Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

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

Related Quotes:

" Jazz is such a living art form. It happens right in the moment. You weave a story by changing certain elements and components. "

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

" I always have a little bit of Brazil and New Orleans in my band. "

" Your voice is not your instrument. Your voice is the character that you build, your innermost feelings, the things that you want to say, and your instrument is the vehicle that you use to carry the message. "

" I love New York City because there's something to do 24/7, something that will make you see things in a whole different light. Like they say, it's the city that never sleeps. "

" The thing that I tell young people is everybody is unique in their approach to the music, and you have to protect that. "

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

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

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

" In high school, we had a really great jazz program that I finally was able to be a part of. They only wanted instrumentalists; they didn't want any singers. But I made my way in, and I remember the conductor of the band wrote a lot of arrangements and asked me what I wanted to sing. "

" I always say that improvisation is the utterance of one's spirit, and it dictates your life experience, and that's how you find your concepts and your way for painting your musical picture. "

" I think jazz is the foundation for a lot of great musicians, and then after that, you know, it's this broad expression of things that really have influenced and addressed your life. "

" I never called myself a jazz singer. I just call myself a vocalist because I love to sing all kinds of things. "

" Being from Colorado is, to me, very, very special. I'm just very thankful to be here. I'm also thankful to be a part of the history of this state. "

" When I found out how music made me feel and how my singing made other people feel, that's when I decided this is what I wanted to do. "

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

" 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. "

" My mother was really amazing and left me with a whole lot of treasures. I miss her terribly. "

" I come from a family of musicians. "

" My friend Harry Belafonte is an activist and musician, an extraordinary man who has dedicated his life to human rights. He taught me the power of words and that music can be used to heal and educate people. "

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

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

" I look back at Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and especially Betty Carter, whom I admire the most, and I say, OK, they set a standard of excellence. I listen to them not for what they are doing, but to study where they are coming from because, for me, jazz is life experience. "

" Oh my gosh, I love Jon Hendricks. "

" One of the things that I love about Sarah Vaughan is that she was always very current. "

" I think that when I started singing, I didn't know what I wanted to do; I only knew what I didn't want to do. "

" When I moved to Los Angeles, right away I met all kinds of musicians. "

" My demographic is very broad. Once they come, they had an idea about jazz, and then they hear me, and they come back with sisters, brothers, and kids. My audience looks like America to me. "

" And I've found that, you know, the world of music is so vast and so broad, but at the same time, it's easy to find parts of yourself in places that you wouldn't even think that you were, you know? "

" When I was in junior high school, I knew I really wanted to sing. "