If I would not be able to create music, I would create art or something else. Perhaps cooking.

Yes, violence begets more violence, but historically this has been the way of the world.

I joke that a person of color would never make a movie like “Midnight in Paris.” Nostalgia isn’t so enticing.

Our leaders and Osama Bin Laden all claim to do the right thing in the name of God. I question that. I wonder if that God is worth the life of another human-being.

I dabble in the jazz world, which is male-­dominated. If you had two women playing together, it became a shtick. It becomes a "girl group," and it has to be something cutesy. That's hard to contend with.

I just try to tell a story with a song, and be able to try to transmit the emotion to you. That's all I'm really trying to do.

Your government has problems...my government has problems. I can't be a judge. All I can do is be an ambassador of love. I'm a musician, not a soldier, and if I'm invited to a place in order to play and bring love, I'll always accept the invitation.