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Kurt Elling
Elling may be the greatest male Jazz singer of all time ~ Jazz Review
| June 2010
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~ The Gate ~
The last week of May, Kurt, Laurence, and producer Don Was (The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt) finished mixing their new album, The Gate. Recorded at Sear Sound in New York, it features John Patitucci (bass), John McLean (guitar), Terreon "Tank" Gully (drums), and Kobie Watkins (drums).
At the board: Don Was, Bob Belden, Chris Allen (engineer), John Patitucci, Kurt Elling, Terreon Gully, John McLean, Kobie Watkins, Laurence Hobgood, Chris Dunn
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Faithful newsletter readers will recall that just before the March recording session, the band played two incredible nights at The Green Mill in Chicago, previewing some of the tracks. Fans who were there called it "incredible," "stellar," and "awesome."
Notes Kurt, "We're trying to get a sound that is a signature event, in terms of the material and the way the arrangements play themselves out. We're aiming for an album that has a heft, a kind of ethos, not just a record with a bunch of tunes."
Laurence says, "This record is going to be amazing, possibly the best work we've done yet."
The Gate is Kurt's third for Concord and is scheduled for release in February 2011.
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On Tour in Europe ~ June 30 through July 17
While we wait with great anticipation for the release of The Gate early next year, European fans will get a live preview next month!
The Kurt Elling Quartet, with special guest, Chicago guitar hero John McLean, is touring in Europe this summer. They start with four glorious nights at the famed Ronnie Scott's in London. Then they play at jazz festivals in Poland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Other stops include Croatia and Germany.
Kurt says, "We'll be previewing charts from The Gate and including charts from Passion World. John McLean has been with us on and off for a number of years now -- chiefly through guest appearances at the Mill. He'll be with us through the fall and we're looking forward to exciting gigs with him."
See JUNE-JULY GIGS below for dates, venues, and links for tickets.
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Kurt Elling & Richard Galliano: Passion World
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 Packed houses and standing ovations greeted Kurt and French accordion maestro Richard Galliano both nights when they delighted New York audiences with Passion World, their international tour of songs of love. This was Kurt's first appearance in the Allen Room at Lincoln Center since the live recording of Dedicated to You in January 2009.
Selections included Jon Hendricks' lyric to the
Italian song Estate, later made famous as a bossa nova by Antonio Carlos
Jobim; Si Tu Supieras; the Brahms lieder Nicht Wandle, Mein Licht; Tin Tin Deo; The Beatles' Norwegian Wood (from the new album, The Gate); Rosa Morena (from This Time It's Love); Je Tire Ma Reverence (the hidden track on Flirting With Twilight); You Are Too Beautiful (from Dedicated to You); and others.
After singing in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish this time, Kurt says he'll get to Arabic, Italian, and Japanese in later incarnations of this show. Kurt and Richard are working on plans to bring Passion World to Europe in 2011.
Most fortunately for fans everywhere, the Saturday night performance of Passion World was recorded and will be broadcast worldwide on Sirius Radio sometime in the fall. Stay tuned for details!
Terrific photos from the rehearsal, performance, and backstage afterward are here and from Jazz at Lincoln Center here. The JALC photos include gorgeous shots of the performers on stage with the wall of windows overlooking Central Park South -- at twilight. What a view and what a night!
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Jazz & Baseball
 On Friday, June 11, Kurt is singing the National Anthem and then Take Me Out to the Ball Game for the Seventh Inning Stretch at the first game of this year's Crosstown Classic at Wrigley Field, Chicago. This six-game interleague series between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox has been played since 1997, with three games at each field. The team that wins the majority of games this year takes home the BP Crosstown Cup. To date, the White Sox have 37 wins and the Cubs have 35.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a long-standing baseball tradition at games everywhere. For decades, the late, great baseball announcer Harry Caray led fans in singing it during the seventh inning stretch of the Chicago White Sox and, later, Chicago Cubs games. Since his death, the Cubs have invited various celebrities to lead the crowd during the stretch, including Jim Belushi, John Cusack, Mike Ditka, Michael J. Fox, Bill Murray, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, and Mr. T. And now, Kurt Elling!
 The game starts at 1:20 pm CDT and will
be broadcast live on WGN 720 radio and Comcast SportsNet Chicago
(cable TV). You can listen to the live stream from WGN radio on the Internet.
Go Cubs, go Sox, go Chicago!
Did you know that the word jazz first appeared in 1912 in the sports pages of West Coast papers covering the Pacific Coast League? It referred to Portland Beavers pitcher Ben Henderson's curve ball -- his jazz ball. "I call it the Jazz ball because it wobbles and you simply can't do
anything with it."
In his 1913 article, In Praise of "Jazz," a Futurist Word Which Has Just Joined the Language, Ernest J. Hopkins wrote:"JAZZ" (WE CHANGE the spelling each time so as not to offend either faction) can be defined, but it cannot be synonymized. If there were another word that exactly expressed the meaning of "jaz," "jazz" would never have been born. A new word, like a new muscle, only comes into being when it has long been needed. This remarkable and satisfactory-sounding word, however, means something like life, vigor, energy, effervescence of spirit, joy, pep, magnetism, verve, virility ebulliency, courage, happiness--oh, what's the use?--JAZZ. Nothing else can express it.
For more jazz and baseball, check out Play Ball and Play Bop and Celebrating Baseball Through Music, 'Top of the Sixth' with Shoeless Joe, Mickey and Dizzy.
And for a fascinating look at the origins and evolution of the word jazz, including its surprising Irish roots, see Daniel Cassidy's 2005 article, "Jazz" Was Born in San Francisco, Frisco Cricket (SF Traditional Jazz Foundation), Spring 2006, pp. 3-9. (PDF file)
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Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman2010 GRAMMY winner & double nominated! This is a must-have for your collection and listening pleasure. Some of the best ballad singing being
performed today. -- Chicago Tribune 
List Price:
$18.98
Our Price:
$14.99 Buy Now
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Short Takes
KE joins the Chicago cast of Million Dollar Quartet for the show's closing number on June 10! Inspired by the 1956 first & only jam session with Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley, this show features the greatest hits from those greatest stars. Check out this live performance on the NBC TODAY Show (05:41). Rock out, Kurt! v
The KEQ and Ernie Watts are together again at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, June 12.
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KE performs with the WDR Big Band on June 25 in Gütersloh and June 26 in Köln, Germany. The Köln concert begins at 20:00 local time (that's 2:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am PDT) and will be broadcast live on WDR Live Stream. Check Kurt's Facebook page & the Forum for updates and whether it will be archived for later listening.
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Join Kurt Elling's many jazzy friends & fans in the Forum and on MySpaceKurt's website is chock full of music, lyrics, photos, projects, scripts, writing, a great and active Forum, Kurt's store, and other surprises. Come visit us often!Newsletter signup |
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| JUNE-JULY Gigs |
| June 11,
2010
KE sings the
7th Inning Stretch
Crosstown Classic 2010
Wrigley Field, Chicago
June 12, 2010
KEQ with Ernie Watts
Playboy Jazz Festival
Hollywood Bowl
Los Angeles, CA
June 25, 2010
KE with WDR Big Band
Gütersloh
Gütersloh,
Germany
June 26,
2010
KE with the WDR Big Band
Kölner Philharmonie/Live Radio Broadcast
Köln, Germany
June 30 - July 3, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
Ronnie Scott's
London, England
July 4, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
Warsaw Summer Jazz Days 2010
Warsaw, Poland
July 7, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
Hotel Monte Mulini
Rovinj, Croatia
July 8, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
Ghent Jazz Festival
Ghent, Belgium
July 9, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
North Sea Jazz Festival
Rotterdam, The
Netherlands
July 12, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
Veneto
Jazz 2010
Castello degli Ezzelini
Bassano del Grappa VI, Italy
July 13, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
Jazzclub Unterfahrt
Munich, Germany
July 14, 2010
KE Quartet with
John McLean
Augsburg Botanic Garden
Augsburg Jazz Festival
Augsburg, Germany
July 16, 2010
KE Quartet with John McLean
Portón del Jazz
Alhaurín de la Torre
Málaga, Spain
July 17, 2010
Kurt
Elling Quartet with John McLean
Allgarve '10
Săo Brás de Alportel
Algarve,
Portugal
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