I play piano and drums very poorly and French horn and tuba all equally as bad.

I feel like a lot of the fundamental material, I've assimilated. So now the question is: Am I going to really get into my spiritual inheritance of music and really develop my abilities?

I wanted to make somebody feel like Coltrane made me feel, listening to it.

My schedule is always tight. But I like to have the pressure of having to finish doing something; it gives me an added edge.

Swing is extreme coordination. It's a maintaining balance, equilibrium. It's about executing very difficult rhythms with a panache and a feeling in the context of very strict time. So, everything about the swing is about some guideline and some grid and the elegant way that you negotiate your way through that grid.

I always like to play very contemporary concepts of swing right next to New Orleans music because it highlights continuum.

I didn't want to get that ring around my lips from practicing the trumpet, because I thought the girls wouldn't like me. So I never practiced.