I’ve been teaching at Rice University since the mid eighties. I started out there teaching improvisation. Somewhere in the 90’s I took over the Rice Jazz Ensemble, a traditional big band, because the big band was too busy in other areas.

Now I even play jobs with musicians who were once students. Jose-Miguel Yamal, the Organ player in my band, was once a student in the Rice jazz band. A lot of people working around Houston now came through Rice and were students of mine. That is a big reward.

Teaching has changed me in several ways. When you teach what you do, it clarifies what you do. Instead of just doing it on automatic pilot, now you have to verbalize what you do. That’s one of the things that made me sit up in the middle of the night for two months trying to figure out how to verbalize basic concepts of improvisation. As you go on teaching, and teach more advanced students, you must be more literate and accurate in your choice of words to describe more finite and detailed aspects of performing.

The fact is that you’re learning just as much as the student is learning. He’s growing in the subject matter. You’re growing in your ability to clarify the subject matter. It helps you do it better.

Because of teaching, I’m a better musician than I ever was.