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" When I first heard Nina Simone, her naked truth shocked me. Whenever she sang, it felt like lightning bolts in my soul. Every song was like a movie, a unique and very different vignette. "

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" I think people have come to know that I am not comfortable in a box, you know, and that I love music. "

" In any event, I'm proud to wear the badge of jazz vocalist if that's what people want to call me; but at the same time, there are many other things I like to do. "

" I had a few celebrity crushes when I was growing up, including Eddie Kendricks from the Temptations. And I loved Marvin Gaye - I thought he was everything and instantly fell for his voice. "

" I like coming home and sharing things I've tasted or seen. "

" When I worked with my uncle, I loved the fact that jazz music demanded that you use your own unique approach. "

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

" I love Denver. "

" I loved singing something like 'I've Got My Eye On You' when it's really about the FBI. It turns a love song into something else! "

" 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'm a great cook. People have asked me to do a cookbook. "

" It's funny: I look at songs, and I guess they each tell a story, and the different songs talk about different things. But they're unified by the rhythm underneath and the way that we decided to arrange and play them. "

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

" I grew up listening to all kinds of music. When I came up, you would hear people like Marvin Gaye talking about Sarah Vaughan. You would go to a show and see Ella Fitzgerald performing the music of the Beatles. "

" I knew what the story behind 'Dreams' was. It was about Stevie Knicks' relationship. But when I sing it, it's about sharing some sage advice with somebody. "

" The biggest thing is to just keep your voice in shape so that when the emotion hits, it's there to have the colors to paint those pictures with the lyrics as well as the sound. "

" I come from a family of storytellers. My grandmother was great at telling stories, and my mother was an amazing storyteller. "

" My musicians know all of my music, and so that makes for something different. "

" When I sing a song, I want someone to recognize 'Now that's Dianne singing that song.' "

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

" I'm always inspired to push forward. "

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

" I came up at a time in the late '60s, early '70s where music was without boundaries. You'd go into a music store, and the music was in alphabetical order. I hadn't heard of that word 'genre.' "

" I feel proud of my journey. I wouldn't change it. "

" Go out into the world with your passion and love for what you do, and just never give up. "

" 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. "

" My mother would say, 'Stay ready so you don't have to get ready.' I spent a lot of my early years preparing for beautiful moments that have unfolded in my life so far. "

" 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. "

" My junior high school teacher, Bennie Williams, was really more than a music teacher. She taught us poetry. She helped us put on school shows. She did all these kinds of things to help us stand in each other's shoes, and it was a really powerful time. That's when I discovered that I could sing. "

" I've dated a few musicians in my life, and it's kind of always been that way for me. You unite through creativity and share that process and more together. "

" I remember my grandmother used to always say, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket.' But when I realized that music was inside of me, I decided I'm putting all my eggs in one basket. "