“The bass player has a function, and they can do what no one else in the band can do. If the drummer and the bass player don’t do certain things, they won’t get it done. The piano player also has a different function, and if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, then that job doesn’t get done. The strength of a player is how far can you go without sacrificing your function? I tell my students, “If you don’t want to play the root and the fifth, or the third – if you don’t want that to be your function, then don’t be the bass player!” But don’t think that just because you’ve got to play the root or the fifth or the third, that your creativity is stifled. I could say, “I could do so much more if I were six feet tall, and my arm span was at least 15 feet,” you know? That’s not gonna happen. But what you can do with what you have is unlimited. What you do have can either be seen as your asset or not. And then, what you’re going to produce in life is determined by how you see yourself.

   … Great things have been done by small people. It’s not about the size of your brain, it’s about how you use it. When we talk about having a big heart, the truth is that nobody wants a big heart, everybody wants a normal-sized heart. But the vastness of that heart differs from one to another, depending on a person’s perception of things and view of his own humanity.”