“I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.”

Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.

There’s no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

From the beginning, it has been a no-no for a black man to touch a white woman.

It doesn’t matter to me what is going on today because my music encompasses every kind of mood that exists in human beings. That’s my stick.

To be young, gifted and black!

We have ordered things so long in a certain way, we are numb. Nobody dares question it. This is what is wrong, symbolically, with America.

I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat – a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.

Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I’m lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.

Tomorrow, I might be in a different mood and you wouldn’t recognize my voice.

I don’t like rap music at all. I don’t think it’s music. It’s just a beat and rapping.

Through music you can become sad, joyful, loving, you can learn. You can learn mathematics, touch, pacing Oh my God! Ooh Wow You can see colors through music. Anything!

You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.

Every day has its emotional difficulties. I miss my mother whether I’m singing her music or not.

Music has been a burden and a joy for as long as I can remember.

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.

Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.