(The late) “Lew Soloff was my best friend. To him music was everything. He practiced trumpet a minimum two hours a day, every day. Getting older meant only one thing to him - “I got to practice harder!” At 71, his tone just kept getting better, his range stronger! When Lew heard me play with Tisziji, he was blown away. "I got to play with this cat" he said. "Tisziji's different" I warned, "he cares more what comes out of your heart than your horn." "My heart's as big as my sound!" Lew said. I set up a meeting. "How'd it go?" I asked the next day. "Couldn't have been worse!" he moaned. "I wanted him to hear me play so I brought him my last three albums. He said, "I don't want to hear them, Lew. I hate music! I'm only interested in transcendent Heart-Fire Sound." I laughed. Tisziji has been my musical mentor for almost 50 years. "All he means is he doesn't want to hear what you did as much as what we might create. Real music is not a product with Tisziji. It is a living, breathing process - deeply spiritual." "G_d is in every note I play" protested Lew. "He knows" I said. One day Tisziji called me and said, "It's time we played with Lew" and this date, The Paradox of Completion, is the result. Lew's heart was full of soul, and his music joined Tisziji's in sincere expression of divine love. Tisziji knew Lew was ready. These two great jazz cats played together for all time.” —Paul Shaffer