THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER:

Charles Mingus supposedly said that his gift for composition came from God, but that his talent on his instrument came from work. You've spoken about music as a kind of quest for you, so I'm interested to see what you make of that quote.

A lot of the people I grew up with in my early teens, we all wanted to be jazz musicians -- but we didn't have the talent. It was a gift. Music is a gift. Anybody can learn music, but it's only a few people who have a gift that are really talented enough -- especially these days -- to make it in this highly competitive world. So it's definitely a gift. However, you have to apply yourself, you have to work at it. I had a gift, but I didn't explore it enough, I feel, and that's why I was always the guy who practiced incessantly. I was always trying to catch up and learn things.

Is that a rare mindset? Do you feel like you were isolated from other musicians in that? The phrase "cross to bear" came up in an interview last year. 

Well, I don't want to put it quite that negatively. It was a cross to bear, but I was happily thrust upon that cross. And it's true, I could never achieve what I wanted to, especially since I had to stop playing some years ago. I felt that I was gaining on the knowledge that I wanted to get; I felt that I was getting there. But in truth, I'm sure that if I got to that place, I would still see another mountain to climb. I feel that there's always more to do. There's some musicians that feel that way, and there's some that don't -- and that's not a criticism. There's some guys that play and they have a natural gift and they don't have to play anymore once they've reached a point of acceptance from themselves or the public. Then they go out and play golf, which is okay. But I never had the luxury of feeling like that, if you could call it a luxury.

Yeah, I don't see you playing a lot of golf.

No, right. [laughs drily]

I know you studied a lot of Eastern religions -- how did those teachings fit into your quest as a musician?

It's all a never-ending quest for knowledge. I'm still learning, every day. I'm still reading stuff every day. One thing that I found out in my life is that there's only one truth, and that truth goes through every religion, every group of people, every color, every race: The Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's it. And no matter where you're raised or where you're from, if you can do that, you got it. And I'm going to paraphrase another quote I heard the other day: Do not do unto others what you would not want done unto you. This is the universal truth. You can't deny that. And you know, I've heard people say it should be, "Do unto others before they can do unto you," guys saying, "I've got to make sure I get mine." If somebody feels like they've got to live that way, fine. I'm not going to criticize anybody. I'm just glad that I am where I am. This is what gives me a sense of a real peace.

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