It's a new dawn, it's a new day...and I'm feeling good.

I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.

When I choose material for an album all these songs I grew up with pour into my head.

Jazz is not just music, it's a way of life, it's a way of being, a way of thinking. . . . the new inventive phrases we make up to describe things - all that to me is jazz just as much as the music we play.

I believe in racial memory too. I'm sure I've got ancient African blood in me that has something to do with what I am.

My love is like the wind and wild is the wind. Give me more than one caress, satisfy my hungriness. Let the wind blow through your heart for wild is the wind.

I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.