Dianne Reeves

When I moved to Los Angeles, right away I met all kinds of musicians.

My mother was actually born in Toledo and raised in Detroit.

Go out into the world with your passion and love for what you do, and just never give up.

Anything that had to do with music is what I wanted to do.

I never looked or really believed that music should be categorized into particular genres.

I think that when I started singing, I didn't know what I wanted to do; I only knew what I didn't want to do.

When I found out how music made me feel and how my singing made other people feel, that's when I decided this is what I wanted to do.

I had aunts who played piano and sang and also were entertainers, so music was very much a part of my life.

I come from a family of musicians.

My musicians know all of my music, and so that makes for something different.

I grew up listening to all kinds of music. When I came up, you would hear people like Marvin Gaye talking about Sarah Vaughan. You would go to a show and see Ella Fitzgerald performing the music of the Beatles.

I did a project called 'Sing The Truth,' which was a lot of fun. It started out being a celebration of the music of Nina Simone, and it was me and Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo.

Jazz musicians have always taken the standards of their time and performed them with a jazz sensibility.

I've always respected and taken care of my instrument.

My musical selections are a reflection of how I grew up. Because, back then, you could see Miles Davis and Ravi Shankar on the same stage. And nobody thought anything of it, other than the fact that it was great music.

I always have a little bit of Brazil and New Orleans in my band.

Art and culture and all of these things - they really matter. They shape your individuality.

Your voice is not your instrument. Your voice is the character that you build, your innermost feelings, the things that you want to say, and your instrument is the vehicle that you use to carry the message.

When I worked with my uncle, I loved the fact that jazz music demanded that you use your own unique approach.

I loved singing something like 'I've Got My Eye On You' when it's really about the FBI. It turns a love song into something else!