The iconoclastic mode, that specific mode of language, there is an element of it that it is punk - that is confrontational. That's just a part of the language of jazz - at a certain point.

His name, even, is part of the marketing scheme, I mean, Thelonious Sphere Monk - how can you think of a better name to fit his style of playing?

What makes bebop legitimate is the fact that when it was done, it was illegitimate.

Bud Powell's probably the biggest influence on my piano playing.

Thelonious Sphere Monk: there's not a more perfect name to fit his compositions than that name.

I like people not being able to be pigeon-holed.

People come from a certain generation and a certain whole way of looking at things, and you really do become a prisoner of your own world.