Kurt Elling Quotes

One doesn't have to scat to be a jazz singer.

I'm comfortable singing jazz. The only thing I was concerned about is that everybody, even in jazz, has their own style. To me, the queen of doodling was Ella Fitzgerald, and scatting is something I never thought I could do.

I've sung a whole lot of jazz. It's my favorite style of music to sing. People don't realize it, because they're so accustomed to hearing me sing musical theater.

I've always been a singer, but I don't know if I was always a natural performer.

I think jazz has given me freedom with my voice.

If you play the very subtle jazz tunes with acoustic pianos, acoustic bass and it's a dead standard, you are going to play very differently. It depends on the music.

If you've got a good vibrato, you can get away with a lot.

No one in the world can beat Ella Fitzgerald as a riff singer.

Everyone at drama school called me Musical Boy.

That's the thing: There are so many art songs in jazz. It's a much more rich experience for the singer than people think.

Jazz musicians have always taken the standards of their time and performed them with a jazz sensibility.

People kept asking me, 'When are you singing again?' so I kept doing it. It was that simple.

Intermittently in my concert format, I sing a little jazz, a little scatting.

I can perform easily; I don't mind getting up in front of people at all. I've always sung and felt confident about that, and guitar playing isn't a stretch, but songwriting is. We all have our challenges in what we do, and that's mine.

Fats - very funny man, but every note that he played was like a pearl.

My sister tells me I began singing before I could even talk. My first performance was of a song called 'My Blue Heaven,' which I began singing when I was a year and a half.

I think Freddie Mercury is probably the best of all time in terms of a rock voice. There was a vulnerability to it, his technical ability was amazing, and so much of his personality would come out through his voice. I'm not even a guy to buy Queen records, really, and I still think he's one of the best.

In essence, I feel I'm more jazz guitar player because I write vehicles geared for improvisation.

I have a big love for jazz music. The only thing I hated about singing with a jazz band was having to wear a gown to everything.

I have been giving live performances since childhood, and I continue to do so professionally.

I felt I had a good ear, and I had the ability to sing like my influences.

I consider myself a jazz singer. I think I stick to the roots of improvisation, singing in front of the beat, behind the beat, playing with notes and harmonies.

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

It all started when I was 11 months old, singing a song by Jodeci in the back seat of the car. My mother turned around and said, 'Who is that?' When she saw it was me, she said, 'I think we have a singer on our hands.'

I always sang after every dinner or when we had people over or when we had a show in school. I just loved to be on stage and sing in front of people.