You Can Never Loose A Thing If

I Am The First Instrument. I Am The Voice. I Do Not Imitate Other Instruments. Other Instruments Imitate Me.

It's A Spirit That Was Given Me And The Relationships And Meeting All These Great People, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong; Through Max I Met A Lot Of People Too. My First Album Was With Benny Carter.

I Was In New York, Miserable Because I Was Working Supper Clubs But I Wasn't Expressing Myself. I Was Really Unhappy With My Life. I Saw Max Roach Again And He Told Me I Didn't Have To Do Things Like That. He Made Me An Honest Woman On The Stage. I Have Been Performing In That Tradition Since. I Feel That I'm A Serious Performer Now Whereas Then I Wanted To Be But I Didn't Know How.

The Best Thing You Can Do Is To Be A Woman And Stand Before The World And Speak Your Heart.

We Have Inherited A Great Music. This Music Is A Holdover. It Comes With Us Like The Skin, The Texture Of Our Hair. It's Our Memory Banks.