When we hear music that we love that changes the world for us, we might as well at least aspire to something like that and aim high. You're probably not going to get beyond your dreams. So you might as well make them big.

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

If I could have picked two guys on the planet, to have some exposure to at that age, those were the two right guys [Phil Woods and Charles McPherson].

Joe Henderson with Ron Carter and Al Foster at the Vanguard was just wow. And the energy of the three of them.

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

The secret to life and the greatest success strategy of all is to love all of it and fear none of it.

Justin Di Cioccio led a jazz program at Music and Art, but there was no jazz in Performing Arts. After they joined, it became Laguardia School of Arts.