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" Jazz has provided the framework for all the other stuff that I've done. "

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" I let the song guide me. I move through the space that I'm given rather than trying to make an impression on the material. I'm curious to learn from the music. "

" 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. "

" I get bored very quickly. "

" There's a beautiful, kind of seductive trap in being autobiographical in our writing of songs: We just get stuck in our own syrup, and it's so personal that it almost can be embarrassing to the listener. "

" I am more prolific when I have something to respond to. I get my juice from people and real stories and things that seem common but are amazing. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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 love talking to other musicians on tour and finding out what we all have to do, not just as artists but as business people. A lot of us are investing and trying to use social media. It is such an interesting level of responsibility and engagement on all these levels. I don't know how one can do this without absolute commitment and faith. "

" I know how to make myself comfortable. "

" 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. "

" It's hard to know who you are until you're cracked open a little bit. "

" I come from a lineage of ministers. "

" I'm kind of a subtle person. "

" I'm a preacher's kid, I'm big-boned, I have giant feet, and I've always been able to run fast, and so I had this sense of, 'I can't fail. I'm invincible. I'm made of green juice and concrete; nothing's gonna happen to me.' "

" So many great singers we know have come from the church. "

" 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. "

" Making a record and being a touring artist is about cooperation between spirit, craft, emotion, and focus. "

" Surrender is working with what happens. "

" My father was very strict, a very militant parent, because he wanted us to be very focused kids. He sold the televisions, so we didn't watch TV. And he didn't want any music playing that wasn't gospel or inspirational music. In fact, he didn't even like a lot of gospel because he thought it was too bluesy. "

" I think of myself as an interpretative singer and a songwriter. "

" I see 'Grace' as an affectionate refusal of things that just aren't true. With all our power and money and influence, we still can't raise up high over people's consciousness. "

" I didn't wait around for my parents' opinion about my venture out into contemporary music. "

" I think, as singers and performers, we are ambassadors of the human experience. I don't want to get bored just talking about myself. "

" The women and the men are teachers and preachers in my family, and a little bit of both those fell on me. "

" By high school, I was putting the music for the services together and teaching Sunday school to everybody's kids. "

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

" I want to record, tour, and just live life. "

" I love singing all types of genres. "

" Salif Keita's one of my favorite artists. "