Alicia Keys

Until we’re in those rooms as equally as men are, it can’t shift.

[on Prince] I learned about music that didn’t have any barriers or any kind of, like, containment. I learned about wild, crazy topics and ways to express yourself that had never been written in quite that way before. I learned that a human being could be able to defy all stereotypes, and be the epitome of badassness.

I feel the presence of a higher power. I believe that what you give is what you get. It’s universal law. I believe in the power of prayer and of words. I’ve learned that when you predict that negative things will happen, they do.

The rain can’t stop the vibes that are going to be created TODAY!!!

What I learned the most from Prince was putting art first, being creatively ambitious, and putting creativity at the forefront of what I do.

I want to keep redefining my work and trying new things. I want my music to be able to fit into any category. I want it to float wherever my heart goes. My music is heart music; giving it any other description is dangerous.

I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.

Sometimes you need to stand with your nose to the window and have a good look at Jazz.

You get that right tickin’ rhythm, man and its ON!

Mozart in his music was probably the most reasonable of the world’s great composers. It is the happy balance between flight and control, between sensibility and self-discipline, simplicity and sophistication of style that is his particular province… Mozart tapped once again the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breath-taking rightness that has never since been duplicated.

Mary Lou Williams used to tell me: If you’re not feeling right, play a minor tune and it falls into place.

After the music is over it’s gone in the air. You can never capture it again.

One of the great moments of my life was when I could write musician on my passport.

Bass players are always the intellectual kind, but nobody knows it.

I think Ive done the best I could have done. But I keep wanting to play better, go further. There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I havent yet done. When I was younger I thought maybe Id reached that peak. But Im 86 now, and if I make it through to next month, Ill be 87. And now I know it can never be perfect, it can never be exactly what it should be, so you got to keep going further, getting better.

I don’t meditate before I play or compose, but I see playing and composing as meditative acts.

All this is saying is, OK I see now, the ‘hood does not quite want Shirley Bassey yet, so let me still give them this. Crack Music was made after Diamonds. After black people were like, ‘I don’t know about this one.’ It was like me reaching too high for the cookie jar.

I want people to walk away with the same joy, hope and love that I put into my music.

The sound of the orchestra is one of the most magnificent musical sounds that has ever existed.

The genius of our country is improvisation, and jazz reflects that. It’s our great contribution to the arts.

It takes an intelligent ear to listen to Jazz.