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I don't think I've ever been true to jazz. There's always a kind of jazz element to what I do. There are a very few genres that I haven't tried out, really, in what I've been doing. As a jazz musician, you can kind of mess about with things with a certain level of musicianship, which helps.

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.

In my view a jazz musician is a great musician.

Jazz has been such a force in music, that any musician, including classical composers, have been influenced, and obviously performers, also.

People like Art Blakey and Buddy Rich, you look at them playing music, and it's just like looking at a heavy metal drummer. I mean, they're playing with the same amount of ferocity. It's not to say all jazz is like that.

I wouldn't really say I'm a jazz guy, which I'm not.

Jazz is like a big secret club. The mainstream media doesn't pay any attention to it; it's, like, 1 percent of the music market - no one cares. Why? Because the majority of jazz is old.

I really love jazz, but I will never be a jazz musician as much as I dream. But, I think that the jazz music I love is there in my music.

Jazz is a hard music, and you have to really work hard and also have fun performing; that's the most important thing.

There's still not as many women in music as men, and I don't really know why. I don't have the answers. I do wish there were more women that played music.