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" I've worked with a number of big bands, but there's nothing in life like the Basie band. "
Kurt Elling
Big
Number
Nothing
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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. "
Kurt Elling
Jazz
Learn
Important
" There's a wide spectrum of possibilities in how to deliver a song. "
Kurt Elling
Wide
Deliver
How
" If you start to dwell on your pain, the amount of pain will increase. "
Kurt Elling
You
Dwell
Your
" It's pretty rare in jazz to have a full-on steady band. "
Kurt Elling
Band
Steady
Rare
" It's true that I'm not known as a crooner or balladeer. I'm known for a more crusading or quixotic temperament. "
Kurt Elling
Temperament
True
More
" I try to stick with things that I can sing with honesty. "
Kurt Elling
Honesty
I Can
Stick
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
Space
Possibilities
Confidence
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
Wife
Myself
Beautiful
" As improvisers, we're acting as composers in front of people. "
Kurt Elling
Front
People
Acting
" There is an actor's responsibility in presenting the emotional content of the lyrics to an audience. But whether you do that in a straightforward fashion or an ironic fashion or a blase fashion is all about opportunities, and singers are missing opportunities as artists if they don't pay attention to the lyric. "
Kurt Elling
Opportunities
Fashion
Responsibility
" Listening to something without being present is different from being there in the flesh. "
Kurt Elling
Listening
Without
Present
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
Happy
Happy Life
Musicians
" Each of the CDs prior to 'Flirting With Twilight' were more like roller-coaster rides. "
Kurt Elling
CDs
Twilight
Like
" I try to sleep as much as I can. I drink a lot of water. I practice consistently and just try to be ready for the gig. "
Kurt Elling
I Can
Practice
Water
" I haven't been afraid of John Coltrane or Miles Davis or Bill Evans or Wayne Shorter or Herbie Hancock. Why would I be afraid of the Beatles? "
Kurt Elling
Would
Miles
Beatles
" You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies. "
Kurt Elling
Getting
Lyrics
Fit
" I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close. "
Kurt Elling
Pretty
Innovation
Jazz
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
Great
Past
Mess
" You don't know what bravery is until you overcome fear. "
Kurt Elling
Overcome
You
Bravery
" You don't want to make records so you can win a Grammy. You make records because you want to be a musician. "
Kurt Elling
Records
Win
You
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
World
People
Time
" I've got more low notes than I had when I started. "
Kurt Elling
Started
Low
Than
" I didn't arrive on the scene until after Jaco Pastorius had passed, but 'Three Views of a Secret' is a long-time favourite of mine. "
Kurt Elling
Secret
Three
Scene
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
You
Flexibility
Band
" Salacious? I suppose every once in a while the salacious thing is not a bad thing. It's kind of monochromatic if that's all you do. "
Kurt Elling
Kind
Suppose
Bad
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
Beautiful
Meaning
Myself
" I had everything to gain by giving it everything I could. "
Kurt Elling
Had
Gain
Giving
" That's the thing: There are so many art songs in jazz. It's a much more rich experience for the singer than people think. "
Kurt Elling
Experience
Think
Art
" You can start from any source material, and you can approach it with a jazz ear, and then it will become a jazz moment. "
Kurt Elling
Will
Jazz
Moment
" When improvisation is properly applied, it is compositional thinking, sped way up. "
Kurt Elling
Up
Thinking
Way