[Phil wood] put on some [Igor] Stravinsky and say to follow the score, tell me to play me the opening to the Rite of Spring. Or, "I'm going to play you some 20th century obscure classical composer you don't know". Or, "Let's listen to some Charles Ives, let's sight read some Bartok violin duets", etc.

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.

Negative people often tend to create negative cultures whereas positive corporate cultures are created by positive people.

You fuel your life with trust and love instead of fear and doubt.

There's a famous story about Dizzy [Gillespie] and Art Blakey taking him aside, and spending a whole night-long talk with [Phil Wood], "Man we believe in you. You can play. So don't be walking around with a frown on your face or whatever, getting yourself into trouble. You have got a gift, and nobody is going to take that away from you." So that meant the world to him.

I think we had a Ben Webster/Gerry Mulligan record... that might have been it. We only had a few records in the house.

I don't want my children to be what I want them to be. I want them to become everything God created them to be.