I did, I was in Europe a lot. I would say, mid 20s to late 30s. Less so in the last ten or twelve years. Based on some political stuff and other things, I think I'm not the only musician, the only American jazz musician that's not going to Europe quite as much. I think we're seen a little differently in the world, unfortunately, than we were pre-Iraq invasion and things like that.

You can’t be a great leader if all you are serving is yourself.

Every morning you have a choice. Are you going to be a positive thinker or a negative thinker? Positive thinking will energize you.

Sometimes I say to my students, "We get to come and listen to our favorite recordings and try to learn from them and emulate that and hopefully we can inspire other people the way we've been inspired."

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].

Hearing Sonny Rollins live... that was really amazing. There were so many things that really blew me away at that time [of schooling].

Optimism is a competitive advantage.