My goal is to be really incredible by the time I'm 70.
From Kurt Elling
When improvisation is properly applied, it is compositional thinking, sped way up.
I think my intention was there, and my love for the music was apparent. And there are very few singers who get up and desire to take the kinds of risks that jazz musicians routinely need to be taking.
You can start from any source material, and you can approach it with a jazz ear, and then it will become a jazz moment.
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.
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.
'Man in the Air' was an experience in exercise.
The idea is to be unrestrained by categories.
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.
12 perspectives
9 perspectives
5 perspectives
4 perspectives
2 perspectives
1 perspectives