My records are one thing. My live performances are something totally different because they're very improvised performances.

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

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 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.

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.

Early on, I started with classical voice and had that wonderful foundation. For where I wanted to go at that time, there were no teachers to teach it, so I came up with all kinds of different ways to develop the sound of my voice.

I'm always inspired to push forward.

I have a sketch of an idea and I never really talk about: perhaps do another jazz record, but with other elements involved.

I've always had really wonderful people around me. But early on, I remember I would walk into a session or go do something with some musicians, and they viewed me, basically, as their chick singer.

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

Now, jazz institutions are more readily available for young people, but for me, the institutions were the bands that I was in. When I worked with Clark Terry, that was the beginning of school for me, and Harry Belafonte and Sergio Mendes, they were all my universities.

There is a certain kind of fire that happens when you fall in love with a musician. I guess you understand one another because you're connected by a creative desire.

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'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.

My foundation is jazz. I do all the things jazz musicians do.

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.'

Each project that you do is something you believe in for that moment in time.

I had really great art classes. Really great art teachers. Arts played a very important role in having a place to express yourself uniquely.

Some people think that all you do is record, and it's not the case. You take on other projects as well, and you have to live a little bit because it inspires your work.

The music industry is changing. You only hear a sprinkling of big names, but there are a lot of really wonderful young musicians with great voices and lyrical content who have refined their sound. They're up in here, so don't think they're not. There's this wealth of talent below the surface that's ready to explode.

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.

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

The way I look at it, people pay me to travel. Once we get to the stage, that part is easy.

I really enjoy going out with my jazz group. That's something that I don't ever want to stop doing.

I don't like a lot of monitors on stage. I like the real raw sound of the open piano.

I've always liked a lot of different kinds of music.

Too many people judge a singer like Beyonce by what they see on the surface. Knowing the musicians she's worked with and how she works, I have a lot of respect for her.

Singers like Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar are very conscious of what's going on around them, and they're waking up lot of young people with that knowledge. They bring their enlightenment to the world; the world that is buying their records.

I always say that improvisation is the utterance of one's spirit, and it dictates your life experience, and that's how you find your concepts and your way for painting your musical picture.

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

I believe that music should really be without boundaries.

One of the things that I love about Sarah Vaughan is that she was always very current.

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.

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

I didn't learn the word 'genre' until way, way late - I mean, like, in the '80s.

Jazz onstage is a very intimate exchange between everybody that's onstage.

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

I love being with artists because I'm always open to getting into something.

Herb Wong was an incredible man. We met when I was performing with Clark Terry at the Wichita Jazz Festival around 1974.

My mother was really amazing and left me with a whole lot of treasures. I miss her terribly.

I have one closet that's just shoes. The woman go, 'Amen,' and the men go, 'Oh my God.' It's color-coordinated from the ceiling to the floor, from evening to casual.

I listen to music all the time, and a lot of the things I cover are the standards of my time, and they work for me.

I never called myself a jazz singer. I just call myself a vocalist because I love to sing all kinds of things.

Jazz musicians have always tended to have cult followings, which is pretty wonderful.

Brazilian music has been a part of almost every record I've done, and I'd eventually like to record an entire album of Brazilian music.

My life has been going in ways I never could have dreamed of - doing the closing celebration for the Olympic Games and being appointed the creative chair for jazz at the L.A. Philharmonic. So I've just decided I'll go with my flow and be very prepared.

If a song feels good to me, it's not very difficult to make it my own.

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.

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.

The Confederate flag is a divisive presence - it's the opposite of everything my artistry means and represents.