You know, I am pretty much an open book.- Rita Coolidge
When I sang that song, I felt it was almost as if some force had moved into my body. Things like that have only happened to me singing jazz. It doesn't happen when singing pop. I get so deeply into the music, it feels like I have become someone else.
Universal was absolutely marvelous about sitting down with me and listening to my input. It wasn't something where they chose a bunch of songs that were best sellers. They did a marvelous job on the packaging. It's a beautiful tribute.
Too often, the opportunity knocks, but by the time you push back the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarm, it's too late.
There was a subtlety about Peggy Lee. It was powerful. There was a valuable use of space. Everything was not cluttered. Her voice was out front and was the key instrument.
The month of September is Women in Jazz, so I am doing jazz there in September. I am in for the duration.
Possibly, I should have been a jazz singer from the beginning.
My grandmother passed at 104. She sang and wrote songs until she passed.
Jazz radio is not very friendly to pop singers who decide to make a jazz record. But a lot of people have been. A lot of the people I have talked to like the record.
It seems that jazz is more cerebral and more mathematical in a sense.
If I am driving to L.A. and have anxiety about making the drive, if I have got Peggy with me, we are cool.
I have got my whole life. There's a lifetime of experience, a lifetime of experiencing the road and the music and different players. It makes me a richer human being. I have a greater source of information to tap into, a wealth of life.
I have always wanted to record a jazz record. I did one in the '70s with Barbara Carroll. It's been a journey.
I have always loved jazz.
I am not stopping. My dream has come true, and I am staying.
