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

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

" I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close. "

" I'm lucky that I enjoy touring as much as I do. I'm not going to make a living just making records. "

" 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. "

" It's a beautiful thing to have time in the world, as a singer and as a musician, to make friends with people of the musical caliber of a Tommy Smith, an Arturo Sandoval, a Richard Galliano, a Till Broenner. "

" Sometimes, with vocalese, I'm dealing with something, a great solo from the past, which is so iconic I can't presume to change it or mess with it. "

" I've got enough miles under my belt to know that whatever you envision in your mind, even if it comes true, will only keep a shape in the most general way. "

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

" Chicago is my home. And the way Chicago sounds will always be a part of who I am. "

" Salacious? I suppose every once in a while the salacious thing is not a bad thing. It's kind of monochromatic if that's all you do. "

" I want to be the jazz singer. "

" You don't want to make records so you can win a Grammy. You make records because you want to be a musician. "

" Karl Johnson, my first piano player at Milt Trenier's, he just swung really hard and gave me a sense of really belonging to the jazz scene. "

" There are incredible musicians around the world. "

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

" I really thought I was gonna have a straight gig. But these jazz musicians put their arms around me time and again and said, 'Hey, young fella, you're one of us. Come with us.' That's a big deal when you're young and looking for your way in the world. "

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

" Sometimes people have this notion that improvisation is simply intuitive leaping into the unknown. "

" I didn't arrive on the scene until after Jaco Pastorius had passed, but 'Three Views of a Secret' is a long-time favourite of mine. "

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

" One doesn't have to scat to be a jazz singer. "

" I'm a goof, man. "

" You don't show respect to Frank Sinatra and his great example by trying to sound exactly like him. You show it by sounding exactly like you, and that's the way jazz has always progressed as an art form. "

" The great jazz and jazz-influenced singers carry themselves with a certain panache and a certain elegance and, for lack of a better word, self-confidence. "

Self-Confidence

" I couldn't do what I do without the encouragement and influence of the musicians I played with in Chicago. "

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

" I think my intention was there, and my love for the music was apparent. And there are very few singers who get up and desire to take the kinds of risks that jazz musicians routinely need to be taking. "

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

" It's pretty rare in jazz to have a full-on steady band. "