The most valuable things in life are priceless. They are courage, compassion, wisdom, respect for ourselves and others, and a host of characteristics that we call the beauty of the human spirit.

You would not exist if you did not have something to bring to the table of life.

The music becomes something that is its own entity.

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.

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.

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.

It pulled me like a magnet, jazz did, because it was a way that I could express myself.