Alanis Morissette

I was born in ’74, so I missed out on all the great early ’60s and early ’70s.

I didn’t have high self-esteem when I was a teenager, as I think most teenagers don’t.

I grew up in a very masculine environment. So I was around a lot of men, my brothers and their friends. There was just a lot of guys around.

Then I realized that secrecy is actually to the detriment of my own peace of mind and self, and that I could still sustain my belief in privacy and be authentic and transparent at the same time. It was a pretty revelatory moment, and there’s been a liberating force that’s come from it.

Down the road, I’ll probably have a kid or two or three. And there will probably be political events or spiritual things to comment on, and humor.

I think some fans want everything to stay they same because they want to stay the same.

I could write six songs in one day with everything that’s going on.

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

It’s not uncomfortable for me to be a sideman, but I feel more comfortable as a bandleader.

People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.

Play what you feel, feel what you play.

Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.

Music is like wine, the less you know about it the sweeter you like it. 

I love songs that are very autobiographical.

I didn’t need to worry about keys, chords, melody if I had that emotion that brought tears and laughter to people’s hearts.

I cannot say what I think is right about Music. I only know the rightness of it.

Jazz is a feeling more than anything else.

You just sort of have to play the way you are.

Your sound is you and what you really feel inside.

The spirit of Jazz is the spirit of openness.

There are times when you want to go where you used to go and you can’t go there. So I’m back to Count Basie lifting his hand. And I find you can stop that show with one note just like you can with a hundred.