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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. "

Kurt Elling

Body

Heart

Waves

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" It's a lovely thing to have people in any circumstance appreciate your work. "

" It's easy to get tired of religious fundamentalists. They're such a bore. They have no sense of mystery. It's a drag, man. "

" A lot of the commercial world wants to bank in on the cachet that jazz brings. "

" Listening to something without being present is different from being there in the flesh. "

" 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. "

" The idea is to be unrestrained by categories. "

Kurt Elling

Categories

Idea

" 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. "

" I had everything to gain by giving it everything I could. "

" 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. "

Kurt Elling

Decisions

I Can

" You don't know what bravery is until you overcome fear. "

" My strength is to communicate with an audience and to know what jazz singing is capable of. "

" The singer is always an ambassador of music. "

" 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. "

" It's pretty rare in jazz to have a full-on steady band. "

" If I was going to sell out, I would do it for more than 10,000 records. "

Kurt Elling

Going

Out

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" We live in a society where it's cool to be criminal. "

" I think I make most of my decisions pretty organically. "

" People want to have access to jazz because it has a vibe that's very strong. "

" I've worked with a number of big bands, but there's nothing in life like the Basie band. "

" It must be a hellish thing to know what's possible in music, to be hearing things all the time and not have an appropriate outlet for them. "

" I travel all the time. And as I go around the world, I try to learn a little something and not just take up all the available air. "

" When improvisation is properly applied, it is compositional thinking, sped way up. "

Kurt Elling

Thinking

Way

" One doesn't have to scat to be a jazz singer. "

" While I revel in the memories of my own Grammy moment, I also know how it feels to walk away empty-handed. "

" 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. "

" Each of the CDs prior to 'Flirting With Twilight' were more like roller-coaster rides. "

Kurt Elling

CDs

Twilight

" A lot of people are put off by the idea of scat singing. Either that or it's something to be made fun of. "