I am a person who thinks about the music first in trying to achieve something musically valid.

My music is an extension of who I am and what I went through and what I know musically.

I am an educator who thinks globally.

I have always been a person who is concerned with the dignity of jazz music and the way jazz musicians have been treated and are treated, and the fact that the music has not been given the kind of due that it deserves.

I am frozen musically somewhere around 2004.

My songs are about who I am.