I am a fan of the compositions of The Beatles, but I don't care for their interpretation of them. But as compositions, I just think that some of them are brilliant and have become standards.

I would like to have people hear dissonance, but I don't want it to be so off-putting that they never get there to begin with. That's actually how I hear it; that's what's pleasant to me. I don't like dense, chaotic dissonance. My brain gets lost. I need something to hang onto.

I have a good life. I have nothing to complain about, and the music is just too interesting.

I think I started to come into my own when I started doing more original material, and that, I think, culminated in 1998's Modern Cool. I insisted on going my own way. I think until you're more prolific, people don't trust that. So at first I think it was harder. They didn't know what to think, but as I continued along that path, they generally came my way.

Music chooses her musicians.

All music now, I think, is fair game for jazz musicians to interpret, and they have been. I would consider those songs standards now. "Norwegian Wood" is a standard; "Call Me" is a standard.

Jon Deitemyer is the drummer everyone wants right now.