This album was really my way to say thank you to France for having opened its arms and adopted me, calling me one of their own.

The first time I saw him perform was at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1994 and I cried, and everyone in the club cried. I'm fascinated by his phrasing. He's been an inspiration to a lot of people.

'This Is New' was a beginning for me, a gentle announcement that this was where I was moving. For me as a musician, I've got to continue challenging myself. I'm sure at some point I'll come back to straight-ahead jazz, but I'm feeling the need to go outside of that realm right now to enlarge my musical vocabulary.

There wasn't a whole lot going on in the States for black actresses at the time. I didn't have a recording contract, and my daughters and I really liked the lifestyle we had.

President Clinton intentionally created a structure that was a little loose. And one that kept him a little in the center. He didn't want one person filtering all the information that went to him. He had always operated with a lot of information coming in and a lot of stuff going out.

This is a generation weaned on Watergate, and there is no presumption of innocence and no presumption of good intentions. Instead, there is a presumption that, without relentless scrutiny, the government will misbehave.