Top 106 Quotes & Sayings by Dianne Reeves - Page 2

I've always liked a lot of different kinds of music.

I had really great art classes. Really great art teachers. Arts played a very important role in having a place to express yourself uniquely.

My life has been going in ways I never could have dreamed of - doing the closing celebration for the Olympic Games and being appointed the creative chair for jazz at the L.A. Philharmonic. So I've just decided I'll go with my flow and be very prepared.

I really enjoy going out with my jazz group. That's something that I don't ever want to stop doing.

Some people think that all you do is record, and it's not the case. You take on other projects as well, and you have to live a little bit because it inspires your work.

Too many people judge a singer like Beyonce by what they see on the surface. Knowing the musicians she's worked with and how she works, I have a lot of respect for her.

In any event, I'm proud to wear the badge of jazz vocalist if that's what people want to call me; but at the same time, there are many other things I like to do.

I came up at a time in the late '60s, early '70s where music was without boundaries. You'd go into a music store, and the music was in alphabetical order. I hadn't heard of that word 'genre.'

Jazz musicians have always tended to have cult followings, which is pretty wonderful.

My demographic is very broad. Once they come, they had an idea about jazz, and then they hear me, and they come back with sisters, brothers, and kids. My audience looks like America to me.

I don't like a lot of monitors on stage. I like the real raw sound of the open piano.

If a song feels good to me, it's not very difficult to make it my own.

Each project that you do is something you believe in for that moment in time.

Now, jazz institutions are more readily available for young people, but for me, the institutions were the bands that I was in. When I worked with Clark Terry, that was the beginning of school for me, and Harry Belafonte and Sergio Mendes, they were all my universities.

I knew what the story behind 'Dreams' was. It was about Stevie Knicks' relationship. But when I sing it, it's about sharing some sage advice with somebody.

The way I look at it, people pay me to travel. Once we get to the stage, that part is easy.

I have one closet that's just shoes. The woman go, 'Amen,' and the men go, 'Oh my God.' It's color-coordinated from the ceiling to the floor, from evening to casual.

I come from a family of storytellers. My grandmother was great at telling stories, and my mother was an amazing storyteller.

I feel proud of my journey. I wouldn't change it.

I had a few celebrity crushes when I was growing up, including Eddie Kendricks from the Temptations. And I loved Marvin Gaye - I thought he was everything and instantly fell for his voice.

I love being with artists because I'm always open to getting into something.

My foundation is jazz. I do all the things jazz musicians do.

Jazz onstage is a very intimate exchange between everybody that's onstage.

I like coming home and sharing things I've tasted or seen.

The music industry is changing. You only hear a sprinkling of big names, but there are a lot of really wonderful young musicians with great voices and lyrical content who have refined their sound. They're up in here, so don't think they're not. There's this wealth of talent below the surface that's ready to explode.

I've dated a few musicians in my life, and it's kind of always been that way for me. You unite through creativity and share that process and more together.

The Confederate flag is a divisive presence - it's the opposite of everything my artistry means and represents.

Herb Wong was an incredible man. We met when I was performing with Clark Terry at the Wichita Jazz Festival around 1974.

One of the things that I love about Sarah Vaughan is that she was always very current.

I believe that music should really be without boundaries.

I didn't learn the word 'genre' until way, way late - I mean, like, in the '80s.

The biggest thing is to just keep your voice in shape so that when the emotion hits, it's there to have the colors to paint those pictures with the lyrics as well as the sound.

Brazilian music has been a part of almost every record I've done, and I'd eventually like to record an entire album of Brazilian music.

When I sing a song, I want someone to recognize 'Now that's Dianne singing that song.'

I've always had really wonderful people around me. But early on, I remember I would walk into a session or go do something with some musicians, and they viewed me, basically, as their chick singer.

There is a certain kind of fire that happens when you fall in love with a musician. I guess you understand one another because you're connected by a creative desire.

I never called myself a jazz singer. I just call myself a vocalist because I love to sing all kinds of things.

I listen to music all the time, and a lot of the things I cover are the standards of my time, and they work for me.

My mother was really amazing and left me with a whole lot of treasures. I miss her terribly.

The singer who really opened the door for me was Sarah Vaughan. But I listen to so much music, especially when I was growing up. My parents loved jazz music, so on Saturday [laughing] it would be the "Longine's Symphonettes," and on Sunday it was Mahalia Jackson.

Jazz was home. It created a hunger within me.

You can't get to no better days Unless you make it through the night

There's a bridge to tomorrow, There's a bridge to the past.

Peter Martin’s artistry is nothing short of extraordinary. To sing with him is sublime – to listen to him play is a transcendent experience.

The beauty of Billie Holiday is that she gave every singer after her the license to interpret and perform music in ways that were unique to each of us. Her uniqueness was very much a part of the way she sang the songs, the story she wanted to tell through the songs. I didn't really have a full understanding of Billie until I left home -- until I'd lived a little, shall we say. At different seasons of my life, when I'd sing her songs or listen to her albums, I'd hear things I didn't hear before. Wherever you are in life, you'll hear different things in her songs.

Silver gray hair Neatly combed in place There were four generations Of love on her face She was so wise No surprise passed her eyes She's seen it all