|
|
Kurt Elling
Jazz singing at its virtuosic, life-affirming, risk-taking best ~ The Arts Desk
|
|
|
September 2013: Summer's ending & a new jazz season awaits
|
|
Hello Dear Friends,
The summer ends and a new season awaits. I hope to see many of you coming up in Germany, either in Bremen or in Berlin - two very distinct occasions. Meanwhile, I am hammering away at several other projects - a symphonic record for January of 2015, another studio record, a play with music, and more.
I wish you all the most creative possible transition into the next moment.
Kurt
| |
Kurt's Fall Preview
September through November
This month Kurt performs with the Metropole Orkest, conducted by Jules Buckley, at Musikfest Bremen in Bremen, GERMANY on Saturday, September 7. Kurt has a rich history with this orchestra, and he played before with permanent guest conductor Jules Buckley in 2012 at Meer Jazz.
Then on Monday, September 16, the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Saxophone Competition & All-Star Gala Concert is at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The 14 semifinalists compete over the weekend and the three finalists perform on Monday. Kurt shares the stage with legendary jazz masters and internationally renowned artists at the All-Star Gala Concert (see story below). On September 26-27, Kurt goes to Berlin, GERMANY to perform two shows with the Bundesjazzorchester, an acclaimed youth jazz orchestra, celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.
In October, the Kurt Elling Quintet resumes touring with shows on October 19 at Dominican University in River Forest, IL and on October 23 at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA. Then they play six shows - two each night - at Birdland, "The Jazz Corner of the World," in mid-town Manhattan from October 24-26.
November finds the Kurt Elling Quintet in Ontario CANADA for two shows. On November 14, they play at The Rose Theatre in Brampton, Ontario. Then on November 15 they perform at the Brock University Centre for the Arts in St. Catharines, Ontario. Tickets for the Brock University show have just gone on sale, and it's featured as a "Hot Ticket" this season. Then on November 23, Kurt performs with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for legendary soprano Renée Fleming's American Voices, featuring special guest vocalists from a variety of musical genres, including Broadway sensations Sutton Foster and Norm Lewis, jazz veterans Kurt Elling and Dianne Reeves, gospel diva Kim Burrell, pop star Josh Groban, country/bluegrass star Alison Krauss, and opera singer Eric Owens.
| |
 Thelonious Monk Institute
International Jazz Saxophone Competition Finals
& All-Star Gala Concert
This year the Thelonious Monk Institute's International Jazz Competition focuses on the saxophone.
On Monday, September 16, the three finalists perform, followed by an All-Star Gala Concert during which the Monk Institute will present a lifetime achievement award to Wayne Shorter and pay tribute to the late George Duke. Shorter celebrated his 80th birthday in August.
The All-Star Gala Concert features performances by legendary jazz masters and internationally renowned artists, including Brian Blade, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kurt Elling, Roy Hargrove, John Patitucci, and Danilo Pérez, among others. The evening's co-hosts are Herbie Hancock and Thelonious Monk, Jr., and John Beasley serves as the evening's musical director. All proceeds from the Gala Concert will support the Institute's public school jazz education programs in Washington, D.C. and across the country. Only a few tickets remain!
Kurt recorded his magnificent vocalese lyric to Wayne Shorter's "Night Dreamer" on his 1999 album, Live in Chicago. Listen to it on YouTube where the lyrics are under "Show more" so you can follow along.
| |
Kurt Elling &
the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
I n May Kurt performed at the National Concert Hall in Dublin with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, conducted by Brian Byrne, the Orchestra's first Artist-in-Residence. That concert is being broadcast this month on RTÉ Radio 1 in two parts. The first part was last Sunday, September 1, and part 2 is next Sunday, September 8, at 11:03 pm Dublin time, just after the news at the top of the hour. That's 6:03 pm in New York and 3:03 pm in San Francisco. Each part is 50 minutes long. To listen on line to part 2 when it's broadcast, go to http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ and select the Listen Live option. Kurt ended this concert to a standing ovation with Brian Byrne's arrangement of "Raglan Road." Kurt also sang a new Brian Byrne arrangement of a short James Joyce poem, "Dear Heart, Why Will You Use Me So?" Parts 1 and 2 of Kurt Elling with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will be available later on for listening at your convenience. Look for information and the link for listening on Kurt's Facebook page later in the month and in the October issue of the newsletter.
| |
Two excellent interviews with Kurt!
 Also on RTÉ Radio, Kurt was Aedín Gormley's guest on The Lyric Feature - My Tunes on April 19, 2013. She invited Kurt to select, listen to, and discuss a number of music pieces that hold a special meaning for him. Kurt plays and talks about Fred Hersch's "Pretty Girl (The Star Crossed Lovers)" from Passion Flower (1996), Mark Murphy's "The Night We Called It a Day" from Songbook (2009), the Count Basie Orchestra's "In a Mellow Tone" with Frank Foster's swingin' arrangement from Breakfast Dance and Barbecue (1959), "My Funny Valentine" from My Funny Valentine: Miles Davis in Concert (1965), and finally, the magnificent opening chorus of J.S. Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" from Bach: Christmas Oratorio performed by Philippe Herreweghe & Orchestra with Collegium Vocale.
It's an excellent, in-depth conversation with lots of new information, and Kurt's in great form.You can listen to the full hour-long programme here. (Please be patient while the RTÉ Radio Player loads.)  Pianist Wayne McConnell, director of the Brighton Jazz School (UK), recently interviewed Kurt for episode #32 of the BJS's podcasts.
In this hour-long program, McConnell introduces and plays several tracks from Kurt's latest album, 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project.His conversation with Kurt starts about 18 minutes in and then runs about 25 minutes. They talk about Kurt's emotional involvement with what he sings, what draws him to a particular solo for writing a vocalese lyric, his life on the road, his upcoming projects, and some advice for up and coming jazz artists. The episode ends with McConnell describing the art of vocalese and then he plays Kurt's "Body and Soul" from Nightmoves (2007), Kurt's vocalese lyric over Dexter Gordon's famous solo. Listen here.
| |
Honoring the Green Mill's Dave Jemilo
The Green Mill's Dave Jemilo was one of two recipients of the Walter Dyett Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Jazz Institute of Chicago on August 20, 2013.
 The inscription on his trophy reads "In recognition of a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the legacy of Chicago Jazz." Dave is pictured here with Lauren Deutsch, Executive Director of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, along with his trophy. Kurt attended the gala awards dinner and said of this award,
"Anyone who knows the scene knows Dave deserves a medal - or, in this case, a trophy. He runs the greatest jazz joint west of the Hudson, he takes care of his musicians and his staff, he sets a great table for his guests, and he's open 7 nights a week. Congratulations to my friend Dave who is a good guy."
The Walter Dyett Lifetime Achievement Award is named for Captain Walter Henri Dyett. Beginning in 1931 with his appointment as the band director at Wendell Phillips High School, Dyett trained more than 20,000 musicians until his retirement from DuSable High School thirty years later in 1961.
The list of famous jazz musicians who passed through Dyett's program is legion: saxophonists Gene "Jug" Ammons, Von Freeman, & Clifford Jordan; trumpeters Sonny Cohn & Paul Serrano; trombonist Julian Priester; singers Dinah Washington and Johnny Hartman; and many more. To learn about Walter Dyett and his essential role in the Chicago jazz scene, click here.  The Green Mill celebrated its 25th anniversary under Dave's ownership on June 19, 2011. See Kurt's June 2011 newsletter for the history of the Mill and Dave's stewardship.Dave tells his own story in Chicago Jazz Magazine, In his own words...Dave Jemilo, March 2012. Finally, Chicago jazz writer Neil Tesser wrote a terrific piece for JazzTimes about the magical week in 1999 when Kurt Elling and Patricia Barber recorded live albums at the Green Mill back to back. The joint was jumpin'. Hearty congratulations, Dave, and thanks for keeping jazz alive and well at the Pearl of Uptown!
| |
If you use Gmail, please be aware that some new changes in your inbox may affect whether you get Kurt's monthly newsletter delivered as you expect.
The new Gmail inbox automatically filters your email messages for you and Google decided to categorize e-newsletters like Kurt's as "Promotions." Those are shunted off to a separate "Promotions" box instead your primary inbox, so you may overlook and miss them.
For details on these changes and how to continue receiving Kurt's newsletters in your primary inbox, please click here.
| |
|
Grammy-nominated!
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 1619 Broadway video and share it with your friends!  | |
Kurt Elling | 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project
|
|
Join Kurt Elling's many jazzy friends & fans in the
Forum
is chock full of music, lyrics, audios, videos, photos, projects, scripts, writing,
a great and active Forum,
and other surprises.
Come visit us often!
Newsletter signup
Newsletter archive
|
 Short Takes
Jazz Master and the "father of vocalese" Jon Hendricks will be 92 on September 16! Kurt says, "Happy Birthday to The Greatest!"
And for Jon's take on Kurt, see Spirits from Above.
If you missed the Newport Jazz Festival this year, many of the concerts are now available for your listening pleasure courtesy of NPR, including the Wayne Shorter Quartet with Herbie Hancock, and 16 more. Listen here and enjoy!
Bryan Carter is one of the drummers who plays with the Kurt Elling Quintet. Here's Bryan's drum solo during their Castera, Italy gig in early July.
|
|
 |
| SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER Gigs |
September 7, 2013Kurt Elling with the Metropole Orkest Musikfest Bremen Großer Saal Die Glocke Domsheide 6 28195 Bremen, GERMANY
September 16, 2013
Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Saxophone Competition Finals & All-Star Gala Concert The Kennedy Center 2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC
September 26-27, 2013
Kurt Elling with the Bundesjazzorchester Celebrating the Bundesjazzorchester's 25th anniversary Kleiner Sendesaal Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg Masurenallee 8-14 14057 Berlin, GERMANY
October 19, 2013
Kurt Elling Quintet Lund Auditorium Dominican University 7900 W. Division Street
River Forest, IL
October 23, 2013
Kurt Elling Quintet Iron Horse Music Hall 20 Center Street Northampton, MA
October 24-26, 2013 SIX SHOWS Kurt Elling Quintet Birdland 315 W. 44th Street New York, NY November 14, 2013 Kurt Elling Quintet The Rose Theatre 1 Theatre Lane Brampton, Ontario CANADA November 15, 2013
Kurt Elling Quintet Sean O'Sullivan Theatre Brock University Centre for the Arts 500 Glenridge Ave St. Catharines, Ontario CANADA November 23, 2013 Renée Fleming: American Voices The National Symphony Orchestra with Kurt Elling & other special guest vocalists The Kennedy Center 2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC Coming up in December & over New Year's! Kurt plays four dates with Vojtěch Dyk & the B-Side Band in the Czech Republic & Vienna in early December.
Then for all you Chicago fans - the Kurt Elling Quintet is at the Northlight Theatre in Skokie, IL for New Year's Eve & the Green Mill on January 3-4, 2014.
All of Kurt's gigs for the rest of 2013 and into May of 2014 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 is on the road upwards of 180 nights a year. He only performs where he's been invited (by people who write checks!) and he doesn't get to set his 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 . . .
There's not enough awe
in our current experience --
with monetary gain, deadlines,
things that are passing, up-to-the-minute news --
the many distractions
that take our attention away
from what really matters.
Music has always served
as a means of communicating
that produces wonder.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
