I'm a jazz musician, and I really wanted to not miss an opportunity to have the full connection to jazz.
From Kurt Elling
The musicians in Chicago gave me my vocation, but New York calls to a jazz musician, for sure. You want to test your mettle.
You don't want to make records so you can win a Grammy. You make records because you want to be a musician.
As improvisers, we're acting as composers in front of people.
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.
It's a lovely thing to have people in any circumstance appreciate your work.
Man, I just feel so fortunate to be a jazz musician at all. I have a hard time thinking of it any other way. It's such a fulfilling vocation. I love it.
There's a spiritual complement to any attempt at transposing a commitment to humanity through music or art.
I really thought I was gonna have a straight gig. But these jazz musicians put their arms around me time and again and said, 'Hey, young fella, you're one of us. Come with us.' That's a big deal when you're young and looking for your way in the world.
You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies.
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