"The one thing I do know is the rest of my days will be about the mission, the various missions. They're all connected. I can no longer just play because it's fun or take a gig because it pays well."
"I want to try to find the spirituality behind Coltrane's playing. I want to copy the feeling that he had back at this time because that's what's truly sticks out."
"That is the process of writing: getting people to ask questions and to take risks and try things they don't know how to do and dare to have it fail."
"The rest of the week is going to be pretty jive. But right now I'm not worried about the rest of the week. I'm celebrating right now. That's the message we're trying to get out of here."
"Just serve the art, serve the music as best as you can, as honestly as you can, as diligently and thoughtfully and thoroughly as possible, and let the rest take care of itself."
"I don't think it's going to be better than John Coltrane, frankly. My generation, we're not going to quite get to what that is. So what we have to do is figure out things to add to it, to make something a little different."
"Liza used to tell me any time that you can work and perform on your birthday, it’s kind of the best thing to do because it is the birthday wish come true. "
"Once you get a feel for the audience after two or three songs, you kind of take them on this music journey and you're a deejay of your own music."
"There has been a framing of jazz in a way for sometime where like it's not for young people. It's not cool. I always want to push back on that one."
"Whether you're a musician or a writer everything comes down to story and narrative. And that's why I like to call myself a storyteller more than a singer or a musician."