Its more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place.

I realized that equipment really had little to do with why I sound like the way I sound

Players get to that intermediate level where they can already play pretty good, and that's kind of a dangerous period because they tend to start playing only the things that they can play, rather than the things they can't.

I was deep in the zone of practicing almost constantly

It is Jazz's very nature to change, to develop & adapt to the circumstances of its environment.

Jazz is an idea that is more powerful than the details of its history.

I met Gary (Burton) at the Wichita Jazz Festival when I was 18 -- he was one of my favorite musicians and I got to play a few tunes with him there. Shortly after that, I joined his band, which was the equivalent of joining the Beatles for me! He was, and still is, one of the greatest musicians I have ever been lucky enough to be around.