So much of what I create has been due to the influence of Miles Davis and Donald Byrd, and so many of those that have passed on. Their music, their legacy lives on with the rest of us because we are so highly influenced by their experience and what they have given us.

While knowledge may provide useful point of reference, it cannot become a force to guide the future.

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

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.

All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.

I'm very conscious of the idea of trying to each time present something that I haven't presented before. It's a challenge to me to find something new, to find something innovative, but it's also very exciting.

We need to move into a culture of peace. What I hope to promote is the idea that we all need each other and that the greatest happiness in life is not how much we have but how much we give. That's a wealth that's priceless. You can't buy compassion.