“Some kids in Italy call me ‘Mama Jazz; I thought that was so cute. As long as they don’t call me ‘Grandma Jazz.’”

Whatever she does to my songs, she always makes them sound better.

I think I do better when I sing.

I guess what everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved. And to know that you loved me for my singing is too much for me. Forgive me if I don’t have all the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

Coming through the years, and finding that I not only have just the fans of my day, but the young ones of today – that’s what it means, it means it was worth all of it.

Everybody wants to know about my style and how it came about. It’s no big secret. It’s the way I feel.

When we were at the Apollo, Holiday was a block away. I asked her for her autograph.

She has been more famous, over a longer time span, than any other female singer.

I’ve had some wonderful love affairs and some that didn’t work out. I don’t want to dwell on that and I don’t want to put people down, but I think all the fabulous places I’ve been, the wonderful things that have happened for me, the great people I’ve met – that ought to make a story.

Music is the universal language. It brings people closer together.

When I’m on stage I feel at home

Ella knows her way around her voice as very few people today. But there are times when she seems to be unaware there are things the human voice just doesn’t do. She does them.

What everyone wants more than anything else is to be loved.

I don’t want to say the wrong thing, which I always do. I think I do better when I sing.

The only thing better than singing is more singing.

It isn’t where you came from, its where you’re going that counts.

I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.

I love pointy nails! A cute way to add a pop of color to your nails is to make a V-shape at the ends of them in a pastel color.

It can be hard for the cute girl. I was blond, cute, broke. I was beat up. I was thrown inside lockers. I was burned with cigarettes. My hair was lit on fire.

There was a period in my late 30s where work slowed down for me, as it does for a lot of women. You’re no longer the young, cute thing anymore and maybe you’re not quite old enough to play (what others think of) in terms of women in charge.

I have no affinity for animals. I don’t hate animals and I would never hurt an animal; I just don’t actively care about them.

I will never forget that day. I just wanted to see Kurt Cobain’s face. I had a feeling he was very cute. But, I couldn’t see his face.

You grow up real quick, a half-Mexican in a sailor’s suit, because I’d be riding the streetcar to school everyday.

Minding my own business, humming out a ‘Frere Jacques’ – and I realized that in any other town, this might be considered cute. But you know what it is in San Francisco? Sexy.

Your cute shades, and it is kind of the outfit you stay in the entire day.