Until my mid-twenties I did not like jazz. I liked drums. I was born in Daejeon, started on piano at five, and switched to drums the day I saw a drummer on television. At Kyunghee University I played everything except jazz, until a German bassist, Martin Zenker, dragged me to a club with the promise of a beer and called me up to play one tune.
A few years later I stood on a televised stage with New York saxophonist Jesse Davis, no rehearsal, no set list, and asked him about the tempo. He said: play what you hear. That night became the album Soul Searchin': Live in Seoul, and the start of twenty years of stages across New York, Europe and Asia.
Today I lead my own projects between Seoul and New York, write music between tours, and play for one reason I call my business secret: people come to feel good, and my job is to deliver.