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" I had everything to gain by giving it everything I could. "

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" You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies. "

" I was very lucky that more experienced musicians allowed me to caterwaul until I figured out what it was really about. "

" I want to be the jazz singer. "

" It's true that I'm not known as a crooner or balladeer. I'm known for a more crusading or quixotic temperament. "

" I've tried to educate myself in the world and what's beautiful and what has meaning and is lasting. Then I just follow my intuition and see how it fits. "

" I haven't been afraid of John Coltrane or Miles Davis or Bill Evans or Wayne Shorter or Herbie Hancock. Why would I be afraid of the Beatles? "

" My intellect was quickened at divinity school, and my abilities to discern were strengthened, and that's always valuable. "

" Man, I just feel so fortunate to be a jazz musician at all. I have a hard time thinking of it any other way. It's such a fulfilling vocation. I love it. "

" I try to stick with things that I can sing with honesty. "

" I listened to a lot of King Crimson back in the day. "

" Of course we all know when music's too much in the head, and we define our greatest players by the way they are able to communicate directly from their emotional selves. "

" I'm thrilled when I hear the greatest jazz musicians. They continue to search in ways other musicians do not. "

" I'm a goof, man. "

" That's the thing: There are so many art songs in jazz. It's a much more rich experience for the singer than people think. "

" The musicians in Chicago gave me my vocation, but New York calls to a jazz musician, for sure. You want to test your mettle. "

" When improvisation is properly applied, it is compositional thinking, sped way up. "

" The singer is always an ambassador of music. "

" Listening to something without being present is different from being there in the flesh. "

" I remember seeing Tony Bennett on television. He was the only guy in the orchestra who was wearing a white tux, and I thought, 'That would be good. To be the only man on stage in a white jacket.' "

" I've worked with a number of big bands, but there's nothing in life like the Basie band. "

" I can't say New York's home, but I've made a lot of friends, and I'm developing a map of what cats are here and where they play, and as a singer, you're always looking for projects that tie things in emotionally and intuitively with your life. "

" I like the power and versatility of a big band and how an orchestra can vary the dynamics from very loud to very quiet, and SNJO covers those bases. "

" There's a wide spectrum of possibilities in how to deliver a song. "

" At a certain point, the graduate school thing didn't work out, and that meant I was liberated. "

Graduate School

" Grammy nominations are certainly pleasant, but you can forget about them and lead a perfectly happy life - provided you have the approval of the musicians you work with. "

" Each of the CDs prior to 'Flirting With Twilight' were more like roller-coaster rides. "

" I've got more low notes than I had when I started. "

" You can start from any source material, and you can approach it with a jazz ear, and then it will become a jazz moment. "

" I think I make most of my decisions pretty organically. "

" It must be a hellish thing to know what's possible in music, to be hearing things all the time and not have an appropriate outlet for them. "