Lionel Richie told me forget about the critics. But if you come back with hit after hit, you don't have to worry about anything.

I'm not thinking about what needs to be on the radio. I'm not thinking about anything other than - I'm just going to let this music come out of me and not have any sort of preconceived notion of what I should do. I'm just going to do it.

I write about moments, and I don't make blanket statements about anything because no one has all the answers; nobody's come up with a foolproof way to do anything when it comes to emotions.

Jazz is all about improvisation and it's about the moment in time, doing it this way now, and you'll never do it this way twice. I've studied the masters. Why would I want to play ball after the guys who sit on a bench? I want to play like Michael Jordan.

The critics tend to forget their own answers after a while.

I just want people to take a step back, take a deep breath and actually look at something with a different perspective. But most people will never do that.