Count Basie practically adopted me at 13. We became closer and closer and I ended up conducting for him and Sinatra.

I got in the school band and the school choir. It all hit me like a ton of bricks, everything just came out. I played percussion for a while, and stayed after school forever just tinkering around with different things, the clarinets and the violins.

You Make Your Mistakes To Learn How To Get To The Good Stuff

It's easy to get next to music theory, especially between your peers and music classes and so forth. You just pay attention. I had a good ear, so I realized that printed music was just about reminding you what to play.

Not one ounce of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me.

Whenever a woman would come too close, I would cut her off. Part of that was vindictive - but that was totally subconscious.

I've been driven all my life by a spirit of adventure and a criminal level of optimism. I believed in my dreams because they were my only option. The people who make it to the top are addicted to their calling. You have to honor the gift God has given you. The people who get the call are the ones who'd be doing whatever it is they love, even if they weren't being paid.