A painting is music you can see and music is a painting you can hear.

The way you change and help music is by tryin' to invent new ways to play

When we edit the music, I always remember, "It's my band. Save me a place to play."

I used to enjoy all the white bands when I was a kid listening to the radio. But the record companies, they take music and label it - like, they say "rock". Because the white singers can't sound like James Brown, they call him "soul". They've been doing that for years. That's the prejudice crap.

In other words, an instrument should be an extension of you; it's supposed to sound like you - the way you walk, the way you dress, you know.

It's always been a gift with me, hearing music the way I do. I don't know where it comes from, it's just there and I don't question it.

You want to know how I started playing trumpet? My father bought me one, and I studied the trumpet. And everybody I heard that I liked, I picked up things from.