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.
Interpretation
Jazz incorporates a variety of artistic songs that enhance the singer's experience significantly.
In this quote, Kurt Elling emphasizes the depth and richness of jazz music, particularly highlighting the complex and artistic songs that are often overlooked. He points out that for singers, performing these art songs offers a profoundly enriching experience that goes beyond mere performance, showcasing the unique emotional and creative intricacies found within jazz.
In practice
In a discussion about the depth of musical genres, one might quote Elling to highlight the richness of jazz.
It helps me to learn things in different languages, even if it's just phonetically, and to make myself vulnerable to other audiences by trying to reflect back to them the genius of their own cultures, and to do that, oftentimes, in new jazz settings, new arrangements. It's a way to show respect.
I try to stick with things that I can sing with honesty.
One doesn't have to scat to be a jazz singer.
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.
A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.
Thirst will parch your tongue and your body will waste through lack of sleep ere you can describe in words that which painting instantly sets before the eye.
By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.
But...books are so much more. Some of them are webs; you can feel your way along their threads, but just barely, into strange and dark corners. Some of them are balloons bobbing up through the sky: totally self-contained, and unreachable, but beautiful to watch. And some of them―the best ones―are doors.
In the early days, we just wore black onstage. Very bold, my dear. Then we introduced white, for variety, and it simply grew and grew.
A photographer must always work with the greatest respect for his subject and in terms of his own point of view.
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