The process is the most beautiful part.

You can study orchestration, you can study harmony and theory and everything else, but melodies come straight from God.

Arts is just as important as military defense, you know? Emotional defense is just as important.

If you started in New York you were dealing with the biggest guys in the world. You're dealing with Charlie Parker and all the big bands and everything. We got more experience working in Seattle.

My grandmother had this high-tech security system - a rusty nail she used to lock the door.

The people who make it to the top - whether they're musicians, or great chefs, or corporate honchos - are addicted to their calling ... [they] are the ones who'd be doing whatever it is they love, even if they weren't being paid.

You want your parents to say, "Hey, I'm proud of you." When you don't hear that, you learn to compensate. You say, "Hell, I don't need their approval. If I get my music right, I'll have everyone else's approval." I didn't understand it then, but I now know that's what happened to me.