I tried practicing for a few weeks and ended up playing too fast.

Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can't be taught.

The qualities in music which I considered most important - and still do - were beauty, simplicity, originality, discrimination, and sincerity.

Milton, of all people, gave the most perfect definition of the state of mind required to play jazz: ' with wanton heed and giddy cunning.' That's how you play jazz.

I think I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to sound like a dry martini.

Not for me. If I want to tune everybody out, I just take off my glasses and enjoy the haze.

I would like to thank my father who discouraged me from playing the violin at an early age.

It was never supposed to be a hit. It was supposed to be a Joe Morello drum solo.

I discovered early in life that if you take gym first period, you can go into the wrestling room and sit in the corner and sleep.

I was unfashionable before anyone knew who I was.

Our basic audience begins with creaking elderly types of twenty-three and above.

Just because love don't look the way you think it should, don't mean you don't have it.

The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.

Always dream high. Never let it down by inconsistent efforts. Your relentless labour & integrity make you successful in the long run.

Some thoughts are too angry to sleep. They lie awake all night and become obsessions.

The man that wars with others is lost. The man that wars with himself is found.

In order to know the light, we must first experience the darkness.

Playing 13 years is a long time, but I feel really good. It's not like I'm [old]. I'm just thankful.

I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the theater the minute I graduated from college having not pursued it! So I went back to school and got a degree in music and began working in musical theater.

Who says the eternal being does not exist? Who says the sun has gone out? Someone who climbs up on the roof and closes his eyes tight, and says, I don't see anything.

To me happiness, true happiness is when you can really dance with sad.