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Kurt Elling
The ultimate jazz vocalist -- The Washington Post
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June 2011: Celebrating the Sounds of Jazz
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Celebrating the Sounds of America: A Journey Through Musical Roots
Six special concerts this month in Chicago celebrate the immense variety of American sounds from some of our country's musical capitals.
On June 10-12, it's the music of New York City, Route 66, and New Orleans, and June 16-18, Memphis, Detroit, and Austin.
The first concert, June 10 at Chicago's Symphony Center, is United Sounds of America: New York City, featuring Kurt Elling on vocals.
This portrait of NYC's rich and varied musical history will focus on two distinct eras. First, jazz pianist Bill Charlap directs an all-star ensemble, featuring vocalist Kurt Elling, on a journey through the music of the Roaring Twenties, Broadway, Sinatra, Ellington, Bernstein, and be-bop. The second half features singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega and her band. Her guests are contemporary singer-songwriter Richard Julian and legendary folk singer, Tom Paxton in a set celebrating the New York folk scene of the 1950s, '60s, and beyond.
For more about all six concerts and to get tickets, please visit the Chicago Symphony Orchestra website and check out the short video about this unique festival celebrating the sounds of America.
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Celebrating Classes with Kurt
Kurt loves to teach, and he offers small master classes and private lessons in New York City as his busy touring schedule allows. He also offers private lessons via Skype video conferencing for serious students who can't travel to New York. Recently he worked with a singer and her accompanist connecting via Skype from Australia.
Occasionally Kurt conducts larger master classes in other cities, sponsored by organizations that have brought him there to perform. He'll be presenting a clinic on July 10 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam. He's also doing a master class at Vassar College on October 1.
 On June 17, Kurt is offering two master classes at Michiko Rehearsal Studios, 149 West 46th Street, New York City, from 10 am to noon and again from 1-3 pm. Space is limited!
Five people sing and each gets about 15 minutes in the front with Kurt. Everyone else audits (listens). The cost is $125 to participate (sing) and $60 to audit (listen only). For anyone who has participated in a previous class, it's only $30 to audit.
To reserve your spot in either of these June classes, please email teaching@kurtelling.com. To get on the mailing list to learn about future classes, email teaching@kurtelling.com and put "Email list" in the subject line.
Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and Palmetto recording artist Kate McGarry audited the May class. She tweeted later, "This man put the Master in master class."
Jazz vocalist/songwriter Gary Brocks participated in May. He said, "The information Kurt imparts, and the way that he teaches, is tremendously helpful. I am touched by the degree to which he makes his knowledge, artistry, insights, and caring so available and articulate."
 In his 2008 master class at the International Association for Jazz Education conference in Toronto, Kurt told the group, "This is the most important gesture in Jazz singing," and opened his arms in a giant hug of welcome and invitation. "Music is gestural. Every sound has its movement, even a single note, if it's well sung. Open your eyes when you sing, open your heart, tell the story with your body, and be the ambassador of Jazz that a singer can be."
Wisdom from a Master! | |
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Celebrating the Green Mill's 25th Anniversary!
The Green Mill is the oldest, continuously running jazz club in the country. "The Pearl of Uptown," the Green Mill is Kurt's home club. When Kurt and Laurence still lived in Chicago, the Kurt Elling Quartet held forth at the Mill every Wednesday night when they weren't on tour. Those weekly gigs grew in popularity and made Kurt a well-known jazz artist in Chicago and beyond.
Kurt's fourth album, Live in Chicago (2000), was recorded at the Green Mill over three nights and features Jon Hendricks, Von Freeman, Eddie Johnson, Ed Petersen, and Kahil El'Zabar.
On June 19, the Green Mill celebrates its 25th anniversary under Dave Jemilo's steady hand and capable ownership.
 First opened in 1914 as the Green Mill Gardens, it was one of Chicago's hottest night spots in the 1920s and '30s. It boasted an elegant dining room and cabaret and 2,500-seat outdoor sunken gardens for summer concerts. The name "Green Mill" was inspired by the infamous Moulin Rouge in Paris (French for "red mill") and in the early days there was a large green windmill on the roof.
The Mill is most notorious for its history as a gangster hangout and speakeasy during Prohibition when it was leased to the mob and Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn held a quarter stake in the club. McGurn is suspected of being the primary gunman in the famous St. Valentine's Day Massacre that took place nearby on Clark Street. McGurn worked for Al Capone, who owned a speakeasy in the basement of a building across the street. Capone spent time at the Green Mill where Joe E. Lewis, his favorite singer performed, and because it operated in the open, thanks to police pay-offs. Capone even had his own booth, across from the side door and at the end of the bar where he could see everyone who entered the club, whether friend, foe, or police. Whenever Capone arrived, the band would stop and play "Rhapsody in Blue," his favorite tune.
Joe E. Lewis was paid the unheard of sum of $650 a week to sing at the Mill. But when a rival club downtown offered him $1000 a week, Lewis took it against the orders of McGurn. Three days later, McGurn's men slit Lewis's throat, cut out part of his tongue, and left him for dead in his dressing room. Lewis survived the brutal attack but never sang well again. He went on to perform as a stand-up comic at the Green Mill and elsewhere. His tragic story is commemorated on a large wooden carving still hanging over the bar. It was also the subject of the 1957 movie, The Joker is Wild, starring Frank Sinatra.
Fast forward to the rebirth of the Green Mill. In 1986 Dave Jemilo, who owned the Déjà Vu in Lincoln Park, bought the rundown club, which was but a shadow of its former self. Jemilo reopened it on June 19, 1986 and has returned it to its jazz glory. In 1986 Marc Smith founded the internationally acclaimed Uptown Poetry Slam at the Mill, which still takes place every Sunday night. Currently the Patricia Barber Quartet appears every Monday when she's in town. The Green Mill has played host to an amazing roster of jazz musicians, including such notables as Von Freeman, Ed Petersen, Sheila Jordan, Bob Mintzer, Jason Moran, Oscar Brown Jr., Howard Levy, Orbert Davis, and Charlie Hunter. The Mill is the place to play in Chicago.
 The Kurt Elling Quartet, with John McLean on white hot guitar, returns to the Green Mill for two sizzling shows, July 1 and 2. Come early -- the lines outside will be very long.
By the way, that lovely alabaster lady in the corner stage right is Ceres, Goddess of Agriculture, Fertility, and the Harvest, rechristened Stella by Starlight by the house musicians. The Mill's website says, "Stella was salvaged from the lower depths of The Green Mill, dusted off, and returned to compliment the authenticity of the art deco/art nouveau décor in the light fixtures and artwork, embellished with lavishly scrolled frames."
So here's a toast to Dave and Andrea Jemilo and the Green Mill! Take a bow. May you live long and prosper and the jazz never end!
Encores:
Watch Kurt and the band perform Home Cookin' (aka Soul Food) at the Green Mill in December 2010.
Check out this cool video of the tunnels underneath the Green Mill, used by Capone and his men for transporting booze and escaping the law. Dave Jemilo takes the History Channel on a guided tour, starting at Al Capone's booth.
For more on the Green Mill's history, see the Chicago Bar project's informative article, with great photos. Weird Chicago supplies more details about the Mill in the gangster days of Capone and McGurn.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary, The Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich recently interviewed Dave Jemilo (photo at left with Kurt).
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Celebrating the Best in Jazz
Jazz happens everywhere -- and the 15th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards will be celebrated everywhere on Saturday afternoon June 11 from 1-5 pm EDT. The awards presentations and live performances at City Winery in New York City will be live streamed on the web to jazz fans around the world.
In addition, there are local satellite parties this year in Berkeley, CA; Boston, MA; Nashville, TN; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA, Tallahassee, FL, and Washington DC for jazz fans to gather, celebrate the sounds of jazz, and watch the live webcast together.
Once again Kurt has been nominated for Male Singer of the Year by the JJA. He received the JJA top honor in 2010, his sixth win since 2000. Other 2011 nominees in this category are Bobby McFerrin, Freddy Cole, Giacomo Gates, and Gregory Porter.
Kurt will be performing in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on June 11 and so can't attend the awards gala this year. But Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gretchen Parlato, Rebecca Martin (all nominees for Best Female Vocalist) Joe Lovano, Marc Ribot, Darcy James Argue, Rudresh Mahanthappa and other great musicians and music world movers and shakers will be there.
Pianist Randy Weston headlines this year's live entertainment. Other performers include vocalist Gregory Porter, Wallace Roney's sextet, Jane Bunnett and Hilario Duran, and the Hammer Klavier Trio.
Best of luck to all the 2011 nominees. We're all winners because of the magnificent music you make!
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Kurt Elling with Laurence Hobgood, and featuring John Patitucci, John McLean, Bob Mintzer, Terreon Gully, Kobie Watkins, and Lenny Castro. Produced by Don Was. A great gift for grads, dads, & jazz lovers everywhere! 
Current Amazon price: $14.63
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
Watch the behind-the-scenes
video and listen to Don Was
talk about The Gate, Kurt, and the band.
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 Short TakesThe Gate is still in the top 7 on the JazzWeek Jazz Chart for the week ending May 30. This is its fifteenth week on the chart, and over half of those weeks it's been #1!
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The new edition of Lyrics, Kurt's first book, will be out this summer, published by Circumstantial Productions. It features a revised and expanded introduction and six previously unpublished lyrics. Watch for it in Kurt's Store.
v Kurt recently joined with John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quartet, Matt Mitchell, and vocalist Theo Bleckmann to record Hollenbeck's brilliant new musical setting of Kenneth Patchen poems. John Hollenbeck is a Jazz Journalists Association 2011 nominee for Composer of the Year, and the John Hollenbeck Large ensemble is up for Large Ensemble of the Year. v Kurt's travel is climate-friendly. He buys carbon offsets from Carbon Fund to reduce the carbon footprint from his air travel on tours.v |
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| JUNE - EARLY JULY Gigs |
June 8, 2011
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
Independent Arts Fest
Mary D'Angelo Performing Arts Center
Mercyhurst College
Erie, PA
June 10, 2011
Kurt Elling with Bill Charlap, Ken Peplowski, Jeremy Pelt, & Jimmy Greene
United Sounds of America: New York City
Orchestra Hall
220 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
June 11, 2011
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
South Florida Jazz
Miniaci Performing Arts Center
Nova Southeastern University
3100 Ray Ferrero Jr Blvd
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
June 24, 2011
Kurt Elling Swings Sinatra
Kingston Jazz Festival
The Grand Theatre
218 Princess Street
Kingston, Ontario, CANADA
June 26, 2011
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
Ottawa Jazz Festival
National Arts Centre
53 Elgin Street
Ottawa, CANADA
June 27, 2011
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
2011 TD Toronto Jazz Festival
Enwave Theatre
Harbourfront Centre
231 Queens Quay West
Toronto, CANADA
June 29, 2011
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
Interlochen Center for the Arts
Corson Auditorium
4000 Michigan Highway 137
Interlochen, MI
June 30, 2011
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
Saskatchewan Jazz Festival
Broadway Theater
715 Broadway Avenue
Saskatoon, CANADA
July 1, 2011
9:00 pm
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
The Green Mill
4802 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
July 2, 2011
8:00 pm
Kurt Elling Quartet with John McLean
The Green Mill
4802 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
Coming up in July Kurt performs two special shows at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. On Saturday, July 9, Kurt, Jon Hendricks, and Al Jarreau appear with the Metropole Orchestra, conducted by Vince Mendoza. At midnight that night, Kurt Elling Swings Sinatra with Klüvers Big Band from Denmark. He also presents a clinic on July 10. Kurt's upcoming gigs in 2011 are on the Touring page on his website. That's where you'll always find the most current information. Check there often, as new dates are always being added. To bring the KEQ to a stage near you Kurt and Laurence are on the road about 200 nights a year. They only perform where they've been invited and they don't get to set their own itinerary. To hear Kurt and the band play in your city, region, or country, please ask your favorite jazz clubs or festivals to book them through Ted Kurland Associates. Thank you! |
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Your Moment of Elling . . .
Part of being a jazz musician means
investigating jazz history
and not only remembering the beautiful parts,
but conveying them in a way
that helps people fall in love with the jazz idiom.
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