Dianne Reeves

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

My records are one thing. My live performances are something totally different because they're very improvised performances.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

In high school, we had a really great jazz program that I finally was able to be a part of. They only wanted instrumentalists; they didn't want any singers. But I made my way in, and I remember the conductor of the band wrote a lot of arrangements and asked me what I wanted to sing.

A lot of young people want to become jazz singers, but there are not more jam sessions like there used to be. I just want to have the opportunity to be able to bring that to some young people.

Being from Colorado is, to me, very, very special. I'm just very thankful to be here. I'm also thankful to be a part of the history of this state.

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.