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Kurt Elling in New York 2004
Bobby
Watson and Kurt Elling in St. Louis - 2004
"Man in the Air" New CD by Kurt Elling
review by Ed Vincent
If you are a Kurt Elling fan, this is a good representation
of his body of work. Elling's scat singing is with all
varied tempos and design. Some of the work is very
free form and almost without definition.
If you were at the event last week in Oak Park and
liked what you heard from Mr. Elling, this would
be the album to get.
Personally I enjoy the female jazz and scat singers
a little more, unless you're talking about Louie
Armstrong.
Kurt Elling is a six time Grammy nominated Jazz vocalist known for the neglected art of vocalese (putting words to the recorded horn
solos of Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, and Paul Desmond to name a few). “More importantly,” said the Chicago Tribune, “Kurt Elling is going to change many listeners’ minds on the meaning and purpose
of Jazz singing.” The New York Times called him “hugely talented.” Jazz Review opened the possibility that “Elling may be the greatest male Jazz singer of all time.” He won the Down Beat Critics’ and JazzTimes Readers Polls three years running and the Jazz Journalist Association award for Best Male Jazz Vocalist twice.
Beginning as a bandleader at age 27, Elling co-produced “Close
Your Eyes” a nine selection demo which was accomplished enough
to secure a recording contract with Blue Note. With the addition of additional tracks, this demo was released and secured Elling his first Grammy nomination. Since then, Kurt Elling has been touring extensively in the U.S. and has performed to critical acclaim in
Canada, Israel, Japan, Australia, and throughout most of Europe. Touring highlights have included opening for Herbie Hancock in France, performances in Carnegie Hall and at the Chicago Jazz Festival, and rarely offered consecutive engagements at both Montreaux and the Montreal International Festivals.
Elling served as a national trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences beginning in 1999. In May of 2003,
he was elected Vice Chair of the 17,000-member service organization.
Kurt Elling in New York 2004
www.kurtelling.com
b i o g r a p h y
KURT ELLING
In just over eight years, thirty-five-year-old Kurt Elling has risen to international prominence as a groundbreaking Jazz artist, has established himself as a composer and lyricist, and has gone on to
write and direct broadly based literary and artistic events. Every
one of his recordings for the prestigious Blue Note label has been nominated for a Grammy Award. That’s five consecutive nominations (with an additional nomination Elling shared with collaborator
Laurence Hobgood for arranging, making six nominations in all).
Known as a writer and performer of lyrics in the neglected art of vocalese (putting words to the recorded horn solos of Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Paul Desmond, etc.) Elling has often interpolated images and references from such writers as Rilke, Kenneth Rexroth, Proust and Kerouac into his work. The genre’s poet laureate, Jon Hendricks, called Elling vocalese’s “next man-on-fire”. Beyond vocalese, the Down Beat article naming Elling Male Vocalist of the Year for 2000 proclaimed that, “To varying degrees, each of Elling’s CDs . . . has been vital to the evolving art of male Jazz singing. . .
They have shown the directions that male vocalists can pursue to
push beyond the innovations of Mel Torme’, Joe Williams, Cab Calloway, Frank Sinatra and other fallen icons.”(Aug/00) The
Chicago Tribune agreed, noting that, “in an era when bona fide young jazz singers are in perilously short supply . . . Elling seems hellbent
on rewriting the definition of what jazz singing is all about.”(Feb/01)
Elling has been featured in profiles for CBS Sunday Morning, for CNN, and in hundreds of newspaper and magazine reviews and articles. The New York Times called him “hugely talented” (Jun/96) and called his shows at Birdland “good, battering entertainment.”(Jan/99) “More importantly,” said the Chicago Tribune, “Kurt Elling is going to change many listeners’ minds on
the meaning and purpose of Jazz singing.”(Jan/96) Playboy Magazine named Elling “the male Jazz vocalist of the Nineties.”(Oct/98) More recently, The Guardian (UK) declared that “Elling is an omni competent artist of almost ruthless efficiency . . . (He) is truly a
musical phenomenon.” (Feb/02) And Jazz Review (UK) opened the possibility that “Elling may be the greatest male Jazz singer of all time.” (Jan/02) He has won the Down Beat Critics’ and JazzTimes Readers Polls three years running and the Jazz Journalist
Association award for Best Male Jazz Vocalist twice.
Beginning as a bandleader at age 27, Elling co-produced “Close
Your Eyes,” a nine selection demo which was accomplished enough
to secure a recording contract with Blue Note. With the addition of additional tracks, this demo was released and secured Elling his first Grammy nomination. Since then, Kurt Elling has been touring extensively in the U.S., and has performed to critical acclaim in Canada, Israel, Japan, Australia, and throughout most of Europe. Touring highlights have included opening for Herbie Hancock in France, performances in Carnegie Hall and at the Chicago Jazz Festival, and rarely offered consecutive engagements at both the Montreaux and the Montreal International Festivals.
With his second recording, “The Messenger,” Elling furthered his reputation (along with that of collaborator Laurence Hobgood) as a producer, arranger, and composer. Said the Chicago Sun-Times, “More than any mainstream singer to come along in recent times, (Elling) thrives on free expression . . . But as much of a wild streak
as all this suggests . . . Elling imparts a sense of being in complete control of his destiny.”(Apr/97) In addressing Elling’s writing for this record, The Boston Globe said, “the lyrics (Elling) has written to Dexter Gordon’s ten minute ‘Tanya’ solo are to most attempts at vocalese what an epic poem is to a sonnet.” (May/97) In addition to a second Grammy nomination, “The Messenger” also won the Prix
Billie Holiday from the Academie du Jazz in Paris and Jazz Record
of the Year at the Chicago Music Awards.
“This Time It’s Love,” Elling’s third recording for Blue Note,
featured new arrangements of Jazz standards, new compositions by
the Elling/Hobgood team, and more of Elling’s vocalese expansions. DownBeat gave the recording four and-a half stars and said, “Again, the singer reveals his grand gift for vocalese lyrics, “ calling his lyric
to Freddie Hubbard’s classic ‘Delphia’ solo “a superb love paean”. (May/99) The record won Elling a third consecutive Grammy nomination.
Elling’s next release for Blue Note was recorded live at Chicago’s storied Green Mill Lounge, where Elling still plays every week he’s not touring. “This CD reflects Elling’s utterly creative genius,
tearing down conventional perceptions,” wrote the Jazz Educators Journal. (Jan/00) “An on-location recording of Kurt Elling is
absolutely the way to go to capture higher measures of his literal uniqueness as a nouveau phenomenal male Jazz vocalist. A ‘live’ session truly unveils the spontaneous, sizzling charges and poetic imagination he develops in the venue, promptly pulling in the
audience close-up with an intensity that is both tender and fierce . . .”(Mar/00) The record features among its guests vocalese master
Jon Hendricks and Chicago’s respected tenor man, Von Freeman. Here again Elling is heard pushing the boundaries of vocalese on his tour-de-force lyric for Wayne Shorter’s signature composition, “Night Dreamer”. The Grammy nomination for “Live in Chicago” marks Elling’s fourth consecutive nomination.
Elling has also gone beyond Jazz performance to write and direct
more broadly based literary and artistic events, most notably in
works commissioned by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater. In 1998 he undertook a critical, multi-dimensional exploration of the life and
work of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. In reviewing the show, The
Chicago Tribune called it “audacious” and “provocative . . . Elling’s [treatment] turned a fairly predictable survey of Beat Literature
into a more balanced view of a key chapter in American history.
Here was an evening of poetry and music informed by a sense of morality, as well as an aversion to politically correct points of view.”(Jan/98) This show was remounted to further critical acclaim
at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia, and at the Galway Festival in Ireland.
Mr. Elling was commissioned one year later to create an event
fusing Jazz and modern dance, this time featuring his wife, dancer Jennifer Elling. Again Elling was praised as an innovator. The
Chicago Sun-Times wrote that, “Having risen as a Jazz singer on the wings of modern poetry, including his own, (Elling) is in full thrall of art’s interactive possibilities.”(Feb/99) The Chicago Tribune agreed, proclaiming, “Because spoken word, subtle lighting design, fluid stage direction and a heady spirit of improvisation all play key roles, the evening touches on more aesthetic forms than one generally encounters in a week’s worth of concert going. . . So many of these vignettes prove eloquent – with the crisp imagery of Elling’s lyrics enhanced by the abstract, poetic motion of the dancers – that it’s difficult to single out highlights.”(Feb/99)
The most significant commission to date has come from the City of Chicago, which invited Elling to write, direct, perform in and host a ninety-minute performance event for its millennial celebration. Two guests from every country in the world were invited to Chicago and were hosted by the city for a weeklong celebration, “The Whole
World Comes Home To Chicago.” Elling’s production, “This Is Our Music, These Are Our People”, served as the showcase of the city’s artistic life. The show featured blues great Buddy Guy, Von Freeman, author and historian Studs Terkel, word artist Ken Nordine, Illinois’ Poet Laureate the late Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks, members of the Joffrey Ballet, visual art from Ed Paschke and Tony Fitzpatrick and a ninety voice gospel choir, The Reginald McCracken True Voices of Christ Concert Ensemble. The Chicago Tribune called the results “stirring . . . magical . . . Such seamless blends of talent resulted from long hours of planning . . .”(Jan/00)
In February of 2001, Elling created yet another new work for the Steppenwolf Theater. For this production, titled “LA/CHI/NY”, he invited one poet and one musician from each of America’s three great cities to bring the sounds of their environments to the stage in a new collaboration. Poets Kamau Daa’ood and Tracie Moore represented Los Angeles and New York, with Elling himself speaking for Chicago. The musical ensemble featured Elling’s Blue Note label mate, New Yorker Charlie Hunter playing 8-string guitar, L.A.’s B-Sharp Quartet leader Herb Graham, Jr. playing drums, with Chicago’s Mars
Williams (NRG Ensemble, Liquid Soul) playing tenor saxophone.
The Sun-Times wrote, “. . . ‘LA/CHI/NY’ was less about geographical connections than spiritual ones. But it radiated such good vibe, you can only hope that plans to take it east and west come to fruition.”(Feb/01) The Tribune went further, saying, “Someone, somewhere ought to give Elling the means to take stage work, or any of his others, and bring them to fruition through a longer engagement. With that opportunity, Elling might truly be able to change the way audiences think about jazz, poetry and life in America.”(Feb/01)
Elling’s next Blue Note recording, entitled “Flirting With Twilight”, was released in the summer of 2001. The rhythm section for that release featured collaborator Laurence Hobgood on piano, bassist Marc Johnson (Bill Evans, Steps Ahead, Bill Frisell) and drummer Peter Erskine (Weather Report, John Abercrombie, Peter Erskine Trio). Reviewers were stunned. DownBeat wrote that “ . . . nothing . . . prepared me for Elling’s accomplishment on ‘Flirting With Twilight’,
a cohesive, highly personalized exploration of 12 demanding love
songs . . . which he addresses with the legato grace of a master ballroom dancer.”(Dec/01) JazzTimes, “With ‘Flirting With Twilight’ . . . Kurt Elling continues his triumphant reign as the thinking man’s vocalist.”(Dec/01)
Since the release of “Flirting . . .”, Kurt Elling has been busy writing, directing and touring. He has co-written, directed and performed in another show for the Steppenwolf Theater called “Petty Delusions
and Grand Obsessions”. Elling collaborated in its creation and performance with Steppenwolf co-founder, the actor Terry Kinney (“Oz”). Elling has also produced and directed a show featuring fellow singers Jon Hendricks, Mark Murphy and Kevin Mahogany. Excitement about that show, called “Four Brothers”, landed all four singers on the cover of DownBeat Magazine. (Dec/02) The headline read, “Full Vocal Attack: Kurt Elling unites Mark Murphy, Jon Hendricks and Kevin Mahogany For A landmark Summit.” That show is touring Europe in the summer of 2003. U.S. dates are in the
planning stages for the following fall and winter.
A new record, “Man In The Air”, will be available July of 2003. For this new recording, Elling wrote and performed lyrics for nine Jazz compositions he believes to be modern classics.
Great compositions from writers like Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Bobby Watson and Joe Zawinul all receive the Elling treatment. Writes biographer Lara Perigrinelli, “It was unavoidable: Elling ambitiously applied his literary talents to the music of Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard. By comparison, the challenges on “Man in The Air” are subtler. Rather than pyrotechnics, the success of these pieces tends to hinge on vocal control, sonic atmosphere, and use of space. Their lyrics follow suit. Elling wrestles with themes of love, life, loss, and the indefatigable human spirit in all of their complexities without allowing himself to indulge in clichés or platitudes.”(May/03) The album features intelligent, swinging performances from guest artist Stefon Harris and from Elling collaborator Laurence Hobgood.
In addition to working to forward his own career, Elling served as a national trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences beginning in 1999, In May of 2003, he was elected Vice Chairman of the 17,000 member service organization. Mr. Elling is proud of his association with the Academy, and looks forward to the challenges, which lie ahead.
© Oak Park Journal
published by Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.
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