Whenever I'm onstage, I try my best not to think that I'm performing. It's simply another part of my day.

It's not that I don't love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.

The audience is like my instrument. It's not just me up there, it's collaborative.

Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time.

If I stand there, appreciating the world around me as full of amazing sounds and the possibility of new ones, I think that invites other people to see the world that way, too. I love sharing the experience of singing with people, and I love sharing my stories. But when it comes to teaching, I have a lot of help.

Well, I started conducting kind of by accident. I wanted to give myself a special birthday present for my fortieth birthday, and I was living in San Francisco at the time and I started attending some of the concerts and then simply dropping hints.

I have a lot of albums yet to do.