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.
Interpretation
Creativity involves both experimentation and tradition; sometimes it's necessary to embrace the original.
In this quote, Kurt Elling reflects on the dual nature of artistic expression, where one often feels compelled to innovate and rework existing pieces to create something new. However, he acknowledges that there are moments when it is equally important to honor and simply perform the original creation, highlighting the balance between creativity and respect for tradition in art.
In practice
A musician might use this quote when discussing their approach to covers and remixes at a concert.
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.
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.
I try to stick with things that I can sing with honesty.
One doesn't have to scat to be a jazz singer.
Color is a power which directly influences the soul.
One word is worth a thousand pictures. If it's the right word.
The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity.
There's no line between a designer and consumer.
In Hollywood, they think they know it all. You, as a writer, are essentially an outsider. Novelists and short-story writers, especially.
I don't write tracts, I write novels. I'm not a preacher, I'm a fiction writer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.