Kurt Elling

Elling may be the greatest male Jazz singer of all time.  ~ Jazz Review   

 
January 2013:  All New Notes in the New Year


Hello Lovely People,

Thanks once again for supporting us in 2012. I've made so many stops this year and have so many more scheduled and underway for 2013.

The cats and I have a lot of notes to play for you, so please do come on out when we make the scene in your neighborhood. Loads of new ideas in progress & surprises!


Keep going . . .

KE

 
January 2013

January is named for Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions, and of doorways, portals, endings, and time.  He looks to the past and to the future.

Jazz writer Nate Chinen describes Kurt as "a nimble and peripatetic jazz singer," and Kurt spends many nights on the road to bring his live performances to his many fans around the world.

Since last January, we've traveled together 584,020,178 miles through space as Earth completed another orbit around the sun.  And in the past year, Kurt performed in 22 countries, bringing his artistry to fans on four continents.

1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project, Kurt's tenth album and his fourth on the Concord label, was recorded in May and debuted in September 2012 to great acclaim.

As with all of Kurt's recordings, 1619 Broadway has received the Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Jazz Album.

And now 2013 carries us into a new year, with new music and all new notes!


2013 Grammy Nomination:
1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project


On December 5, 2012 when the 55th annual Grammy nominations were announced in Nashville and Los Angeles, Kurt Elling was honored with his tenth Grammy nomination in the Best Jazz Vocal category for 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project.

 

Every one of Kurt's albums has been Grammy nominated. Ten albums, twelve nominations in all - that's excellence!

 

The 55th Grammy Awards will be presented in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 10, 2013.  The jazz awards are presented during the Pre-Telecast Ceremony that afternoon.  

 

Looking Back at 2012 

In addition to all the praise for 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project, Kurt's artistry has also been widely recognized and awarded.

For the thirteenth year, in a row Kurt was named Male Vocalist of the Year in the DownBeat Critics Poll, and he got his seventh win in the DownBeat Readers Poll this year.

JazzTimes readers agreed, voting Kurt the Male Vocalist of the Year in the JazzTimes Readers' Poll.  It was his eighth win there.  1619 Broadway also won as Best New Release of 2012.

The Jazz Journalists Association also tapped Kurt as Male Singer of the Year for the eighth time.

Kurt received several international awards as well:

Scottish Jazz Award - International Category

Silesian Jazz Festival, Poland - Jazz Ambassador

Echo Jazz Germany - International Male Singer of the Year

 

He has been nominated as International Jazz Artist of the Year in the inaugural Jazz FM Awards, to be presented in London on January 31, 2013.

And he has also been nominated for Germany's 2013 Echo Jazz Award as International Artist of the Year for 1619 Broadway.
  The Echo is the German equivalent of the Grammy.

Since last October, Kurt has toured extensively behind 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project with the Kurt Elling Quintet - Kurt on vocals, with his long-time collaborator and musical director Laurence Hobgood on piano, Clark Sommers on bass, Kendrick Scott on drums, and featuring Chicago's own John McLean on guitar.

 

In addition, Kurt was a featured guest on two new recordings in 2012, Kate McGarry's Girl Talk (Palmetto), on which he and Kate sing a dream duet on "O Cantador," and Lee Ritenour's Rhythm Sessions (Concord), where Kurt performs Nick Drake's haunting "River Man."

Kurt also wrote "Recent Vocal-Jazz Innovation," an Artist's Choice column for the December issue of JazzTimes.

Kurt's beautiful new website was also launched in September and includes cool new features, including a V-D-O gallery, fan photos, a Teaching page, and Kurt's own music channel, kPod.

  

Where's Kurt?

 KE Touring Map 2012

   

Ever nimble and peripatetic, Kurt performed 107 shows in 62 cities in 22 countries this year, and at sea on The Jazz Cruise in the Caribbean.

In April, Kurt traveled to New Zealand to perform with Rodger Fox's Wellington Jazz Orchestra with special guest Eric Marienthal.

In May, he recorded his new album, 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project and started touring behind that in October.

In June, Kurt performed in Tokyo with the Bob Mintzer Big Band.

In August he made his first trip to Africa, the place he calls the "cradle of civilization," and performed at the Joy of Jazz Festival in South Africa for the first time.

Kurt's whirlwind year also included his rockin' July tour of Europe with Charlie Hunter and Derrick Phillips, several Kurt Elling Swings Sinatra concerts, and three performances of Passion World, his program of international songs of love and loss performed in their original languages.

Most of his gigs were with the Kurt Elling Quintet.

Kurt also performed with Regina Carter, Anat Cohen, the Metropole Orkest, Rodger Fox's Wellington Jazz Orchestra, Eric Marienthal, John Pizzarelli, the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Big Band, Charlie Hunter, Derrick Phillips, Jon Hendricks, John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet + 1, Theo Bleckmann, the Barcelona Jazz Orchestra, the Kaba Orchestra, the Lawrence Jazz Ensemble, Sheila Jordan, the WDR Big Band and WDR Rundfunkorchester, the Latvian Radio Big Band, and The Estonian Dream Big Band.


The Best of 2012 Lists

We're bombarded with year-end lists - the Best of, the Worst of, the Top 10 or 50 or 100, Favorites, Stinkers, Cheers, Jeers, and other Dubious Achievements.

Veteran jazz writer & broadcaster Larry Appelbaum puts these "best of" jazz lists in perspective:
We often refer to jazz as art and jazz musicians as artists, but would you create a list for best painting or best sculpture of the year? That's not usually how artists think about art. We do it for music because were basically talking about recordings as commercial products. I'm not against commercial products. I consume them just as most people do. But I think Ellington said it best: you rate tomatoes, you don't rate artists.
That said, 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project appears on a variety of end-of-the-year "Best of 2012" lists, including those from these jazz writers.
  • Larry Appelbaum  - JazzTimes, WPFW-FM, Library of Congress, Let's Cool One
  • Nancy Barell - Live365 Internet Radio, JazzSpotlight OnSinatra
  • Philip Booth - JazzTimes, Between the Grooves
  • Thomas Cunniffe - Jazz History Online, Denver Jazz Examiner
  • John Fordham - The Guardian (UK)
  • Ken Franckling - JazzTimes, Ken Frankling's Jazz Notes
  • JazzBlogg - Norway
  • Willard Jenkins - JazzTimes, WPFW-FM, Open Sky Jazz
  • Matt Lohr - JazzTimes
  • Christopher Loudon - JazzTimes
  • Howard Mandel - Jazz Beyond Jazz, Jazz Journalists Association
  • Lee Mergner - JazzTimes
  • Jeffrey Siegel - Straight No Chaser
  • Jeff Tamarkin - JazzTimes
  • George Varga - JazzTimes, San Diego Union-Tribune, KSDS-FM
  • and others 

(Jazz writers often write for several publications, both print & online, so these affiliations may not be complete.)

  

Rick Nowlin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, named Kurt's Swings Sinatra the Best Concert of 2012. Kurt performed it at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in May.

Nowlin wrote, "This tour marked the 50th anniversary of benefit concerts that Frank Sinatra sponsored, and Mr. Elling and his quartet were in fine form throughout in paying him tribute. He had the rep as one of today's great jazz singers, and that night I learned why."
 
 

Brill Building Stories

 

View of Broadway from the Brill Building 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project leads off with a very hip "On Broadway." The view of Broadway from the Brill is impressive when you're on top.

But imagine yourself down below, pounding the pavement, hungry for a chance to prove yourself, being turned away again and again. 

So, uh, whaddya say?
Ya give me a chance?

They say that I won't last too long on Broadway,
I'll catch a Greyhound bus for home, they all say,
But they're dead wrong, I know they are,
Cuz I have earned all of my scars,
And I won't quit 'til I'm a star on Broadway.
Cynthia Weil, co-writer of "On Broadway" with Barry Mann, tells this story of the song's origins in 1963.
We originally wrote "On Broadway" for a group called The Cookies. Our friends Carole King and Gerry Goffin were writing for them and Gerry was producing and they were short one song. Barry had this concept of writing a "Gershwinesque" pop song and I, being a Broadway fanatic wanted to write a lyric about my favorite street and all it stood for. The ideas seemed to mesh so we wrote the first version of "On Broadway."

The Cookies and later The Crystals cut it but neither record was released. Then our publisher told us that Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller were looking for songs for The Drifters. We played them our song and they thought we needed to make some changes for their group. They said we could go home and work on it or rewrite it with them. We idolized them and jumped at the chance to team up. Using the basic melody that Barry had written and my opening lines all we created the "On Broadway" that went on to be a hit by The Drifters and George Benson.
Now 50 years later, "On Broadway" is being honored as a 2013 inductee in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

 

To enhance to your listening pleasure, our good friends at Concord Jazz have put together a very cool Spotify playlist with Kurt's songs from 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project, alongside the early versions that inspired them, including The Cookies and The Drifters. And check out these brief stories about each of the original tunes, too.

 


1619 Broadway cover
 
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







Watch Kurt's new video and share it with your friends!
Kurt Elling | 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project
Kurt Elling | 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project


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  Eighth notes Short Takes  
 
On Sunday, BBC Radio 3's Claire Martin presents Kurt Elling & Sheila Jordan recorded at the 2012 London Jazz Festival. The program also includes Kevin Le Gendre in conversation with the artists. The broadcast is on BBC Radio 3's Jazz Line-Up on Sunday, 6 January 2013, at 11:15 pm UTC/GMT (8:15 pm ET / 5:15 pm PT). The on-demand podcast will be available until 13 January.

 

  

NPR's Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland is reprising the 2002 episode with Kurt & bassist Rob Amster this month. Check your local stations for dates & times. Or listen to the podcast from the Piano Jazz archives.

 

JANUARY-FEBRUARY Gigs
January 8-12, 2013
TEN SHOWS - TWO EACH NIGHT
Kurt Elling Quintet
Birdland

315 W. 44th Street

New York, NY

January 19, 2013
TWO SHOWS

Kurt Elling Quintet

The Cabaret at the Columbia Club

121 Monument Circle

Indianapolis, IN

January 27-February 3, 2013

Kurt Elling Quartet

The Jazz Cruise

Sails from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Nassau, St. Thomas,

St. Barths, & Half Moon Cay and back

February 6-7, 2013
TWO SHOWS

Kurt Elling Quintet

Carpenter Performing Arts Center

California State University

6200 Atherton Street

Long Beach, CA

February 8-9, 2013
FOUR SHOWS

Kurt Elling Quintet

Cabaret Jazz

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts

575 Symphony Park Avenue

Las Vegas, NV

February 10, 2013

Kurt Elling Quintet

MIM Music Theatre

4725 E. Mayo Boulevard

Phoenix, AZ

February 12-13, 2013
FOUR SHOWS

Kurt Elling Quintet

Dazzle

930 Lincoln Street

Denver, CO

February 15, 2013

Kurt Elling Quintet

The Factory at Franklin

230 Franklin Road

Franklin, TN

February 16, 2013

Kurt Elling Quintet

Jammin' at the Gem

Gem Theater

1601 E. 18th Street

Kansas City, MO

February 27 - March 2, 2013
EIGHT SHOWS

Kurt Elling Quintet

Jazz at the Bistro

3536 Washington Avenue

St. Louis, MO

Coming up!

In March Kurt and the band head back to Europe, Turkey, and Russia, before returning to North America.

All of Kurt's upcoming gigs in 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 180 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! 



Your Moment of Elling . . .


I grew up having music
and kind of a transcendental orientation
as co-equal experiences.
I learned the sense of the joy of music,
the way the spirit can be lifted up by music,
the way people can be healed by music,
and that's the kind of sense
that I hope to continue to bring and share
with audiences wherever we go.