Cassandra Wilson

I'm always looking for ways to develop as an artist, especially as a jazz artist-to find different ways of testing my voice.

Miles Davis was doing something inherently African, something that has to do with all forms of American music, not just jazz.

I'm always imagining some sort of story behind the song, even the ones I haven't written. I'm actively engaging in playacting.

My first career ambitions involved turning into a boy; I intended to be either a railway guard or a knight errant.

Ever since I watched 'Roots,' I've dreamed of tracing my African ancestry and helping other people do the same.

When I have to compete with John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Louie Armstrong on iTunes, which I'm doing now, that's a problem. That means that jazz is not being heard by younger audiences.