I'm always looking for ways to develop as a Jazz artist, to find different ways of using my voice.

I cringed when I heard myself described as a Jazz singer. I've always thought of myself as a Jazz vocalist.

Being black, I'm involved in the reparations movement. It's focused toward the African-American audience. We could begin to heal.

Miles Davis was doing something inherently African, something that has to do with all forms of American music, not just jazz.

I was never interested in singing in the church or school. I was more interested in becoming a musician.

My grandmother sang, too, and she was really loud. It was this wild kind of singing. I count her among my influences.

My father had all kinds of instruments in the house that he would hide from my mother. He bought them through mail order!

Miles Davis was a master. In every phase of his career, he understood that this music was a tribute to the African muse.

I'm always imagining some sort of story behind the song, even the ones I haven't written. I'm actively engaging in playacting.

Everything I do is collaborative. It's just my way. I'm really very interested in how the other musicians perceive the song.

Here, in this quiet place we own, worlds are born.

One can only describe the human but can never define it because humans are complex in their nature.

You dress to impress," I said approvingly. "No, Angel." He leaned in, his teeth softly grazing my ear. "I undress to impress.

When our worries and fears just don't make sense, it's possible we are trusting the part of the brain that doesn't make sense... it just reacts.

Our Western science, ever since the 17th century, has been obsessed with the notion of control, of man dominating nature. This obsession has led to disaster.

Don’t run to the phone, run to the throne.

Humans are stupid. I'm ashamed to be human.

Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue, followed him up to the gates of Graceland.

An excuse becomes an obstacle in your journey to success when it is made in place of your best effort or when it is used as the object of the blame.

First of all, I don't think that America is truly prepared for a biological or a chemical attack. However, we are moving in the right direction.

I pray to the angels that worship the devil.