Kurt Elling

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

Musically, I love to talk just off the top of my head and that’s what Jazz is all about.

I am at my core a singer/songwriter a la James Taylor or a la Billy Joel. It’s not that I don’t want to work with people, but I do just love doing my own thing.

Benny Goodman was one of the big influences as a clarinet player. That’s why I wanted the clarinet.

I am the sum total of everything that I have experienced musically.

I’m trying to get people to see that we are our brother’s keeper. Red, white, black, brown or yellow, rich or poor, we all have the blues.

It’s just exciting to be part of something that is brand-new.

It’s easy in music to tell what’s good. It’s hard to tell what’s bad.

It doesn’t matter all that much. It’s just that when you’re playing, Stephane, you’ve got both Chaput and me backing you, but when I’m soloing I’ve only got one guitar behind me!

If the bass plays the root, a pianist superimposes a Maj7 built on the 5th and the sax plays the 13th, will hot women notice?

I cannot say what I think is right about Music. I only know the rightness of it.

Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.

I have a deep respect for harmony, melodic patterns and form.

For me, music and life are all about style

Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.

A name doesn’t make the music. It’s just called that to differentiate it from other types of music.