I have had a very difficult time with stage fright; it undermines your well-being and peace of mind, and it can also threaten your livelihood.

In a way, being an opera singer is like being a very romantic sixteen-year-old who falls in love with great passion and conviction every month.

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

Music was language in our house. It was air.....I feel certain that if I absorbed any lessons at all in the first months and years of my life, they must have been about the work that went into making a beautiful sound.

I think singing it when its done well is extremely natural. It feels great.

Being steeped in the process of learning and exploring keeps me from becoming too nervous. Partly it's about not getting bored.

When I sing, the sound is a totally different range, color, all of it. It's all about the breath. You take in a breath and you make a sound.