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.

Its more about conception and touch and spirit and soul than whether my hardware was in place.

My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.

Listening is the key to everything good in music.

One very fundamental thing has not changed and I realized that it will never change... is that I really need to go home and practice.

People sometimes say it takes a long time to become a Jazz fan, but for me it took about five seconds.

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

More and more as time has gone on, I realize that playing is really more about listening than it is about playing.

Learning to play is mostly about learning to hear, and learning to really listen deeply to sound in a musical way is a lifetime's worth of work.

Jazz is an idea that is more powerful than the details of its history.

It is Jazz's very nature to change, to develop & adapt to the circumstances of its environment.

To fill your life with joy and happiness, the greatest gift that you can give is love and kindness. Wishing you a memorable birthday!

Blushing is the color of virtue.

I write short, my words tight to the thread of the narrative.

The fear of death is for all of us everywhere, but for the great intelligence of the opium eater it is beautifully narrowed into the crux of drugs.

I don't know what any of my songs are about. I don't sit down to write about anything. They're about whatever you want. I don't pick subjects. I just start.

If you are guided by opinion polls, you are not practicing leadership -- you are practicing followership.

Love in marriage is more than just a feeling or an emotion; it is a choice.

In quarreling, the truth is always lost.

I made The Instigator while I was homeless as a result of 9/11, and there was some stuff on there that was really raw and directly out of that experience