Mclorin Salvant Quotes & Sayings

I think when black performers performed in blackface, they were kind of taking back slave songs, but it was still a little bit iffy because they were performing, a lot of times, for white audiences who found it hilarious. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Classical singing - everything had to be homogenous, and it had to just feel like one continuous flow from top to bottom, bottom to top. And in jazz, I felt like, oh, well, I can sing these deep, husky lows if I want and then sing these really, like, tiny, laser highs if I want, as well. And I have - I have no obligation to make it sound like it's just one continuous flow. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

What did you do to your hair? I don't like it as
much."
His brow knitted. "How do you like it?"
"I prefer the curls."
He looked as if she'd told him she preferred him with three eyes. "You used to make fun of them. You told me that if Bo Peep had a child with one of her sheep it would have hair like mine."
She burst out laughing - and gasped at the pain that shot through her scalp. "You are not making it up, are you? Did I really say that?"
"Sometimes you called me Goldilocks."
She had to remind herself not to laugh again. "And you married me? I sound like a very odious sort of girl."
"I was a very odious sort of boy, so you might say we were evenly matched."
She didn't know enough to comment upon that, but when he was near, she was ... happier. — Sherry Thomas

People grow up loving the Yankees and will tell you, and so many people despise the Yankees, and they come from all over the United States. — Curtis Granderson

Just reading that - just reading that a person can be black and still perform in blackface, making fun of black people for a living, and at the same time be a genius and be an incredible entertainer and at the same time be extremely conflicted and feel like - just feel terrible for doing that, essentially, which is what Bert Williams felt, from what I gather, from what I read - all of that just made - was so incredible to me. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I doubt myself a lot. And I'm very, very just overly critical. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Human life is fatally fragile and subject to forces beyond our power to manage. Life is tragic. — Timothy Keller

I did everything I could to not bring in any of the - any of the technical things I got from classical into jazz. And I did everything to really base it on my speaking voice and to just not try to make it sound pretty. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

You yourself must make an effort. Buddhas are only show the way. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the bondage of defilements. — Gautama Buddha

I never wanted to sound clean and pretty. I always wanted to have kind of a certain natural quality to my voice, and I wish it were more rough than it is. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I just became obsessed with looking for new singers, unknown singers, people that maybe have been forgotten, and really checking them out and analyzing what they do - and obsessive listening. I think that's the core of my work on music - has been just listening to things and listening to singers. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I wasn't listening to that much classical music - not much more than anything else. I was really lucky to have parents who loved all kinds of music. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I just don't like to be in my own - I'm already myself, so I don't like to be in my own - like, watch myself. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

Runners in the western world have a tendency to create psychological barriers for themselves, but Morceli runs at will, with no inhibitions. — Eamonn Coghlan

I remember in school - in elementary school - I used to recite poems. We'd have to recite poems. And I would always just, like, roll on the floor, like, just make it such a huge, melodramatic portrayal of whatever it was. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I had a hole in my voice. It's an area in the voice where it's air. It's just - there's no - it's just very airy. And my classical teachers were just so frustrated with me because I would have these deep, low notes that were really strong, and the higher register was strong, but right in that middle area, it was really hard. It was like a passage. And many singers go through this and work it out. But I realized in jazz, I could just take advantage of that and take advantage of having a voice that was very different in different areas. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I know why I'm obsessed with her. She's the innocence I've lost. As I was going dark, she was getting nothing but brighter. — Karen Marie Moning

There were so many specific things from high school jazz band that I remembered: the conductor searching out people who were out of tune, or stopping and starting me for hours in front of the band as they watched. — Damien Chazelle

I do love being onstage. And I've always loved playing a character and being watched doing that. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

I remember as a child I just would copy everyone else's handwriting, and now I have sort of a version of my sister's handwriting. And I feel like - sometimes I feel that way for my voice. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

It takes me a lot of time, and it's almost frustrating for the guys sometimes because they're waiting for a new song. And I - it's just so important for me to get the perfect, exact, right song. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

A man who is swayed by negative emotions may have good enough intentions, may be truthful in word, but he will never find the Truth. — Mahatma Gandhi

I think I'm fascinated with history and - just in general. And I'm always interested in how did - how did this come to be? Why is this the way it is? And even singing classical voice, I quickly became more and more interested with early music, baroque voice. And that became an obsession to me - just figuring out how - who are the ancestors of whatever it is. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

When Walt Whitman writes in seeming defiance of tradition, he needs tradition for his protection, for the butcher and the baker and the candlestick-maker grow merry over him when they meet his work by chance. — William Butler Yeats

Perhaps most people in the world aren't trying to be free, Kafka. They just think they are. It's all an illusion. If they really were set free, most people would be in a real pickle. You'd better remember that. People actually prefer not being free? — Haruki Murakami

If it's really important to you, I could like, pick you up and throw you on the couch or something. That was all it took to start the giggles going again. — Breeana Puttroff

The more I listened and became obsessed with singers, I feel like the more I realized that I had my own little thing that I could do. — Cecile McLorin Salvant

New Year's Eve. It's a promise of a night. Single, married or widowed, in love, loveless or lovelorn, we all leave our apartments and pick through snow in high heels, or descend subway stairs in tuxedos, lured to wherever we're going
whether we know it or not, would deny it or not
by the kiss of a stranger. — Jardine Libaire

I don't like being the focus of attention. It makes me very uncomfortable. And it's part of the reason I never look at videos of myself, or I very rarely listen to my music or even read things that I might've said. — Cecile McLorin Salvant