That's what my life is, writing songs.

In cities like New York and Austin, there's much more of a social context for music than in other places.

I want to get lean and mean, keep it minimalist.

Even if you're improvising, the fact that beforehand you know certain things will work helps you make those improvisations successful. It really helps to have a certain amount of knowledge about musical structure.

What I enjoy most about being on stage is that the natural instruments give you a greater freedom with texture. When you use natural instruments they have their own resonance.

The avant-garde makes more sense to me.

People sort of know me for that solo piano music I did.