Love the process and you’ll love what the process produces.

We [with my mother] listened to music when I was a kid. We listened to a little bit of Bob's [Gordon] music, but just a little, I think it was too painful for her.

All we can do is go about our work. But we can have a goal. We can have a dream.

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

I got to talk to Mel Lewis a lot as a teenager. I think that's what really impacted me the most around that time.

[Charlie Parker] was kind of a sponge and intrigued by it all.That's similar to what Phil [Woods] told me about Bird, too. Like he was into cooking. He was just into a lot of things. Yeah, it's about dealing with bebop and jazz and Trane [John Coltrain] and post-Trane and knowing the history. But you've got to live. You have to experience things. Know something in this world. So it was a very deep education about what it means to try and be an artist.

Letting people share their gifts and strengths is real love.