One of the greatest attributes of jazz, I think, is that it is that open.

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

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

There's so much spontaneity involved, what do you practice? How do you practice teamwork? How do you practice sharing? How do you practice daring? How do you practice being nonjudgmental?

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

Getting the Oscar had the biggest impression on me.

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.