Sarah Vaughan

When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don’t even notice.

What was the competition? Well, I remember this Puerto Rican who came out in a short skirt and a gun.

There are notes between notes, you know.

My dream is to do whatever I want without any interference from the record company.

Judy Garland was the singer I most wanted to sound like then, not to copy, but to get some of her soul and purity. A wonderful young voice.

They always ask me the same questions. Where was I born? When did I start singing? Who have I worked with? I don’t understand why they can’t just talk to me without all that question bit.

You have a mentor or teacher and you learn all he can show you.

A Jazz musician is supposed to find his voice, find his niche and do his thing.

I don’t care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing.

I regard singing pretty much like acting. Each song is like playing a different role. I get very involved with my material. I feel a responsibility for the emotion it brings out in the listener.

Music is what feelings sound like.

Forgive me if I don’t have the words. Maybe I can sing it and you’ll understand.

Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.

A good quartet is like a good conversation among friends interacting to each other’s ideas.

While many attempts have been made to define Jazz, what’s the point really. Jazz is to be experienced – period.

Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.

I have a nice car, a Mercedes. And then I have an old El Camino truck that I’m crazy about. I like to get in that truck and go up in the hills near where I live, in Vegas, and take my camera. That, to me, is Heaven, being out in nature, taking pictures of the wildlife.

That’s the beauty of music. They can’t take it from you.

Music is like wine, the less you know about it the sweeter you like it. 

A guitar is something you can hold and love and it’s never going to bug you. But here’s the secret about the guitar – it’s defiant. It will never let you conquer it. The more you get involved with it, the more you realize how little you know.

For me, the main thing is spontaneity and taking chances.