I think the problem starts with the general appreciation of the music in the larger society.

I feel that I have an obligation to jazz and also to myself to play as good as I can play.

Improvisation is really not so much remembering things. And this is what I do when I play. I forget things. When I go on the stage, I want my mind to be a blank, so that I can - things can come into me without my knowing where they came from.

There have been many great musicians that, Clifford Brown is one great example, I mean he died very early, 25.

I'm now a legend, whether I want to be or not.

I think music should be judged on what it is. It should be very high and above everything else. It is a beautiful way of bringing people together, a little bit of an oasis in this messed-up world.

One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music. That was his reason for being alive. Nothing else mattered except music, really.