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" Art and culture and all of these things - they really matter. They shape your individuality. "

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" Jazz onstage is a very intimate exchange between everybody that's onstage. "

" I've always had really wonderful people around me. But early on, I remember I would walk into a session or go do something with some musicians, and they viewed me, basically, as their chick singer. "

" I never wanted to do anything else, really. I left home at an early age trying to find my voice, my niche in music. "

" When I first heard Nina Simone, her naked truth shocked me. Whenever she sang, it felt like lightning bolts in my soul. Every song was like a movie, a unique and very different vignette. "

" My mother would say, 'Stay ready so you don't have to get ready.' I spent a lot of my early years preparing for beautiful moments that have unfolded in my life so far. "

" I didn't learn the word 'genre' until way, way late - I mean, like, in the '80s. "

" I've always liked a lot of different kinds of music. "

" I feel proud of my journey. I wouldn't change it. "

" Nina Simone is a musical genius and a rich and precious treasure who paid a heavy price for her artistic freedom. "

" Singers like Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar are very conscious of what's going on around them, and they're waking up lot of young people with that knowledge. They bring their enlightenment to the world; the world that is buying their records. "

" There is a certain kind of fire that happens when you fall in love with a musician. I guess you understand one another because you're connected by a creative desire. "

" The music industry is changing. You only hear a sprinkling of big names, but there are a lot of really wonderful young musicians with great voices and lyrical content who have refined their sound. They're up in here, so don't think they're not. There's this wealth of talent below the surface that's ready to explode. "

" The way I look at it, people pay me to travel. Once we get to the stage, that part is easy. "

" Lizz Wright, we call her lovingly 'Amazing Grace.' She has a folk and gospel kind of approach to the music, and she writes beautiful lyrics and songs. She's like this balm that is really full and very rich and deep. "

" People think jazz music is all standards and the Great American Songbook. But it's really about the sensibility, the feel you bring to the music. "

" When I worked with my uncle, I loved the fact that jazz music demanded that you use your own unique approach. "

" If a song feels good to me, it's not very difficult to make it my own. "

" Now, jazz institutions are more readily available for young people, but for me, the institutions were the bands that I was in. When I worked with Clark Terry, that was the beginning of school for me, and Harry Belafonte and Sergio Mendes, they were all my universities. "

" I'm a chameleon. When you put me in certain soils, musically speaking, I will be in that place. "

" I had really great art classes. Really great art teachers. Arts played a very important role in having a place to express yourself uniquely. "

" Music is a conversation between the audience and me, and I love that about my profession. "

" I love Denver. "

" Jazz musicians have always tended to have cult followings, which is pretty wonderful. "

" I listen to music all the time, and a lot of the things I cover are the standards of my time, and they work for me. "

" The biggest thing is to just keep your voice in shape so that when the emotion hits, it's there to have the colors to paint those pictures with the lyrics as well as the sound. "

" My records are one thing. My live performances are something totally different because they're very improvised performances. "

" My musical selections are a reflection of how I grew up. Because, back then, you could see Miles Davis and Ravi Shankar on the same stage. And nobody thought anything of it, other than the fact that it was great music. "

" I have a sketch of an idea and I never really talk about: perhaps do another jazz record, but with other elements involved. "

" I had aunts who played piano and sang and also were entertainers, so music was very much a part of my life. "

" I've always respected and taken care of my instrument. "