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Leonard Bernstein was probably the most significant formative influence on me - he was such an encompassing musician. I spent my teenage years absorbing him, and my other interests stemmed off of that. Bernstein led me to Sondheim and to Gershwin, and Sondheim led me to listening to Joni Mitchell.

It was clear from the beginning that I was going to be a musician.

Had I not become entangled with music, I would have become an author much earlier.

I continued to study Math and Physics on my own, but one and a half years later I realized that I did want to be a composer, and after that I never changed my mind.

Bernstein grew up in my building in New York. He's a very, very fine player. When he was a kid, he came by to find out what was going on in the world of jazz.

I was a jazz major in high school, in an all-jazz band. No matter what I do, it features my musical influences.

I started off as a studio pianist in Hollywood.

My mother was a classical pianist and my stepfather was an industrialist who was passionate about composing contemporary music.

And I've played piano since I was little, so I was originally the piano player in the band.