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.

Creativity and artistic endeavors have a mission that goes far beyond just making music for the sake of music.

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.

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 about being in the moment.

I've been curious ever since I was a little kid.

Nobody told me I was a child prodigy.