I have to admit that more and more lately, the whole idea of jazz as an idiom is one that I've completely rejected. I just don't see it as an idiomatic thing any more...To me, if jazz is anything, it's a process, and maybe a verb, but it's not a thing. It's a form that demands that you bring to it things athat are valuable to you, that are personal to you. That, for me, is a pretty serious distinction that doesn't have anything to do with blues, or swing, or any of these other things that tend to be listed as essentials in order for music to be jazz with a capital J.

People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a Jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds.

I love playing and working on music. It is something that I feel really lucky to be able to spend my life doing. And I don't sleep much!

From 1962 to 1965, the guitar became this icon of youth culture, thanks mostly to the Beatles

More and more as time has gone on, I realize that playing is really more about listening than it is about playing.

Learning to play is mostly about learning to hear, and learning to really listen deeply to sound in a musical way is a lifetime's worth of work.

The best musicians are not the best players, they're the best listeners.