It's part of my nature. I get excited when trying out new stuff, whether it be an idea or equipment. It stimulates my juices.

You can change your character and, at the same time, change your fortune.

Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept. He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were.

The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.

When I was in my early teens, I remember coming to the conclusion that your life never ends.

I don't view myself as a musician anymore - I view myself as a human being that functions as a musician when I'm functioning as a musician, but that's not 24 hours a day. That's really opened me up to even more perspectives because now I look at music, not from the standpoint of being a musician, but from the standpoint of being a human being.

It's not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.