.

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

I've made more than 50 records with a wide range of music. I've often veered to check something out.

There are a few things that I will hopefully be credited for as a pioneer. One is my four-mallet playing. Another one is the starting what was first called jazz rock in 1967 when I started my first band, later became jazz fusion by the 1970s.