Isaac Hayes told me once, 'There's no such thing as old-school. Either you went to school or you didn't.'

Growing up in the Bay Area, I played early on with these quartet groups who set guidelines for me. I remember the guys would all have the same clothes and shoes, like these uniforms. I was in awe.

If you want to be like the greats, you learn from the greats.

I'm a dreamer. I watch people. You don't try to become them because you could never become any of those guys. But you hope that some of it, you know, comes off on you at some point in your show, some point in your writing, that it happens to you and this light just shines on you.

I have musician friends who play too much golf, and they're not as good at music anymore.

When you look at athletes, they have fundamentals.

My mission has always been to do something that suits everybody.