Kurt Elling Quotes
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It helps me to learn things in different languages, even if it's just phonetically, and to make myself vulnerable to other audiences by trying to reflect back to them the genius of their own cultures, and to do that, oftentimes, in new jazz settings, new arrangements. It's a way to show respect.
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In New York, the drummers rush for a reason - because there's so much energy crackling through everything in that city and so many collisions at a highly accelerated rate.
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I'm a guy who has more slapstick than Joe Cool moments in his day, so I'm not taking myself so seriously.
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Listening to something without being present is different from being there in the flesh.
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I consider myself very fortunate. I have a beautiful wife who supports my work and is raising our daughter when I'm out on the road.
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People just want to dig; they want to dance. They don't want to work all through the night, and neither do I. I like getting 'out there,' but communication should be occurring on more levels than heavy-laden philosophical.
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Out in L.A., things relax even further than they do in Chicago. There's such a looseness to it, and there's a potentially refreshing advantage to that.
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You don't want to make records so you can win a Grammy. You make records because you want to be a musician.
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Of course we all know when music's too much in the head, and we define our greatest players by the way they are able to communicate directly from their emotional selves.
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The musicians in Chicago gave me my vocation, but New York calls to a jazz musician, for sure. You want to test your mettle.
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It's a beautiful thing to have time in the world, as a singer and as a musician, to make friends with people of the musical caliber of a Tommy Smith, an Arturo Sandoval, a Richard Galliano, a Till Broenner.
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People want to have access to jazz because it has a vibe that's very strong.
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Music is a physical expression that has a physical impact upon the listener. Sound travels in waves through the air. This is not abstract. This is scientific fact. And it makes physical contact with the eardrum... and with the heart... and with the rest of the body.
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I've tried to learn as much as I can about the great jazz singers to understand what makes them important, vital artists, but there is always something more to learn.
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You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies.
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You don't just let a guy drop off the earth and not come together with everybody who knew him and loved him and respected him. You try to do it the right way.
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There are incredible musicians around the world.
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A lot of people are put off by the idea of scat singing. Either that or it's something to be made fun of.
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Sometimes, with vocalese, I'm dealing with something, a great solo from the past, which is so iconic I can't presume to change it or mess with it.
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A lot of the commercial world wants to bank in on the cachet that jazz brings.
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The idea is to be unrestrained by categories.
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Grammy nominations are certainly pleasant, but you can forget about them and lead a perfectly happy life - provided you have the approval of the musicians you work with.
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I've got enough miles under my belt to know that whatever you envision in your mind, even if it comes true, will only keep a shape in the most general way.
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I'm one of the culprits who keeps turning stuff around, shaking up original tunes and trying to stand the canon on its ear. But sometimes, you just need to sing the song.