I have this great friend, Billy Higgins, who was one of the greatest drummers ever, and on his deathbed in 2001, he said, ‘We have to keep working on this music.’ And I said, ‘You have to get off this bed and come back and play with me.’

He said, ‘No, I didn’t say I’ll be there, but I’ll always be with you.’ And a few months later, he sent me the young drummer who’s playing with me now, Eric Harland, from the other shore. Billy left in May of 2001. In September, I was in New York, and I heard this young drummer, Eric Harland. I said, you know, we’re to play together, and he said, oh man. And so he’s been with 9 or 10 years by now.

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