Grace Knight: ” I have a fantastic job, I make people happy for a living.”

“I think the hardest was getting over my insecurity that I was a bit of a fraud, that I was a pop singer masquerading as a jazz singer. Quite some time ago, I just gave up on the labels and decided I was a story teller… I found that quite liberating, it meant I didn’t have to conform to any preconceived notion of what a jazz singer should be.”

Jamie Oehlers: Walking the tightrope

Jamie Oehlers: “Everything we do is enveloped in the arts, from the music we hear on the radio, the television shows we watch, the community events that draw people together, the phone we put in our hand. Art is all around us and inspires new thought and communication. This is how we create an identity as a national – not through digging up coal.”

Angela Davis: ‘New York forces you to be completely honest with yourself’

Angela Davis: “It has always been a dream of mine to record with strings – some of my favourite albums are ventures in jazz with strings; Art Pepper’s Winter Moon, Lee Konitz Strings for Holiday and Paul Desmond’s Desmond Blue. To me there’s something profoundly beautiful about the timbre of the alto saxophone blending with a string section.”