Hip-hop is all over the planet.
Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.
I'm always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.
The music becomes something that is its own entity.
The cool thing is that jazz is really a wonderful example of the great characteristics of Buddhism and great characteristics of the human spirit. Because in jazz we share, we listen to each other, we respect each other, we are creating in the moment. At our best, we're non-judgmental.
Globalization means we have to re-examine some of our ideas, and look at ideas from other countries, from other cultures, and open ourselves to them. And that's not comfortable for the average person.
World peace is no longer some pie-in-the-sky thing, because no single person or country is going to solve it on their own.
I hope to use dialogue and culture as a means of bringing people of various cultures together, and using that as a way to resolve conflict.
I don't see how we can have both the freedoms we had before and the safety net that we all need considering the way the world is today. And that's just because human beings can't trust each other. We've given in over and over to some of the darkest elements that exist in life itself.
My father was really good with math. It's a funny thing, I don't remember my father or my mother being so mechanical-minded. My father always wanted to be a doctor, but he came from a really poor family in Georgia, and there was no way he was going to be a doctor.
Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept. He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were.
I just express myself in any way I feel is appropriate at the moment.
It pulled me like a magnet, jazz did, because it was a way that I could express myself.
It's not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.
We need to move into a culture of peace. What I hope to promote is the idea that we all need each other and that the greatest happiness in life is not how much we have but how much we give. That's a wealth that's priceless. You can't buy compassion.
The thing that we possess, that machines don't, is the ability to exhibit wisdom.
While knowledge may provide useful point of reference, it cannot become a force to guide the future.
All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.
I don't view myself as a musician anymore - I view myself as a human being that functions as a musician when I'm functioning as a musician, but that's not 24 hours a day. That's really opened me up to even more perspectives because now I look at music, not from the standpoint of being a musician, but from the standpoint of being a human being.
Back in the day for me was a great time in my life - I was in my 20s. Most people refer to their experiences in their twenties as being a highlight in their life. It's a period of time where you often develop your own way, your own sound, your own identity, and that happened with me, when I was with a great teacher - Miles Davis.