I remember Art Blakey saying to me, "Just remember, we're blessed to do what we do."

I just think that I associated music with something that was healing and transformative as a kid.

The light went on when I heard Phil [woods] play, and I went like, "That is why I'm playing the instrument." So I got very inspired, I started going to clubs through a friend's mom in the city, again, another person who just completely opened all these doors for me and it was amazing how kind she was.

Life and success are about what you choose to believe.

Particularly, in my situation, I needed a way out of where I was. So music was that.

The goal in life is to live young, have fun, and arrive at your final destination as late as possible, with a smile on your face.

I wasn't expecting [the Monk competition] would necessarily do that. So I just did what I did and some good things continued to happen and some doors continued to open and that kind of led me into the different associations that I developed in my 30s and some records that I've made on ArtistShare over the last 10 years or so.