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Kurt Elling
Thursday, 28th October @8:00 PM
Kurt Elling: DEDICATED TO YOU – 2010 GRAMMY AWARD WINNER
Kurt Elling is “the standout male jazz vocalist of our time.” – The New York Times
“Kurt Elling is the most influential jazz vocalist of our time.” – JazzTimes Magazine
DownBeat Magazine’s “Male Vocalist of the Year” – 2000-2010
Jazz Journalists’ Association – Male Vocalist of the Year – 2000, ’02, ’06, 07, ’09, ‘10
DEDICATED TO YOU, Kurt Elling’s first GRAMMY-winning record, is his second for Concord/Universal and has propelled his career to new heights. Elling is a nine-time GRAMMY nominee who has spent the last ten consecutive years at the top of the DownBeat Critics poll and has topped the JazzTimes Readers’ poll five times. He has won six Jazz Journalists Association Awards for Male Singer of the Year and the Prix Billie Holiday from the Académie du Jazz in Paris. His quartet tours the world continually, performing to critical acclaim in Europe, the Middle East, South America, Asia and Australia, and at jazz festivals and concert halls across North America. In addition to leading a regular quartet that features his collaborator, pianist Laurence Hobgood, Kurt Elling has spent recording and/or performing time with an array of artists that includes Terence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, The Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra, Benny Golson, Jon Hendricks, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter, Al Jarreau, David Liebman, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, Marian McPartland, The Bob Mintzer Big Band, Mark Murphy, John Pizzarelli, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ernie Watts, and The Yellowjackets. He has written multi-disciplinary works of art for The Steppenwolf Theatre and by commission for the City of Chicago. Kurt Elling is a former National Trustee and Vice Chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The GRAMMYs) and has been artist-in-residence for the Monterey Jazz and the Singapore Music Festivals. In November 2009 Elling gave a command performance at the White House as part of the Obama Administration’s first state dinner.
Kurt Elling’s rich baritone voice spans four octaves and displays an astonishing technical facility and emotional depth. Elling has an awesome command of rhythm, texture, phrasing, and dynamics, often sounding more like a virtuoso jazz musician than a mere singer. His repertoire ranges from his own
compositions to modern interpretations of standards, both of which can be the springboard for free form improvisation, scatting, spoken word and poetry. As composer and lyricist, Elling has written scores of his own compositions and set lyrics to the songs and improvised solos of many jazz masters. In addition to the compositional work he has done with collaborator-in-chief Laurence Hobgood, Elling has collaborated in the creation of new pieces with John Clayton, Fred Hersch, Bob Mintzer,
Charlie Hunter and Orbert Davis, among others. One of Kurt Elling’s major contributions is as a writer and performer of vocalese, the art of writing and performing words over the recorded improvised solos of jazz artists. Elling often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Proust, Kerouac, Rumi, Neruda and Kenneth Rexroth into his work. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, and Jon Hendricks, Elling is the contemporary voice of vocalese, setting his own deeply spiritual and compelling lyrics to the solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, Dexter Gordon, Pat Metheny, and others. Responding to the work, no less a poet than the late Robert Creeley wrote, “Kurt Elling takes us into a world of sacred particulars. His words are informed by a powerful poetic spirit.” Elling’s lyrics were published in a book entitled Lyrics by Circumstantial Press in 2007.
Kurt Elling has been featured in profiles for CBS Sunday Morning, for CNN, and in hundreds ofnewspaper and magazine reviews and articles. The Washington Post declared, “Since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic or interesting as Kurt Elling. With his soaring vocal flights, his edgy lyrics and sense of being on a musical mission, he has come to embody the creative spirit in jazz.” Said Jazzreview.com, “This is a singer of supreme confidence, a vocalist at the top of his game and a true master of jazz vocalese.” The Chicago Tribune announced, “Kurt Elling is going to change many listeners’ minds on the meaning and purpose of Jazz singing.” The Guardian (UK) declared, “Elling is an omnicompetent artist of almost ruthless efficiency ... (He) is truly a musical phenomenon.” And Jazz Review (UK) raised the possibility that “Elling may be the greatest male Jazz singer of all time.”
2010 is shaping up as a year of expanded creativity for Kurt Elling. Already he has gone on tour with the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars, a collective that also featured NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron, MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant recipient Regina Carter, and GRAMMY winner Russell Malone. Upcoming dates will feature Kurt Elling as a featured guest artist with the WDR Radio Big Band in Germany and with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. In May Elling staged a commissioned event for Jazz At Lincoln Center titled “Passion World” that featured French accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano. Elling has also been tracking a new studio recording for Concord Records in collaboration with the multi-platinum and multi-GRAMMY winning producer Don Was (The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt). Look for a release in February of 2011.
