“My dad was born in Haiti, and my mom was born in Tunisia. She is the d...” — Cecile McLorin Salvant Quote

My dad was born in Haiti, and my mom was born in Tunisia. She is the daughter of a white French woman and a black, half-Guadeloupian, half-American man. My mom traveled the world a lot. She went through Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. She just got to experience a lot of different cultures, and that came through my childhood.

Jazz sometimes can be really complicated and inaccessible to people because they don't know what to start with. You can start with something that you love, but if you start with something that you hate, then it's like, 'You know what, I hate jazz.' It took me a lot of time to catch on to jazz, too.

Most of the people that I learned and experienced jazz with have been with foreign white people, mostly from France. Excluding my family.

My compositions are, I would say, like pages ripped from a diary that I don't really want to share, but that I almost feel the need to share. It's a way for me to get things out that I can't get out in life, you know, in real regular conversation with people.

I've been to Japan, I've been to China, I've been to Africa, I've been to the Middle East, I've been to Europe a little bit. I've never been to South America.

Right now, the Anglo people are desperately trying to hold on to the United States, like they tried to hold on to Africa.

Ultimately the white man should leave the United States and the black people should go back to Africa.

In my view, Africa's real problems are cultural.

Everyone is related to Africa; everyone comes from Africa. We are all distant relatives.