I think that the melodic piece of the puzzle in music is the most esoteric and difficult to quantify.

Avant-garde, jazz, pop, classical, country and western, rock, free, straight-ahead, etc. are ultimately meaningless terms in the face of the music being discussed at best - at worst, those terms often serve as code words for what is in fact a cultural / political discussion more than a musical one.

I was able to work with the best musicians in Kansas City starting when I was really young

I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level.

Whatever my recorded output is, it's a reflection of a general love of music.

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.

The first thing I learned was the theme from Peter Gunn.