Sarah Vaughan

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.

There’s a category for me. I like to be referred to as a good singer of good songs in good taste.

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

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

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.

There are notes between notes, you know.

A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside… I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do.

If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.

If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.

Jazz is not a what, it is a how.

New artists can own their content and completely build their base and their following without having to sell or be owned by anybody and it creates such a diversity.

And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.

No one remembers who wrote the tune, putting pen to paper in some lonely place. They remember who had the hit.

An artist should write for himself and not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

Sound is the first thing that we tune into.

Good Jazz is when the leader jumps on the piano, waves his arms and yells. Fine Jazz is when a tenorman lifts his foot in the air. Great Jazz is when he heaves a piercing note for 32 bars and collapses on his hands and knees. A pure genius of Jazz is manifested when he and the rest of the orchestra runaround the room while the rhythm section grimaces and dances around their instruments.

As a little kid, blues meant hope, excitement, pure emotion. Blues were about feelings. They seem to bring out the feelings of the artist and they brought out my feelings as a kid. They made me wanna move, or sing, or pick up Reverend’s guitar and figure out how to make those wonderful sounds.

In Jazz, improvisation isn’t a matter of just making any ol’ thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There’s no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.

Jazz is a complete lifestyle, something that you feel, something that you live.

Jazz music is our original American culture.

When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.