I just completed a tour in Europe. I played every night. This requires traveling some days for six hours in a van or a train or a car. After six weeks of that, I checked into the hotel and just fell apart.

That's kind of my goal: to build a new row of meaningful tones.

Bernstein grew up in my building in New York. He's a very, very fine player. When he was a kid, he came by to find out what was going on in the world of jazz.

Benny Goodman was one of the big influences as a clarinet player. That's why I wanted the clarinet.

A first love always occupies a special place.

Labels don't mean anything to me. I'm trying to play as passionately as I'm able to. If they want to call that cool, that's fine. Just spell the name right, is the formula.

Many people do think it's naive to improvise in front of paying customers. I'm not saying one way is better than another.