Kurt Elling

Sometimes, with vocalese, I'm dealing with something, a great solo from the past, which is so iconic I can't presume to change it or mess with it.

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.

I hope that I'm also maturing emotionally as a human being as things go on.

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 didn't arrive on the scene until after Jaco Pastorius had passed, but 'Three Views of a Secret' is a long-time favourite of mine.

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.

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 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.

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.

People just want to dig; they want to dance. They don't want to work all through the night, and neither do I. I like getting 'out there,' but communication should be occurring on more levels than heavy-laden philosophical.

You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies.

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