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" I'm a goof, man. "
Kurt Elling
Man
Goof
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" I've tried to educate myself in the world and what's beautiful and what has meaning and is lasting. Then I just follow my intuition and see how it fits. "
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" I don't really have a more intellectualized approach. After the fact, I can sure talk about stuff a lot - but when I make decisions, I really just follow what sounds good to me. "
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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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" It's true that I'm not known as a crooner or balladeer. I'm known for a more crusading or quixotic temperament. "
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" You can start from any source material, and you can approach it with a jazz ear, and then it will become a jazz moment. "
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" There's a wide spectrum of possibilities in how to deliver a song. "
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" I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close. "
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" You can never predict what the specific shape of your life is going to be, and you won't really know its general shape until, God willing, you're advanced in years and you have the time and opportunity to look back in a coherent way and see what your life was about. "
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Time
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" You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies. "
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" Every record is a gate of a certain kind for me. "
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Every
Record
Certain
" I had everything to gain by giving it everything I could. "
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Gain
Giving
" 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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Own
" If you're going to be transparent, you're going to have to let the music come that wants to come. "
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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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Happy
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Musicians
" If you start to dwell on your pain, the amount of pain will increase. "
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You
Dwell
Your
" If I was going to sell out, I would do it for more than 10,000 records. "
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More
Going
Out
" With a smaller setting, you have a lot more freedom and flexibility within a given moment, but not necessarily the velocity you have with a big band. "
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" I hope to be at the top of my game when I'm 65 or 70. I don't want to reach my peak at 29. Not that I'm holding back anything, but there's a bunch of junk I don't know. "
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Know
Want
Reach
" 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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Off
Fun
Something
" 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. "
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Original
Need
You
" While I revel in the memories of my own Grammy moment, I also know how it feels to walk away empty-handed. "
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Moment
Walk
" 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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Body
Heart
Waves
" I'm a jazz musician, and I really wanted to not miss an opportunity to have the full connection to jazz. "
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Jazz
Miss
Connection
" I like the power and versatility of a big band and how an orchestra can vary the dynamics from very loud to very quiet, and SNJO covers those bases. "
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Big
Power
" The idea is to be unrestrained by categories. "
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Categories
Idea
" Chicago has a burly, action-oriented but still self-assured and relaxed confidence to its stride. The city has a lot of wide-open space and all the possibilities that suggests. There's a lot of horizontal grandeur here. "
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Possibilities
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" I'd been studying philosophy at the University of Chicago. I hadn't been doing well, because I was sitting in with jazz musicians at night - it's hard to read Heidegger, but it's especially hard if you're half asleep. "
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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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Enough
" When improvisation is properly applied, it is compositional thinking, sped way up. "
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Way
" It's pretty rare in jazz to have a full-on steady band. "
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Band
Steady
Rare