When I got to Performing Arts, within the first week, a few days, Bill Charlap walked in and couldn't read music but he's playing all these solos from Keith Emerson of ELP, and Rick Wakeman from Yes. Real impressive rock piano and keyboard things. And we had really, truly amazing young 13-14 year old classical players in our year who had been practicing six, eight hours a day for eight years. So it was like "Whoa."

[We need] someone like Don Sickler, who is an amazing trumpet player and who is also a publisher and amazing producer and composer and arranger. There's a lot of ways you can make a contribution.

You hear about the struggles with substances and all that, but [Phil Wood] was a really a great guy. This was a great man.

I was also sitting in from the middle of senior year of high school at Sweet Basil, it was a great club in New York.

The goal is not to be better than anyone else but rather be better than you were yesterday.

I have to say, music was always my self preservation survival technique. This sort of sacred space in my life and in my mind.

A true leader doesn't lead to gain power. They lead to empower and give power away.