I've always wanted to record a jazz record. I did one in the '70s with Barbara Carroll. It's been a journey. Rita Coolidge More Quotes by Rita Coolidge More Quotes From Rita Coolidge I choose things by how they resonate in my heart. Rita Coolidge my-heart awareness heart Too often, the opportunity knocks, but by the time you push back the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarm, it's too late. Rita Coolidge humor opportunity funny I've got my whole life. There's a lifetime of experience, a lifetime of experiencing the road and the music and different players. It makes me a richer human being. I have a greater source of information to tap into, a wealth of life. Rita Coolidge information different player I think the challenges for me was to go into the studio with these incredible jazz players and come up to their level of excellence. That's always a challenge. Rita Coolidge player challenges thinking I'm not stopping. My dream has come true, and I'm staying. Rita Coolidge stopping stay-strong dream It seems that jazz is more cerebral and more mathematical in a sense. Rita Coolidge cerebral mathematical jazz My grandmother passed at 104. She sang and wrote songs until she passed. Rita Coolidge my-grandmother grandmother song I was kind of known as a ballad singer. People would send ballads. Some of them would go over my shoulder and float off the top of my head, and I just didn't feel anything. Then I would hear a song that would absolutely shake me. Rita Coolidge singers song people I don't think I was considered to be a cabaret singer because I didn't have patter that was written. Rita Coolidge cabaret singers thinking I think you have to have a jazz pedigree to be on jazz radio. Rita Coolidge jazz radio thinking I say what's in my heart, and I do it in my concerts. Rita Coolidge concerts my-heart heart Jazz radio is not very friendly to pop singers who decide to make a jazz record. But a lot of people have been. A lot of the people I've talked to like the record. Rita Coolidge records friendly people I wanted to make a jazz record. I didn't want it to be a standards record. Rita Coolidge records jazz want I've always loved jazz. Rita Coolidge jazz I recorded my first jazz record in the '70s. Rita Coolidge records jazz firsts If I'm driving to L.A. and have anxiety about making the drive, if I've got Peggy with me, we're cool. Rita Coolidge anxiety driving ifs Possibly, I should have been a jazz singer from the beginning. Rita Coolidge jazz singers should-have There was a subtlety about Peggy Lee. It was powerful. There was a valuable use of space. Everything was not cluttered. Her voice was out front and was the key instrument. Rita Coolidge voice powerful keys You know, I'm pretty much an open book. Rita Coolidge open-book knows book The month of September is Women in Jazz, so I'm doing jazz there in September. I'm in for the duration. Rita Coolidge month doing women jazz