I realized that equipment really had little to do with why I sound like the way I sound.

The best musicians are not the best players, they're the best listeners..

What I look for in musicians is a sense of infinity.

To me, there are lots of different stories to tell and you usually find the best way to tell the one you are telling once you are in it..

Im always trying to find connections between things. That art is the juxtaposition of a lot of things that seem unrelated but add up to something rec….

It's a shame that jazz is now being turned into dried fruit. It's becoming quantized, diced and defined. It's becoming an idiom. To me if it's anythi….

The Unity Band project has been life-changing for me. I have led many groups of talented musicians, but this is unlike anything else..

My older brother Mike is an excellent trumpet player. By the time he was 12, he was playing around Kansas City in classical situations. He was alread….

I think I represent a more left-wing view of what jazz is.

The first thing I learned was the theme from Peter Gunn..

If you plan on continuing a tradition, it might be a good idea to find out just what tradition it is that you intend to continue..

I think that the melodic piece of the puzzle in music is the most esoteric and difficult to quantify..

...to me if it's anything, jazz is a verb-it's more like a process than it is a thing..

Most guys at Berklee are going to wind up truck drivers..

I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times..

Players get to that intermediate level where they can already play pretty good, and that's kind of a dangerous period because they tend to start play….

The more I can learn about music, the more I learn about other things..

I hate the way chorus boxes sound.

Somehow trumpet is the reference point for me it was actually my first instrument..

Smokin' at the Half Note is the absolute greatest jazz-guitar album ever made. It is also the record that taught me how to play..

I met Gary (Burton) at the Wichita Jazz Festival when I was 18 -- he was one of my favorite musicians and I got to play a few tunes with him there. S….