Diana Krall

I work very hard at being the best musician I can be because I love it.

You want the listener to find the song on their own, give too much away and it takes away from the imagination.

I’ve sung a lot of emotional songs, but when you’re writing it’s very difficult to decide what to reveal.

Love songs last because they are about feelings that don’t change.

I’m not really on a mission to tell anybody anything. I’d rather be figured out.

The greatest thing about music is putting it out there for people to figure out.

Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.

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

Inspiration comes from tunes you play, other musicians and your own imagination.

You only go around once and this ain’t no rehearsal.

To keep a band together you simply need a gimmick. The gimmick I use is to pay them money.

I’m very shy, and I shy away from people. But the moment I hit the stage, it’s a different feeling I get nerve from somewhere; maybe it’s because it’s something I love to do.

Don’t say Aretha is making a comeback, because I’ve never been away!

Sometimes I just think that there are more things to be said to make the audience understand what I’m trying to do more. When I’m singing, I don’t want you to just hear the melody. I want you to relive the story, because most of the songs have pretty good storytelling.

The hidden things, the subconscious that lies in the body and lets you know: You feel this, you play this.

You don’t know what love is, until you’ve learned the meaning of the blues, until you’ve loved a love you’ve had to lose.

I like the interplay in the music.

A guy is influenced by hundreds of people and things, and all show up in his work. To fasten on any one or two is ridiculous. I will say one thing, though. Lennie Tristano’s early records impressed me tremendously. Tunes like ‘Tautology,’ ‘Marshmallow,’ and ‘Fishin’ Around.’ I heard the fellows in his group building their lines with a design and general structure that was different from anything I’d ever heard in jazz.

You compose because you want to somehow summarize in some permanent form your most basic feelings about being alive, to set down some sort of permanent statement about the way it feels to live now, today.

Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it.

I don’t believe music can be free unless it has something to be free from.