A biography for Kurt Ellinghasn’t been written yet.
“I consider myself very fortunate. I have a beautiful wife who supports my work and is raising our daughter when I'm out on the road.”
“You want to be doing your best work whatever field of the arts you're in because your life's going to be over all too soon, and you have to make the most of it.”
“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.”
“Each of the CDs prior to 'Flirting With Twilight' were more like roller-coaster rides.”
“We all know that jazz demands a cultivation of the mind.”
“I'm lucky that I enjoy touring as much as I do. I'm not going to make a living just making records.”
“Why limit yourself to one discipline or field of study?”
“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.”
“In New York, the drummers rush for a reason - because there's so much energy crackling through everything in that city and so many collisions at a highly accelerated rate.”
“I can't say New York's home, but I've made a lot of friends, and I'm developing a map of what cats are here and where they play, and as a singer, you're always looking for projects that tie things in emotionally and intuitively with your life.”
“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.”
“The singer is always an ambassador of music.”
“The idea is to be unrestrained by categories.”
“I think of jazz as being homage through innovation. Don't quote that as a definition, but it comes pretty close.”
“Salacious? I suppose every once in a while the salacious thing is not a bad thing. It's kind of monochromatic if that's all you do.”
“A lot of people are put off by the idea of scat singing. Either that or it's something to be made fun of.”
“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.”
“I've got enough miles under my belt to know that whatever you envision in your mind, even if it comes true, will only keep a shape in the most general way.”
“There are incredible musicians around the world.”
“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.”