I try to sleep as much as I can. I drink a lot of water. I practice consistently and just try to… — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
The audience should feel they are hearing the future, that is arriving just on time. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
If I was going to sell out, I would do it for more than 10,000 records. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
I'm a guy who has more slapstick than Joe Cool moments in his day, so I'm not taking myself so seriously. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
A lot of the commercial world wants to bank in on the cachet that jazz brings. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
I hope that I'm also maturing emotionally as a human being as things go on. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
Karl Johnson, my first piano player at Milt Trenier's, he just swung really hard and gave me a sense of really belonging… — Kurt Elling Belonging Copy Share Image
People just want to dig; they want to dance. They don't want to work all through the night, and neither do I.… — Kurt Elling Communication Copy Share Image
I don't really have a more intellectualized approach. After the fact, I can sure talk about stuff a lot - but when… — Kurt Elling Approach Copy Share Image
You want to be doing your best work whatever field of the arts you're in because your life's going to be over… — Kurt Elling Art Copy Share Image
I consider myself very fortunate. I have a beautiful wife who supports my work and is raising our daughter when I'm out… — Kurt Elling Beautiful Copy Share Image
You don't just let a guy drop off the earth and not come together with everybody who knew him and loved him… — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
I really thought I was gonna have a straight gig. But these jazz musicians put their arms around me time and again… — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
I travel all the time. And as I go around the world, I try to learn a little something and not just… — Kurt Elling Around the world Copy Share Image
I'm a jazz musician, and I really wanted to not miss an opportunity to have the full connection to jazz. — Kurt Elling Connection Copy Share Image
If you're going to be transparent, you're going to have to let the music come that wants to come. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
When improvisation is properly applied, it is compositional thinking, sped way up. — Kurt Elling Improvisation Copy Share Image
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. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
[Jazz singing] is like pornography. You can't say what it is, but you know it when you see it. — Kurt Elling Jazz Copy Share Image
Listening to something without being present is different from being there in the flesh. — Kurt Elling Being Copy Share Image
A lot of people are put off by the idea of scat singing. Either that or it's something to be made fun… — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
I'm lucky that I enjoy touring as much as I do. I'm not going to make a living just making records. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
You can start from any source material, and you can approach it with a jazz ear, and then it will become a… — Kurt Elling Jazz Copy Share Image
It's a lovely thing to have people in any circumstance appreciate your work. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
At a certain point, the graduate school thing didn't work out, and that meant I was liberated. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
The musicians in Chicago gave me my vocation, but New York calls to a jazz musician, for sure. You want to test… — Kurt Elling Career Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
People want to have access to jazz because it has a vibe that's very strong. — Kurt Elling Access Copy Share Image
Sometimes people have this notion that improvisation is simply intuitive leaping into the unknown. — Kurt Elling Improvisation Copy Share Image
My intellect was quickened at divinity school, and my abilities to discern were strengthened, and that's always valuable. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
Each of the CDs prior to 'Flirting With Twilight' were more like roller-coaster rides. — Kurt Elling Cds Copy Share Image
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 Fame Copy Share Image
I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close. — Kurt Elling Being Copy Share Image
I was very lucky that more experienced musicians allowed me to caterwaul until I figured out what it was really about. — Kurt Elling Copy Share Image
Romance is one of the things that most countries share, and I've noticed how different communities have their own ways of singing… — Kurt Elling Heartbreak Copy Share Image
In New York, the drummers rush for a reason - because there's so much energy crackling through everything in that city and… — Kurt Elling City Copy Share Image
![“[Jazz singing] is like pornography. You can't say what it is, but you know it when you see it.” quote by Kurt Elling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b41/kurt-elling-6944_jazz_jazz-singing-is-like-pornography-you-can_1883577.jpg)
