Born: November 2, 1967 Primary Instrument: Vocal
Grammy winner Kurt Elling is among the world's foremost jazz vocalists. He has won every DownBeat Critics Poll for the last thirteen years and has been named “Male Singer of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association eight times in that same span. Every one of Elling's nine albums has been nominated for a Grammy.
Elling's rich baritone spans four octaves and features both astonishing technical mastery and emotional depth. His repertoire includes original compositions and modern interpretations of standards, all of which are springboards for inspired improvisation, scatting, spoken word, and poetry.
The New York Times declared, “Elling is the standout male vocalist of our time.” The Washington Post added, “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.”
Elling was the Artist-in-Residence for the Singapore and Monterey Jazz Festivals. He has also written multi-disciplinary works for The Steppenwolf Theatre and the City of Chicago. The Obama Administration's first state dinner featured Elling in a command performance.
Elling is a renowned artist of vocalese - the writing and performing of words over recorded improvised jazz solos. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, Elling has set his own lyrics to the improvised solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny.
He often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Rumi, Neruda and Proust into his work. The late poet and Bollingen Prize winner Robert Creeley wrote, “Kurt Elling takes us into a world of sacred particulars. His words are informed by a powerful poetic spirit.” Said Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States, “In Kurt Elling's art, the voice of jazz gives a new spiritual presence to the ancient, sweet and powerful bond between poetry and music.”
Kurt Elling has toured vigorously throughout his career, thrilling audiences throughout the world. In that time he has led his own ensemble and has collaborated with many of the world's finest orchestras.
1619 BROADWAY - THE BRILL BUILDING PROJECT, is Elling's much-anticipated new recording which honors and celebrates the locale that the London Telegraph called “the most important generator of popular songs in the Western world.”
Elling's interpretations and signature arrangements of songs like “On Broadway,” “A House Is Not A Home” and “So Far Away” make this record a must-have for those in search of current great singing. Even for the ceaselessly inventive Elling, 1619 BROADWAY is another unexpected step, and one guaranteed to further solidify his reputation for thrilling innovation and superb craftsmanship.
Awards:
Grammy Awards:- Best Jazz Vocal Album: Dedicated to You
- Best Jazz Vocal Album: The Gate
- Best Jazz Vocal Album: Nightmoves
- Best Jazz Vocal Album: Man in the Air
- Best Jazz Vocal Album: Flirting With Twilight
- Best Jazz Vocal Album: Live in Chicago
- Best Jazz Vocal Performance: This Time It's Love
- Best Jazz Vocal Performance: The Messenger
- Best Jazz Vocal Performance: Close Your Eyes
- Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist "Dedicated to You" from Dedicated to You (Arrangement by Laurence Hobgood)
- Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist "Easy Living" from Flirting With Twilight (Arrangement by Kurt Elling and Laurence Hobgood)
- Critics Poll Winner: Male Vocalist of the Year — 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
- Critics Poll Winner: Talent Deserving Wider Recognition — 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
- Readers Poll Winner: Male Vocalist of the Year — 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011
- Readers' Poll: Male Vocalist of the Year — 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2011
- Male Singer of the Year — 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
- Vocalist of the Year — 2006
- Record of the Year: The Gate — 2011
- International category — 2012
- Jazz Ambassador — 2012
- International Male Singer of the Year: Kurt Elling, The Gate — 2012
- Jazz Vocal: Kurt Elling, The Gate — 2011
- Prix Billie Holiday: The Messenger
- Outstanding Jazz Vocalist in a Major Engagement — 2010
- Distinguished Musician — Inducted in 2011
- Jazz Record of the Year — 1997
- Hall Of Fame Induction — 2000
- A Chicagoan of The Year (Arts) — 1995
- Inductee: 40 under 40 (Who Make a Difference in Chicago Business) — 1998
Kurt Elling's recording career began at age 27 with the release of “Close Your Eyes.” Nine of the thirteen songs on the album were part of a nine-selection demo that was accomplished enough to secure a recording contract with Blue Note. Co-produced by Elling and his collaborator pianist Laurence Hobgood, the album featured the first incarnation of the Kurt Elling Quartet and introduced many signature aspects of the singer's sound: inspired vocalese versions of the jazz compositions and improvised solos ("Dolores Dream", "Those Clouds are Heavy, You Dig", "Hurricane"), the melding of poetry and music, original compositions, and an emotional range from frenetic up- tempo to tender ballads. "Close Your Eyes" secured Elling his first GRAMMY nomination.
The Messenger, 1997 (Blue Note)
The second Blue Note recording, “The Messenger,”
began to cement Elling's
critical reputation (along with that of collaborator Laurence
Hobgood) as a
producer, arranger, and composer. Daring re-workings of
standards "Nature Boy"
and "April in Paris" set the stage for a suite of
Elling/Hobgood originals and
extended vocalese ("Tanya Jean" "Gingerbread Boy").
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.”(4/97) 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.”
(5/97)
This Time It's Love, 1998 (Blue Note)
Elling’s third recording for Blue Note, "This Time It's
Love" was a polished and
romantic outing. Opening with a treatment of "My Foolish
Heart” that has become
a staple of Elling's live shows, the album addresses the
theme of love with hip
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”. (5/99) The record won Elling a third consecutive
GRAMMY nomination.
Live in Chicago, 2000 (Blue Note)
The 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. Straight from the
heart, and comprised largely of previously unrecorded
material, the album
features Elling singing with jazz great Jon Hendricks and
blowing with Chicago
tenor greats Von Freeman, Ed Petersen, and Eddie
Johnson. Here again Elling is
heard pushing the boundaries of vocalese on his tour-de-
force lyric for Wayne
Shorter’s signature composition, “Night Dreamer.” “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...”(3/00) The GRAMMY nomination for “Live in
Chicago” marked Elling’s
fourth consecutive nomination.
Flirting with Twilight, 2001 (Blue Note)
Elling’s fifth Blue Note recording, “Flirting With Twilight,”
presented a collection of
timeless songs set against spare, beautiful horn
arrangements and featuring an
all- star rhythm section of 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).
Man in the Air, 2003 (Blue Note)
For his sixth Blue Note record, “Man In The Air,” Elling
wrote and performed lyrics
for nine jazz compositions that might be considered
classics of the genre. Jazz
compositions and solos from writers as diverse as Pat
Metheny, Herbie Hancock,
John Coltrane, Bobby Watson, and Joe Zawinul all
receive the Elling treatment.
Including an epic 7-minute vocalese of Resolution, the
second movement on
John Coltrane's album, A Love Supreme, the album is
Elling's crowning
achievement to date as a writer of vocalese. Writes
biographer Lara Perigrinelli,
"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 featured
intelligent, swinging performances from guest artist
Stefon Harris and from Elling
collaborator Laurence Hobgood.
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