I'm still learning, you know. At 80, I feel there is a lot I don't know.
music became my refuge and then my salvation.
I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept. I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked.
My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.
50 years old is like springtime to me.
Count Basie isn't just a man, or even just a band. He's a way of life.