So I didn't actually change my name the way some people did.

I'm aware that a lot of what is happening in jazz has not had a very dynamic change in a long time.

It's part of life to have obstacles. It's about overcoming obstacles; that's the key to happiness.

Jazz is a music that is open enough to borrow from any other form of music, and has the strength to influence any other form of music.

If you're not judging what happens, then you're trusting what others are doing, what you're playing, and trusting what you're playing.And it can lead you to other ideas, to something maybe you hadn't expressed before.

When a human being is oppressed, the natural tendency is to feel anger. Jazz is a response to oppression that is not bullets and blood. Jazz is the expression of harmony ... and at the same time of hope and freedom.

The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.