In spirituals, the talk of heaven and deliverance was code for a better life. 'Crossing the River Jordan' was code, of course, for escaping to freedo….

I bring my classical training - some of it, but not all of it - and also my background and culture, to spirituals. And I try to leave room for that u….

Wherever and whenever I sing, if there is only one spiritual on a program, people will talk about two things afterward, and one of them will be the s….

How many of the original songs survive intact from the slave cabins? Probably not many in their original form. Time has transformed them like light i….

New York is a great place to be fed in the arts. The arts in general are a large part of my life. The city was my postgraduate course..

I can't imagine life without singing..

The question is not... if art is enough to fulfill my life, but if I am true to the path I have set for myself, if I am the best I can be in the thin….

I think for more than half of my career I have refrained from talking to the media..

Some of the music I listen to is pop. I sing it in the shower - and then for public consumption..

I hear music that comes out of need, out of grief, sorrow, suffering and out of overcoming these things, as well. That journey to freedom still goes ….