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My father was always playing the piano. He played all kinds of music - Gershwin, all kinds of stuff.

Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block.

I'm a fan of Jerome Kern and Gershwin. That's my kind of music.

Bud Powell's probably the biggest influence on my piano playing.

When Little Richard used to stand up and play it was just fabulous, and Liberace had the candlesticks and the rings and the gift of the gab. The piano's is the most ungainly rock' n' roll instrument of all time but those two people transcended it, as did Jerry Lee Lewis.

As far as songwriters, I've always been a fan of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin; those guys mean a lot to me.

From folk to tribal to Cab Calloway, Cole Porter, Gershwin to the Rolling Stones, whose first record was all covers, to country-western, bebop, blues, and even the referencing in classic hip hop to cliched love ballads of the '80s or whatever - that is kinda gone, and that's just terrifying to me.

Ira Gershwin, shame on him. I mean, some of the writing.

My grandmother played the piano, and I used to toddle over there and pick out little things that sounded good to me.

I discovered it was easier to carry around a pen than a piano.