My ego is controlled enough that I don't have to be the focus.

You have to be concerned with yourself because if you're not on it all the time, nobody else is going to be.

Being stubborn has helped, being selfish is not a bad thing.

One of the advantages of not having a record contract is that you can make your own mistakes, you don't need somebody else to organize them for you.

As much as I think John Coltrane belongs on the list, I think without Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, both of whom defined improvising on the tenor sax, there would not have been the evolution of the craft by John Coltrane.

My ego is controlled enough that I don't have to be the focus.

You don't have to live the blues to play the blues.