Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Positivity is like a boomerang. The more we put it out there, the more it comes back to us.
[Winning the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition]definitely opened some doors.
I just think that I associated music with something that was healing and transformative as a kid.
[Charles McPherson] was kind enough to go to a record gig of mine where we recorded a song of his.
Enthusiasm comes from the Greek word entheos, which means, "inspired" or "filled with the divine."
It's a complicated story [hoe I got into music ]. I actually wrote a book about it, titled For Sue.
So often the difference between success and failure is belief. Belief leads to action and execution.
The secret to life and the greatest success strategy of all is to love all of it and fear none of it.
I went in [Sweet Basil band] and played with them, maybe half the gig for almost eight years or more.
Leadership is not just about what you do but what you can inspire, encourage and empower others to do.
[Phil Wood] was a great artist, and he knew things. He could be mildly conversant in several languages.
I think that's important to remember - That we're blessed to even be able to attempt to do this [music].
You do [jazz] because you love it and hope many some others may as well. You do this because you need it.
Everyone wants to do what the great ones do; but very few are willing to do what they did to become great
I think [Phil Wood] didn't suffer fools gladly, but he loved supporting young people that loved the music.
Another classical music teacher from Performing Arts that I've stayed in contact with is Jonathan Strasser.
Failure is not meant to be final and fatal.... It is meant to refine you to be all that you are meant to be.
If you think your best days are behind you, they are. If you think your best days are ahead of you, they are.
Joe Henderson with Ron Carter and Al Foster at the Vanguard was just wow. And the energy of the three of them.
I don't want my children to be what I want them to be. I want them to become everything God created them to be.
I saw that [music] reflected in my mother when we listened to these records [of Bob Gordon]. And I felt it too.
Great leaders don't succeed because they are great. They succeed because they bring out the greatness in others.
I got to talk to Mel Lewis a lot as a teenager. I think that's what really impacted me the most around that time.
Connection to the music and the history was very powerful to me. I think that's what I feel the most blessed about.
I was also sitting in from the middle of senior year of high school at Sweet Basil, it was a great club in New York.
I think we had a Ben Webster/Gerry Mulligan record... that might have been it. We only had a few records in the house.
I made some nice associations. Ben Perowsky and Kevin Hays... Bill Mobley and Pete McGuinness. A lot of talented people.
You hear about the struggles with substances and all that, but [Phil Wood] was a really a great guy. This was a great man.
Negative people often tend to create negative cultures whereas positive corporate cultures are created by positive people.
I didn't always have time to practice as much as I wanted to do, that was a real problem for me in high school and college.
I have to say, music was always my self preservation survival technique. This sort of sacred space in my life and in my mind.
There are a lot of different ways you can be a part of this music and love it and make a contribution that's personal to you.
[Phil Wood] knew about wine. He knew about food. He knew about art. He knew about classical music. He was interested in things.
When I heard Charlie Parker the first time on a record, it had seemed like an old, scratchy kind of record and I didn't get it.
I took some comp for non-comp major classes with Giacomo Bracali and Ludmila Ulela, who was a really famous composition teacher.
The goal in life is to live young, have fun, and arrive at your final destination as late as possible, with a smile on your face.
Every morning you have a choice. Are you going to be a positive thinker or a negative thinker? Positive thinking will energize you.
When you fuel up with purpose you find the excitement in the mundane, the passion in the everyday, the extraordinary in the ordinary.
We listened [with my mother] to [Frank] Sinatra and Glen Campbell and we had some Beatles records that I liked. This was in the '70s.
Hearing Sonny Rollins live... that was really amazing. There were so many things that really blew me away at that time [of schooling].
[My mother told me] stories about Nat King Cole, and Miles Davis, and seeing pictures in later years with band leaders like Alvino Ray.
Ernie Hayes, Jimmy Lewis, and either Belton Evans or Khalil Mahdi on drums [were in Sweet Basil]. All those guys really took care of me.
I was studying with Joe Allard, which was great, as a saxophone student. Being able to study with Joe Allard was an incredible experience.
We still talk about [school band]. Almost 40 years later. It's like people are talking about, "Man we need to have a morning band reunion".
The first CD I had, that I think had had any redeeming qualities to it, I did when I was 25 with a relatively small label called Chiarascuro.
The first jazz cruise that I was on was '91. I played with Maria Schneider and John Fedchock's band. Got to meet some amazing people that week.
Joe Henderson, who I maybe, to me, if I had to pick one improviser in my life that I saw live that blew my mind most, especially as a teenager.
A guy like Scott [Robinson] plays the whole history of music on every instrument you've ever heard of. He's just kind of an unparalleled genius.
I would sit in at a jazz brunch [at sweet Basil] with Eddie Chamblee, who was a great tenor player. Really a kind man. The whole band was great.
Purpose is the ultimate fuel for our journey through life. When we drive with purpose we don't get tired or bored and our engines don't burn out.