When I was growing up, in L.A., I went to these schools, Fairfax High School, Bancroft Junior High School, and they had great music departments. I always played in the orchestra, the jazz band, the marching band.
I went to school and studied music for a year at USC, which unlocked a bunch of doors for me in terms of my relationship to music.
I played trumpet in the school bands. I learned things I liked to play on my trumpet, but I didn't learn why this note goes with this note and why it produces that sound. Or how to create tension in the composition.
I started playing trumpet when I was 11 years old. All I wanted to be was a jazz trumpet player when I grew up.
I love my life and my mistakes and my triumphs - all of it.
When I was a kid, and it was time to go to college, I thought, 'College is for people who don't have the street smarts to make it on their own - get in a band, get in a van, and get rockin'.
