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

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" I know how hard it's been for me to get my thing out there. "

" You don't know what bravery is until you overcome fear. "

" It's a lovely thing to have people in any circumstance appreciate your work. "

" 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

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

Graduate School

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

" I don't really have a more intellectualized approach. After the fact, I can sure talk about stuff a lot - but when I make decisions, I really just follow what sounds good to me. "

" There's a spiritual complement to any attempt at transposing a commitment to humanity through music or art. "

" 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. "

" While I revel in the memories of my own Grammy moment, I also know how it feels to walk away empty-handed. "

" 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? "

" If you're going to be transparent, you're going to have to let the music come that wants to come. "

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

" You don't just let a guy drop off the earth and not come together with everybody who knew him and loved him and respected him. You try to do it the right way. "

" The idea is to be unrestrained by categories. "

" A lot of people are put off by the idea of scat singing. Either that or it's something to be made fun of. "

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

" 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. "

" If you start to dwell on your pain, the amount of pain will increase. "

" It helps me to learn things in different languages, even if it's just phonetically, and to make myself vulnerable to other audiences by trying to reflect back to them the genius of their own cultures, and to do that, oftentimes, in new jazz settings, new arrangements. It's a way to show respect. "

" I'm one of the culprits who keeps turning stuff around, shaking up original tunes and trying to stand the canon on its ear. But sometimes, you just need to sing the song. "

" 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'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 want to be the jazz singer. "

" 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 easy to get tired of religious fundamentalists. They're such a bore. They have no sense of mystery. It's a drag, man. "

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

" 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. "

" I've tried to learn as much as I can about the great jazz singers to understand what makes them important, vital artists, but there is always something more to learn. "

" I hope to be at the top of my game when I'm 65 or 70. I don't want to reach my peak at 29. Not that I'm holding back anything, but there's a bunch of junk I don't know. "