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Kurt Elling
Elling may be the greatest male Jazz singer of all time. ~ Jazz Review
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September 2012: 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project
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Dear Friends,
Welcome to a new season of creativity and beginnings. I hope you are able to celebrate the quickening of the pace with full hearts.
I am proud to announce that we are releasing 1619 BROADWAY - THE BRILL BUILDING PROJECT later this month. I am very excited about this record and really look fwd to hearing and reading your responses to it. In support of 1619 we are also launching a NEW WEB SITE. Our friends at 1iTURTLE have built a better mousetrap for you. Check it out! And send us your photos for inclusion on the site itself. What else? INSTAGRAM . . . TOURING . . . SPECIAL EVENTS . . . BAM! It's fall in the 21st century!Kurt
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Concord Jazz is proud to announce
the September 25 release of
1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project,
the new album from the foremost jazz male vocalist, Kurt Elling.
This eleven-track collection features renditions of classic songs that came out of the world-famous Brill Building. On track after track Kurt Elling and Laurence Hobgood illustrate the creative fireworks that have marked their work together from the start. Check out some audio samples here. This new disc comes out September 25 in the US, and you'll want to include it in your collection as soon as possible. Here's how . . .
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Be the first on your block!
The official US release date for 1619 Broadway is September 25, and the official international date is September 24.
Each country has its own days and dates for releasing new albums. In some countries, 1619 Broadway is being released closer to Kurt's tour dates there. We're compiling a list of release dates in various countries that you can find here. It will be updated over the next few weeks as soon as more information becomes available.
Great news: You can pre-order 1619 Broadway right now from Amazon with their pre-order price guarantee. And there are good sale prices on pre-orders from CD Universe and Barnes & Noble, too.
For details on all these sale prices, guarantees, and for links for pre-ordering in various parts of the world, click here.
And after you've got your copy, please consider writing a customer review for Amazon or iTunes. Share the love!
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Check out all the details on line as we proudly unveil . . .
The all shiny & new Kurt Elling website
To coincide with the release of 1619 Broadway, Kurt has a brand new website!
It's got a new, rich, gorgeous look to go with all the things you loved about the old site, including the Touring page, the active fan Forum, Kurt's Store, Kurt's Music and Projects, and more. Plus we've added kPod, Kurt's online Radio, for your listening pleasure, a V-D-O section for delightful hours of viewing, favorite fan photos of Kurt (and please submit yours), and now you can follow Kurt on Instagram, too
And come back often to see the latest on the home page and discover all the new treasures within. | |
 The Brill Building at 1619 Broadway (on the NW corner of Broadway & 49th Street) is just north of Times Square in mid-town Manhattan.
An eleven-story office building constructed in 1930-31, it was designated a official New York Landmark in 2010. Kurt's album, 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project, honors the locale that the London Telegraph called "the most important generator of popular songs in the Western world." Indeed some consider it the most famous music address in the world. For a full description of the Brill Building's history, its Art Deco architecture, and cultural significance to the music industry, the official submission to the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission will tell you everything you want to know - and more! For more about the "Brill Building Sound" check out the very cool Spectropop Brill Building page.
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The 1619 Broadway Fall Tour
The Kurt Elling Quintet, featuring Kurt's long-time collaborator, arranger, musical director, and pianist and Laurence Hobgood, along with Clark Sommers on bass, Kendrick Scott on drums, and John McLean on guitar, kick off their 1619 Broadway tour in early October along the west coast of North America and then head east for more great shows.
In November, they take the 1619 Broadway tour to Europe, with additional dates in December.
January finds them back in New York at Birdland and then on The Jazz Cruise in the Carribean, with even more touring in the spring. For Kurt's full touring schedule, please visit the Touring page on his new website.
You're invited to the Gala Release Concerts in New York
As part of Jazz at Lincoln Center's 25th anniversary season, the Gala Release Concerts for 1619 Broadway will be held October 12-13, with two shows each night. The setting is the beautiful Allen Room at Lincoln Center, with its sweeping views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline behind the stage. Kurt says, "These will be our premiere release concerts for 1619 Broadway, with a full compliment of horns and special guests. Consider making the trip to New York to help us celebrate!" | |
And finally, we remember
Von Freeman.
October 3, 1923 - August 11, 2012
Legendary Chicago tenor saxophonist, Earle Lavon Freeman, Sr. - also known as Von and Vonski - performed on Kurt's first album, Close Your Eyes, and later on Live in Chicago. Von Freeman was honored as one of five 2012 NEA Jazz Masters, the highest honor in jazz in America. Von Freeman died in Chicago on August 11, 2012. He was 88. Kurt remembers his dear friend: "Von Freeman was a Chicago original, an American master. He taught those of us lucky enough to spend time with him everything, from what kinds of tunes to play, how to play them, how to dress, how to stand, how to know when you'd had enough to drink, how to lead a band and a crowd in the experience of jazz joyfulness - essentially everything it takes to be a jazz musician. "He did this by his raucous, burly and elegant example. And he did it all free of charge. All you had to do was show up, show respect and love the music. I consider Von the chief personal reason I have chosen to and have been able to become a jazz musician. I owe him my vocation in life."Chicago jazz writer Neil Tesser knew Von Freeman for 40 years and remembered him with these heartfelt reflections on Von's passing. Remembering Saxophone Hero Von Freeman - Part 1Von Freeman: last thoughts (for now) on a Chicago original Kurt's vocalese on "I Like the Sunrise" ( Nightmoves) is an adaptation of a Rumi poem set over a Von Freeman solo from Frreman's 2002 album, The Improvisor. Watch Kurt's exquisite performance on the French arts television program, One Shot Not, and listen to the lyrics as you reflect on Vonski's life, art, and heart. Von's in that place where everything is music and singing, where his spirit flies in and out of hearts - everywhere. Don't worry about saving this music / or be scared if the singing ends
or the piano breaks a string / for we have fallen to a place where everything is
music and singing / everything is recovered and new / ever new and musical
and even if the whole world's harp should burn up / there would still be hidden there
the spirit of song there to linger on / and even if a candle's blown out by wind the fire smolders on in an ember and then sparks again / the singing is a drop / just a drop in oceans of seas / grace keeps it moving through bodies like these and the sound of a life sends an echoing out / the poem sings willingly in each newborn's crying shout / but it's growing slowly / and keeps many secrets / stop the words and listen / feel the echo of it starting / open a space in the center of your beating heart
and let spirits fly in and out
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Coming soon!
1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project
Kurt Elling with Laurence Hobgood, and featuring John McLean, Clark Sommers, Kendrick Scott, Christian McBride, Ernie Watts, Joel Frahm, Tom Luer, and Kye Palmer
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 Short Takes
Kurt performs "River Man" on Lee Ritenour's newest album, Rhythm Sessions, to be released September 25 on the Concord label.  @CriticalJazz said, "'River Man' is a tune written by the late English singer-songwriter Nick Drake and fits Elling's style as though it were originally written for him." The Laurence Hobgood Quartet, featuring the great Ernie Watts on saxophone, will be at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, Sept. 22. 
On September 27-28,
Laurence Hobgood and poet Robert Pinsky bring their acclaimed POEMJAZZto Oberon on the fringe of Harvard Square, in Cambridge, MA. 
Laurence plays while Robert reads -- in a spontaneous, unfolding, improvised musical conversation. Robert says he hopes to be surprised each time they perform together. This month Reid Kennedy's year-long Transcription Project leads off with Kurt's gifted new drummer, Kendrick Scott. The Transcription Project offers weekly transcriptions and reference recordings on time keeping, grooves, comping, and solos from a featured drummer each month. Kendrick is the very first!
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| SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER Gigs |
September 10, 2012
1:00 - 3:00 pm
Kurt Elling Master Class
Michiko Rehearsal Studios
149 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036
Email teaching@kurtelling.com to reserve your spot
** Back-to-school special for auditors: only $40 ($20 off) ** September 24, 2012 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project International release date (general) Click here for specific countriesSeptember 25, 2012 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project US release dateSeptember 27, 2012 2:00 - 4:00 pm Kurt Elling Master Class
Michiko Rehearsal Studios
149 West 46th Street New York, NY 10036
Email teaching@kurtelling.com to reserve your spot
** Back-to-school special for auditors: only $40 ($20 off) **
~ The 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project tour takes off in Canada & the US in October ~
October 3, 2012 Kurt Elling Quintet North Shore Credit Union Centre for the Performing Arts Capilano University 2055 Purcell Way
North Vancouver, CANADAOctober 4-7, 2012SIX SHOWS!Kurt Elling Quintet Dimitriou's Jazz Alley 2033 6th Avenue Seattle, WA
October 8, 2012
TWO SHOWS!
Kurt Elling Quintet
Kuumbwa Jazz
320-2 Cedar Street
Santa Cruz, CA October 10, 2012TWO SHOWS!Kurt Elling Quintet Yoshi's San Francisco 1300 Fillmore Street San Francisco, CAOctober 12-13, 2012* GALA RELEASE CONCERT * TWO SHOWS EACH NIGHT! Kurt Elling Quintet 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project The Allen Room Lincoln Center New York, NYOctober 20, 2012Kurt Elling Quintet Clearwater Jazz Holiday Charles Wharton Pavilion Coachman Park Clearwater, FLOctober 21-22, 2012
TWO SHOWS!Kurt Elling Quintet City Winery Chicago 1200 W. Randolph Chicago, IL
October 23, 2012TWO SHOWS!Kurt Elling Quintet Dakota Jazz Club 1010 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MNOctober 25-26, 2012FOUR SHOWS!Kurt Elling Quintet Scullers Jazz Club 400 Soldiers Road Boston, MAOctober 27, 2012TWO SHOWS!Kurt Elling Quintet The Terrace Theater The Kennedy Center Washington, DC
November 2, 2012
Kurt Elling Quartet with the Lawrence Jazz Ensemble
Lawrence Memorial Chapel
Lawrence University
510 East College Avenue
Appleton, WI
Coming up!
In November, the Kurt Elling Quintet continues their extensive 1619 Broadway tour in Europe.
All of Kurt's upcoming gigs in 2012 and 2013 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 (by people who write checks!) 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 Kurt's booking agency, IMN (International Music Network). Thank you! |
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Your Moment of Elling . . .
I'm an artist who's working now,
whose work is contemporary
and futurist in orientation,
but brings the past along
to inform what happens.
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