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" My strength is to communicate with an audience and to know what jazz singing is capable of. "
Kurt Elling
Know
Strength
Audience
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" 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
" 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
" As improvisers, we're acting as composers in front of people. "
Kurt Elling
Front
People
Acting
" I'm thrilled when I hear the greatest jazz musicians. They continue to search in ways other musicians do not. "
Kurt Elling
Greatest
Search
Hear
" A lot of people are put off by the idea of scat singing. Either that or it's something to be made fun of. "
Kurt Elling
Off
Fun
Something
" I try to stick with things that I can sing with honesty. "
Kurt Elling
Honesty
I Can
Stick
" I hope that I'm also maturing emotionally as a human being as things go on. "
Kurt Elling
Hope
Human
Human Being
" One doesn't have to scat to be a jazz singer. "
Kurt Elling
Jazz Singer
Singer
Jazz
" I can't say New York's home, but I've made a lot of friends, and I'm developing a map of what cats are here and where they play, and as a singer, you're always looking for projects that tie things in emotionally and intuitively with your life. "
Kurt Elling
Life
You
Looking
" The musicians in Chicago gave me my vocation, but New York calls to a jazz musician, for sure. You want to test your mettle. "
Kurt Elling
Musicians
You
Jazz
" Audiences have taught me how to sing better and entertain better. "
Kurt Elling
Sing
Me
Taught
" There are incredible musicians around the world. "
Kurt Elling
Incredible
Musicians
World
" 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'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. "
Kurt Elling
Original
Need
You
" I had everything to gain by giving it everything I could. "
Kurt Elling
Had
Gain
Giving
" If I was going to sell out, I would do it for more than 10,000 records. "
Kurt Elling
More
Going
Out
" The idea is to be unrestrained by categories. "
Kurt Elling
Categories
Idea
" 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
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
Communication
Work
Want
" 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
Me
Decisions
I Can
" 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
" The great jazz and jazz-influenced singers carry themselves with a certain panache and a certain elegance and, for lack of a better word, self-confidence. "
Kurt Elling
Great
Self-Confidence
Better
" My intellect was quickened at divinity school, and my abilities to discern were strengthened, and that's always valuable. "
Kurt Elling
Intellect
Divinity
School
" 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. "
Kurt Elling
Know
Define
Too Much
" You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies. "
Kurt Elling
Getting
Lyrics
Fit
" Romance is one of the things that most countries share, and I've noticed how different communities have their own ways of singing about love and heartbreak. "
Kurt Elling
Own
Love
Singing
" My goal is to be really incredible by the time I'm 70. "
Kurt Elling
Incredible
Goal
Really
" You learn as much as you can from the people that you work with. That's why you want to surround yourself with the heaviest people that you can possibly get to. "
Kurt Elling
Surround Yourself
You
Work
" You don't know what bravery is until you overcome fear. "
Kurt Elling
Overcome
You
Bravery
" At a certain point, the graduate school thing didn't work out, and that meant I was liberated. "
Kurt Elling
Point
Work
Graduate School