Kurt Elling is a great performer. This refined vocalist deals with words with frightening precision. His latest album ‘Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling sings the music of Coltrane and Hartman’ securing his first Grammy Award, after nine previous nominations. Elling can be considered the contemporary version of the great American jazz singer Mark Murphy. He released seven albums on the Blue Note label. Afterwards he moved to Concord on which he recorded two albums: ‘Nightmoves’ in 2007 and ‘Dedicated to You’ in 2009. His home base is the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge in Chicago.
Elling has a rich baritone that spans over four octaves. His ballads sound soft and refined, he likes to dig into a song in tone and text, but the vocal acrobat can make unexpected leaps and dazzling turns, all with great ease. Rhythm, texture, phrasing and dynamics, he controls it like no other. He has the cool air of Frank Sinatra and the virtuosity of an instrumentalist. No wonder he was elected best singer for ten years in a row by the critics of Downbeat Magazine and five times by the readers of the same magazine.
As one of only a few, he takes the vocal art seriously, meaning that he uses words specifically written for jazz solos. On solos by Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane and others, he delivers catchy lyrics. In that way he stresses the beauty of the original music, but he also puts it in a different light. Elling sings with passion, humour and puts stimulating intellectual depth into it. He often uses images of writers like Rilke, Proust, Rumi and Neruda but also beat poets like Jack Kerouac and Kenneth Rexroth.
On ‘Dedicated to You’ he sings the music of saxophone player John Coltrane and singer Johnny Hartman made in 1963. Coltrane and Hartman, who was blessed with a creamy baritone, made a beautiful album with standards. In 4 hours they made one of the memorable recordings in jazz history.
This project was commissioned by the Chicago Festival and afterwards recorded it in the Allen Room, Lincoln Center, in New York. He added some strings and his loyal and sophisticated pianist Laurence Hobgood wrote beautiful and sober arrangements.
Hobgood displays new, beautifully simple arrangements. The group also added some standards. Kurt Elling will be our guest for the second time at the Gent Jazz Festival.
