I'm just lucky to have the type of friends and musicians and people dedicated to my music that I do.

There's the tradition in jazz of having the “Battle of the Bands” and you do not want to get your head cut when you're playing.

I feel that for years of teaching in the country and reading criticism in books, I feel like the things most needed in our culture are the understanding of the meanings of our music. We haven't done that good of job teaching our kids what our music means or how we developed our taste in music that reminds us and teaches us who we are.

The majority of the high schools and the public schools in N.Y.C. don't even have band programs. Hip-hop in a lot of ways is an outgrowth of a lack of instruments and a desire to play music, so we can't really fault the kids for that.

I have friends who will critique me much harder than any review.

Love is the spiritual essence of what we do. Technique is the manifestation of the preparation and investment as a result of the love.

Young kids are always singing and painting. When you get to that second and third grade level, you're supposed to put all that aside.