Every singer eventually gets around to a Christmas disc.

I've always been inspired by artists who have shown musical and intellectual curiosity and the courage to take risks.

Your brain has a music room, and evolution would not have gone to the trouble of designing that if it didn't have some benefits. So, that suggests to me that we and our ancestors have had music as a central part of our experience for eons. And we're just beginning to understand how that might be. I think that's fascinating.

I cannot imagine a more satisfying calling than my own: beauty, humanity, and history every day, combined with the cathartic joy of singing.

My parents discussed singing every night over the dinner table; I had a tremendous music education.

Certainly, jazz has become more of a niche, which is surprising, because it's our music. It's the national music of America.

My mother was the worst kind of stage mother. She would make me and my younger sister and brother little duckling costumes and put us in kiddie shows.