Kurt Elling

I want to be the jazz singer.

— Kurt Elling

I don't want to take it easy.

— Kurt Elling

I'm a goof, man.

— Kurt Elling

I think I make most of my decisions pretty organically.

— Kurt Elling

I know how hard it's been for me to get my thing out there.

— Kurt Elling

I try to stick with things that I can sing with honesty.

— Kurt Elling

As improvisers, we're acting as composers in front of people.

— Kurt Elling

I spend upwards of 200 nights a year on the road.

— Kurt Elling

There are incredible musicians around the world.

— Kurt Elling

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

— Kurt Elling

Why limit yourself to one discipline or field of study?

— Kurt Elling

That's the thing: There are so many art songs in jazz. It's a much more rich experience for the singer than people…

— Kurt Elling

I couldn't do what I do without the encouragement and influence of the musicians I played with in Chicago.

— Kurt Elling

I'm thrilled when I hear the greatest jazz musicians. They continue to search in ways other musicians do not.

— Kurt Elling

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

— Kurt Elling

There's a wide spectrum of possibilities in how to deliver a song.

— Kurt Elling

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

— Kurt Elling

Chicago is my home. And the way Chicago sounds will always be a part of who I am.

— Kurt Elling

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

— Kurt Elling

I hope to be at the top of my game when I'm 65 or 70. I don't want to reach my peak…

— Kurt Elling

You don't show respect to Frank Sinatra and his great example by trying to sound exactly like him. You show it by…

— Kurt Elling

Of course we all know when music's too much in the head, and we define our greatest players by the way they…

— Kurt Elling

You learn as much as you can from the people that you work with. That's why you want to surround yourself with…

— Kurt Elling

I think my intention was there, and my love for the music was apparent. And there are very few singers who get…

— Kurt Elling

I'm one of the culprits who keeps turning stuff around, shaking up original tunes and trying to stand the canon on its…

— Kurt Elling

Man, I just feel so fortunate to be a jazz musician at all. I have a hard time thinking of it any…

— Kurt Elling

I've got enough miles under my belt to know that whatever you envision in your mind, even if it comes true, will…

— Kurt Elling

It helps me to learn things in different languages, even if it's just phonetically, and to make myself vulnerable to other audiences…

— Kurt Elling

Music is a physical expression that has a physical impact upon the listener. Sound travels in waves through the air. This is…

— Kurt Elling

You can never predict what the specific shape of your life is going to be, and you won't really know its general…

— Kurt Elling

There is an actor's responsibility in presenting the emotional content of the lyrics to an audience. But whether you do that in…

— Kurt Elling

We all know that jazz demands a cultivation of the mind.

— Kurt Elling

My goal is to be really incredible by the time I'm 70.

— Kurt Elling

'Man in the Air' was an experience in exercise.

— Kurt Elling

The singer is always an ambassador of music.

— Kurt Elling

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

— Kurt Elling

I listened to a lot of King Crimson back in the day.

— Kurt Elling

The idea is to be unrestrained by categories.

— Kurt Elling

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

— Kurt Elling

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

— Kurt Elling