Most people define themselves by what they do - 'I'm a musician.' Then one day it occurred to me that I'm only a musician when I'm playing music - or writing music, or talking about music. I don't do that 24 hours a day. I'm also a father, a son, a husband, a citizen - I mean, when I go to vote, I'm not thinking of myself as 'a musician.'

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.

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.

Buddhism has turned me on to my humanness, and is challenging my humanness so that I can become more human.

I like the idea of an eclectic approach, incorporating jazz with other forms and other genres of music.

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.

I never dreamed I would be a Goodwill Ambassador, and for UNESCO. Perfect organization. It is apolitical and it's about education, science and culture. I mean that is what I live. That is what UNESCO is really about; it's all about bringing human beings together with one common goal, which is to move human kind forward.