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I don't worry too much about the fundamentalist principles that are in almost any discussion about jazz.

I might sound like the weird artist hippy girl or whatever, but I don't have a complaint about what jazz is or what I'm doing with music. And that's more of a philosophy on my life. I could find things that maybe could shift or change, but ultimately, it's like that's not a good way to live our lives and think about what we do.

Everybody's not going to like jazz, let's just be honest about it. Everybody doesn't like everything. There's a disconnect in generations and some people just aren't going to feel that music.

I always used to say I'm definitely not a straight-ahead jazz singer, because then there's people who would hear what I do and say, 'Is it jazz? I don't know...' Whatever it is, it really comes down to creating music that makes people feel something.

Just figure out what you think jazz is, and then if it fits into that category, it's jazz, and if it doesn't, it isn't. It's no big deal.

I think the industry is oblivious to the fact that most people listen to all kinds of stuff. I personally don't know of anyone who listens to only one genre of music. It's vanity because no one does.

The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.

When somebody uses a word as a genre distinction, all it really does is trigger certain experiences, or music, that somebody's been exposed to. But that's an individual thing; there's no sort of universal understanding of what jazz is.

Jazz comes from our way of life, and because it's our national art form, it helps us to understand who we are.