I was finishing up at High School of Performing Arts and finally, by the end of junior year and start of senior year, made some progress as a 16 year-old classical saxophone player. But not really... not like how the legit cats do. But I love the [Jacques] Ibert, love [Alexander] Glazunov, love the [Paul] Creston.

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.

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.

[Charles McPherson] was kind enough to go to a record gig of mine where we recorded a song of his.

Ernie Hayes, Jimmy Lewis, and either Belton Evans or Khalil Mahdi on drums [were in Sweet Basil]. All those guys really took care of me.

Sense of community was really fostered by Larry Laurenzano, who was a great educator.

Positivity is like a boomerang. The more we put it out there, the more it comes back to us.