I hope that I can make good music out of whatever genre I go into. Just to prove to myself that I can.

I got a chance to work with Miles Davis, and that changed everything for me, 'cause Miles really encouraged all his musicians to reach beyond what they know, go into unknown territory and explore. It's made a difference to me and the decisions that I've made over the years about how to approach a project in this music.

You can practice to attain knowledge, but you can't practice to attain wisdom.

One thing that sticks in my mind is that jazz means freedom and openness. It's a music that, although it developed out of the African American experience, speaks more about the human experience than the experience of a particular people.

I don't mind being classified as a jazz artist, but I do mind being restricted to being a jazz artist. My foundation has been in jazz, though I didn't really start out that way. I started in classical music, but my formative years were in jazz, and it makes a great foundation.

So in other words, we were constantly challenged to grow, and thats what a master does.

I started off with classical music, and I got into jazz when I was about 14 years old. And I've been playing jazz ever since.