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" If we work on it, we can absolutely refuse any notion that suggests that after generations of contributing to this country, being a part of the bones and the marrow, that I'm supposed to be uncomfortable here. "

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" I'd listen to the radio, especially when my parents were out on house calls to pray for people - you know, shut-ins. Sometimes, if we were incredibly sneaky, we could do it at night when everyone was asleep. "

Lizz Wright

Parents

You

People

" A lot of people in the African-American community are raised by grandmothers, and that relationship is a special bond and circle. "

" I love singing all types of genres. "

" I come from a family that has grown their own food from well into times of slavery, provided for themselves and people around them. So I found, through conversations about the earth and about the house with my neighbors, a lot of common ground. "

" As I grow older, I hope I can fully embody my grandmother's remarkable peace. "

" Where I come from, music is not a business. Sharing music is a business, but music is not a business. It comes from the people and belongs to the people. "

" I'm in love with the way that Ella Fitzgerald delivered a lyric. She would deliver a lyric with the kind of clarity that would make you wonder why it was written, and make you think about the writer. I think every writer hopes an Ella of any genre or anytime gets a hold of their work and works the song like that. "

" Life is good. It might not go the way we plan it, but that's fine. We just do what we can. "

" Jazz has a lot to do with being very present. You know the structure, then you flow through it. "

" No matter what happens, I can go back to the mountains. I have nature and my wonderful friends and neighbors. I get so much by being there. "

" At 16, I was going to church and playing music for church, and Dad would only pay for piano lessons so I could play at church. "

" I'd been trained in choral, gospel, and a little bit of opera. "

" I never left jazz. The relationship between structure and improvisation - that constant conversation and tension - I've always wanted in every genre and song that I perform. "

" My mom has a couple great tricks, but my father is consistently a good cook. He's extremely avid about health and fitness and a bit obsessive. He always talks about garden-fresh food. "

" I love songs that create moments that are very personal and that tell a story. "

" Gardening is a working meditation for me. It helps me remember process, and it helps me remember patience. "

Lizz Wright

Gardening

Helps

" I don't think words always lead to meaning, but the things you can create with them are still pretty amazing. I've been really into Joni Mitchell, for example, but I've also been into some studio stuff, like Bjork. "

" As a southern woman, we often define ourselves by who we are with. But I wanted my life to be built differently. "

" The church is an institution of music and of production and performance, and it has to do with taking people to places inside of themselves and giving them an opportunity to sit deep in their own feelings, and to be together and deeply alone at the same time, and to process things. "

" Whoever is playing with me, they participate in the arrangement; I learned from Craig Street to really pool the stories and the skill and the voices of everybody around you on the bandstand to build an arrangement in the moment. "

" Singing in church is a very different approach to music. It's very much about transcending the idea of self. It's about finding something greater that connects all of us. Gospel music is about tapping into that. "

" I studied opera for a year at Georgia State University, but I wasn't interested in that meticulous, technical approach to music. So I left school and went back to jazz. "

" Surrender is working with what happens. "

" We had no television, and I only heard the radio when my parents went out to a Bible study group. They liked a quiet, meditative house. "

" Everyone I perform and tour with looks out for each other; we ensure we stay healthy. "

" I'm so grateful for just the inherent mercy of life. "

" I'm a real Otis Redding fan, and I just think he sounds so good. He sounds like he's always at the end of a long day, and he just won't give up. I just love his wearied devotion - that beautiful, beautiful, weathered sound. "

" I have no ancestral link to the mountains. But I really do feel close to mountain culture. Their ways of food, of thinking. The way they hang out with no recording devices and just sing songs with each other. "

" I know how to make myself comfortable. "

" What I learned about singing in the church has gone into what I do now. "