I have been doing music all my life so everyday when I get up I expect music will be part of it.

Of course we've lost so many superstars who've made jazz what it is. We've lost so many musicians who created new things and changed the way we think about music and who took jazz to a new level. So jazz is suffering from that. But we still have a lot of incredible people playing jazz in the world. We have a lot of people leading the way.

The melody is the most important thing that must stay in the minds of the people who listen to you. No matter how many notes you play, you can't let them forget what the song is.

I spent a lot of time teaching myself theory and harmony so I could be free to express myself on the instrument.

No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my dignity.

You might not feel like playing pretty all the time. Instead, you might want to play something nasty....you might want to play something out of context with the tune. It might be a note that creates so much tension it becomes unpleasant, but you want it to sound that way.

The greatest guitar player in the world today for me is Paco de Lucia, who is actually Spanish.