Jazz Vocalist Quotes

Sarah Vaughan was the Charlie Parker of the vocalists during the 1950s.

The one radio voice that I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words.

I've often cringed when I heard myself described as a jazz singer. I've always thought of myself as a jazz vocalist.

I prefer her [Nina Simone's] jazz period much more so than her folk period.

Chet Faker's a reference to the late Chet Baker. I'm a big fan of his vocal style; it's quite fragile and soft, and that was a style I wanted to take on.

Most of us remember Nat King Cole as a vocalist. His warm, grainy baritone is still so closely identified with such familiar ballads as 'Stardust' and 'The Christmas Song' that it's hard to imagine anyone else performing them.

I really love Dinah Washington and anything live from her - she had some of the greatest jazz musicians in the whole world, and sometimes she would be with a big band, and sometimes she'd just be on stage with a muted trumpet, upright bass, and a piano.

Denzal Sinclaire embodies the tradition of the great singers I love like Nat Cole, yet definitely has his own voice. He is one of my favourite singers.

Frank Sinatra turns 100 this year and his music has been a major player in the soundtrack of my life. So it's only right that I return the favor and pay it forward.

It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.

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

When Hank Jones had his night off, I would get somebody to take my place as intermission pianist and I'd play the show with Ella, so I would get a chance to play with Ray Brown and Charlie Smith as well.

One doesn't have to scat to be a jazz singer.

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.

Dianne Reeves, a famous jazz singer, would be my biggest influence.

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.

That's the thing: There are so many art songs in jazz. It's a much more rich experience for the singer than people think.

I really like Billie Holiday's husky voice, and I'd definitely like to find out more about her.

My mother had a gorgeous singing voice, and she'd play these amazing vinyls. My favorite was 'But Not for Me,' on the 1954 album 'Chet Baker Sings.'

When I was a teenager, I dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas or a jazz singer like June Christy or Chris Connor, or approaching songs with the kind of mystical lethargy of Billie Holiday, or championing the downtrodden like Lotte Lenya. But I never dreamed of singing in a rock-and-roll band.

No one in the world can beat Ella Fitzgerald as a riff singer.

Diana Krall knocks me out. I like jazz and I like her simple approach.