Even in a world with much sadness, at its essence, life is beautiful.

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

I think the only way for you to grow and evolve is to keep listening, keep moving forward, keep jumping in and trying to experience.

I come from a family of musicians.

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.

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!

I think jazz is the foundation for a lot of great musicians, and then after that, you know, it's this broad expression of things that really have influenced and addressed your life.

My demographic is very broad. Once they come, they had an idea about jazz, and then they hear me, and they come back with sisters, brothers, and kids. My audience looks like America to me.

I love New York City because there's something to do 24/7, something that will make you see things in a whole different light. Like they say, it's the city that never sleeps.

Lizz Wright, we call her lovingly 'Amazing Grace.' She has a folk and gospel kind of approach to the music, and she writes beautiful lyrics and songs. She's like this balm that is really full and very rich and deep.

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

My friend Harry Belafonte is an activist and musician, an extraordinary man who has dedicated his life to human rights. He taught me the power of words and that music can be used to heal and educate people.

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.

When I found out how music made me feel and how my singing made other people feel, that's when I decided this is what I wanted to do.

My mother was actually born in Toledo and raised in Detroit.

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

Art and culture and all of these things - they really matter. They shape your individuality.

I love to create something new every night onstage; that makes a big difference.

The music we do is weaved together through stories and life experiences. When people come to hear us, I hope they are are uplifted and that we give them a lot to take home.

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

My musical selections are a reflection of how I grew up. Because, back then, you could see Miles Davis and Ravi Shankar on the same stage. And nobody thought anything of it, other than the fact that it was great music.

I've always respected and taken care of my instrument.

Jazz musicians have always taken the standards of their time and performed them with a jazz sensibility.

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.

I did a project called 'Sing The Truth,' which was a lot of fun. It started out being a celebration of the music of Nina Simone, and it was me and Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo.

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.

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

I had aunts who played piano and sang and also were entertainers, so music was very much a part of my life.

I think that when I started singing, I didn't know what I wanted to do; I only knew what I didn't want to do.

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.

The biggest thing is, when I was coming up, the thing that made you wonderful was your uniqueness. People celebrated that.

When I was in junior high school, I knew I really wanted to sing.

Nina Simone is a musical genius and a rich and precious treasure who paid a heavy price for her artistic freedom.

I never wanted to do anything else, really. I left home at an early age trying to find my voice, my niche in music.

I grew up with great mentors in my life who helped me become the singer I am today.

I never looked or really believed that music should be categorized into particular genres.

Music is a conversation between the audience and me, and I love that about my profession.

And I've found that, you know, the world of music is so vast and so broad, but at the same time, it's easy to find parts of yourself in places that you wouldn't even think that you were, you know?

I love Denver.

I lived in Los Angeles for a long time, and in a lot of ways, I felt like I lived in my car.

Anything that had to do with music is what I wanted to do.

Being from Colorado is, to me, very, very special. I'm just very thankful to be here. I'm also thankful to be a part of the history of this state.

Oh my gosh, I love Jon Hendricks.

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

A lot of young people want to become jazz singers, but there are not more jam sessions like there used to be. I just want to have the opportunity to be able to bring that to some young people.

People think jazz music is all standards and the Great American Songbook. But it's really about the sensibility, the feel you bring to the music.

I think an artist who has it in their heart to do or say something, they'll say it. It's not something that's mandatory, but it will come out.

Art is a direct reflection of the life you live. What you experience comes out in your work.

When I moved to Los Angeles, right away I met all kinds of musicians.

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