Quotes from Kurt Elling

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

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.

Why limit yourself to one discipline or field of study?

It's true that I'm not known as a crooner or balladeer. I'm known for a more crusading or quixotic temperament.

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

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.

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

I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close.

Every record is a gate of a certain kind for me.

Part of my joy as a singer is to give gifts to people, and one way I try to connect to them is to add something in French or German or whatever.

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.

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.

I'm a goof, man.

At a certain point, the graduate school thing didn't work out, and that meant I was liberated.

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

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.

The audience should feel they are hearing the future, that is arriving just on time.

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.

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.

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.

I remember seeing Tony Bennett on television. He was the only guy in the orchestra who was wearing a white tux, and I thought, 'That would be good. To be the only man on stage in a white jacket.'

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.

If you start to dwell on your pain, the amount of pain will increase.

I'm lucky that I enjoy touring as much as I do. I'm not going to make a living just making records.