— What made you become a musician?
— Honestly, I was very young when I took up music. I can't even remember a period in my life when I didn't play the drums. I decided to become a professional musician when I was about 14. It didn't happen for any particular reason, it was just time.
- But still, why jazz? Why not R&B or hip hop?
- I grew up on jazz. Although I like hip hop and play it quite often, and R&B, too (I'm only 24!), I believe jazz to be the purest music. All of these styles wouldn't have existed without jazz.
— What would your life be like without jazz?
— I wouldn't exist!
— Where do you find inspiration when you don't want to play or perform, when you want to give up music?
— Music is my way of thinking. I have Carpel syndrome but don't know how long I'll be able to remain in the business. So I take my inspiration… like, when you look at people who listen to your music and they forget about all their problems, just enjoying it — this is inspiring and it's what I make music for.
— What place, to your mind, does jazz occupy on the world music stage now?
— That's hard to say since the world music stage thinks only about money (laughing). Unfortunately, jazz doesn't attract that much money. But I think jazz'll be more popular again soon.
The main problem for jazz is that very few young people (I mean under 40) listen to jazz. They have a stereotype in their minds that it's old music, but when they see people their own age on stage playing jazz and enjoying it, they start to understand that that's not true. Give jazz five or six years and we'll see what happens.
— Do you think of jazz as American music?
— No, I think jazz has long had a world heritage. You can find great jazz musicians all over the world. Of course, if you want to be the best of the best, you should live at least a little while in New York. That would be a real challenge.