Kurt Elling

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

 
January 2014:  Looking Forward - Jazz Around the World


Happy New Year to you all!

KE on the street
Transitions abound . . . some full of joy, and some mixed with sadness. All are welcome, though, and I trust they are for the highest good. Change and development is in the essence of Jazz. One constant is gratitude. I am grateful to you all for your support, encouragement and friendship.

For me, new creative ideas and partnerships are coming into focus. This week I will be at Birdland for the first time in my new band configurations - featuring Gary Versace one night and Gerald Clayton on another. I have been working hard on new charts and arrangements with Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra for our upcoming performances together in February. Next month I'll be in the recording studio with my friend Ren�e Fleming for a holiday project of hers. Oh, and the play I've been working on is coming into focus. I'll be writing music with Guy Barker in London as the year moves forward. You should also know that I'll be doing another tour with Charlie Hunter in the late summer. So you see my plate is filling up!

My prayer is for grace and light to resonate for all of us in the coming year. Please take care of each other until we meet in person once again.

Kurt


Looking Forward
Kurt's Concerts in January & February

Snowflake
Alexey Kljatov     
Kurt kicked off the first weekend of the new year at the Green Mill in Chicago with his Quintet, featuring Gary Versace on piano and Hammond B3 organ.  Even with snowstorms and arctic winds, the joint was jam-packed both nights, with fans arriving hours before each show to get seats inside, and there were still lines outside for the second set!
 
On Friday and Saturday, January 10-11, the Kurt Elling Quintet swings into Birdland in mid-town Manhattan for four shows - two each night at 8:30 and 11:00 pm. Friday night Gary Versace is on piano and Bryan Carter plays drums. On Saturday, violinist Regina Carter is Kurt's special guest and Gerald Clayton takes his turn on the piano bench. Saturday's shows features Passion World, Kurt's program of songs of love and loss, sung in their original languages.

Later in the month, the KEQ performs two shows in Florida, at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay on the 24th and Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth on the 25th.  Then they board the Holland American's ms Eurodam for the 2014 Jazz Cruise: Jazz Around the World, departing from Fort Lauderdale on January 26 and sailing through the Carribean to Turks & Caicos, San Juan, St. Maarten, & Half Moon Cay and back.  Band members for these shows are Gary Versace, piano; Clark Sommers, bass; Bryan Carter, drums; and John McLean, guitar. 
 
February finds Kurt and the band in the Midwest again, this time for two shows at the Dakota in Minneapolis on the 13th, a Valentine's Day performance at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield, WI, and a very special concert and dedication of the Cleve Carney Art Gallery at the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL.  A modern art collector, the late Cleve Carney was Kurt's father-in-law.  Band members for these shows are Xavier Davis, piano; Clark Sommers, bass; Kendrick Scott, dums, and John McLean, guitar.

Then Kurt travels to Scotland for three concerts with Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in Perth, Edinburgh, and Glasgow from February 21-23. The Orchestra has commissioned a new program called An Evening with Kurt Elling: Syntopicon. Through music and song, Kurt and the SNJO explore life philosophies: love, knowledge, language, courage, beauty, life, death, good and evil, with pieces chosen to reflect these themes, including "Somewhere" from West Side Story and "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love" by Charles Mingus.    

Kurt and pianist Gary Versace
close the month with two concerts in Finland with the UMO Jazz Orchestra in Helsinki and Espoo, February 26-27.
 
 

Looking Back at 2013


Map of Kurt's 2013 Gigs

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

Kurt received several international awards as well:

Jazz FM - International Jazz Artist of the Year - 2013
Blue Note Milano Award of the Year - 2013

Kurt performed 114 shows in 65 cities in 21 countries this year, and more at sea on The Jazz Cruise in the Caribbean. He also presented several master classes and talks.

He flew 100,000 miles between January 1 and July 1, including five trips to Europe and one to Japan.

Most of his gigs were with the Kurt Elling Quintet, touring behind his Grammy-nominated 2012 recording, 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project.

In March, Kurt also performed with the Modern Art Orchestra in Budapest.

In April, he presented an all Cole Porter show with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. He also performed in Michael Feinstein's Elegant Elling shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

In May he performed in Dublin with the RT� Concert Orchestra, conducted by Brian Byrne; in Luxembourg with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, conducted by Gast Waltzing; and in Ljubljana, Slovenia with the Big Band & Symphony Orchestra RTV Slovenija, conducted by Michael Abene.  He continued these collaborations with orchestras again in September, performing in Bremen with the Metropole Orkest, conducted by Jules Buckley, and in Berlin with the Bundesjazzorchester (BuJazzO), conducted by Jiggs Whigham and Niels Klein.

In June, he performed in the world premiere of Guy Barker's That Obscure Hurt at the Aleburgh Music Festival in Snapes, England, celebrating Benjamin Britten's centenary. That Obscure Hurt is Barker's musical suite with lyrics by Rob Ryan, based on a short story by Henry James. Other performers included narrator Janie Dee, the BBC Concert Orchestra & the Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra.

In August, the KEQ performed at the T�nica Jazz Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico where Kurt also gave a keynote talk. It was his second visit to Mexico.

In addition to touring with his Quintet, Kurt also performed with:

The Modern Art Orchestra, Istanbul Superband, Aki Yashiro, Regina Carter, Helen Merrill, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Michael Feinstein, Brianna Thomas, Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton, Tedd Firth, NJCU Jazz Ensembles, RT� Concert Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Big Band & Symphony Orchestra RTV Slovenija, Peter Erskine, Bob Mintzer, Guy Barker, Janie Dee, BBC Concert Orchestra, Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra of Concertgebouw, Metropole Orkest, Fred Hersch, Berta Rojas, Vanessa Rubin, Bundesjazzorchester, Irvin Mayfield & the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Allen Toussaint, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Haley Reinhart, and Vojtěch Dyk & the B-Side Band.


Passion World 2014

Le Mur de Je T'aime, Montmartre, Paris Jazz speaks all languages, especially the language of love.
 
In 2010, Kurt premiered Passion World with French accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano at Jazz at Lincoln Center.  Passion World is Kurt's program exploring the language of love in a musical journey around the world.

Kurt performs internationally famous ballads of love and loss in their original tongues - English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Whether or not you're a native speaker, the meaning is of the heart is clear.

This year Kurt is continuing to develop Passion World with a new and broader repertoire, including a selection from Poland, thanks to the great singer and lyricist Anna Maria Jopek. He's also sifting through selections from the incredible Turkish singer, the late Zeki Muren, and he may also include something from Japan, thanks to his friend Aki Yashiro.

Kurt is planning a recording of Passion World for release in early 2015.
 

In Memoriam, - Rob Amster

On Sunday, January 5, fellow musicians, family, and friends gathered at the Green Mill in Chicago to celebrate the life and times of the late Rob Amster, Kurt's long-time bass player, through music, stories, and remembrances.

A brief account from some of the comments posted about the gathering:

The Celebration drew many of Rob's friends and musical colleagues even on a frigid and snowy afternoon. There were numerous tributes to Rob and good music by some of Chicago's finest, including Kurt Elling, John McLean, Howard Levy, Sarah Allen, Kelly Brand, Jeremy Kahn, Dennis Luxion, Pat Mallinger, David Onderdonk, Fred Simon, Jeff Stitely, and others. Bassists included Rich Armandi, Eric Hochberg, Stewart Miller, and Kelly Sill.

Rob's bass shared the stage with everyone all afternoon. Seeing his bass there on the stage...you could just imagine him up there playing along and digging it.  It was a beautiful way to send Rob back into the cosmos.

Requiescat in pace et in amore, Rob!


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 video about 1619 Broadway & 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    

The annual NEA Jazz Masters Awards ceremony and concert on will be streamed live at 7:30 pm EST on Monday, January 13. The event, co-presented by the NEA and Jazz at Lincoln Center, takes place in the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.

The concert can be viewed live at Jazz Masters Webcast or NEA Jazz Masters. A video archive of the concert will be available on the NEA website following the event.

The 2014 NEA Jazz Masters are Jamey Aebersold, Anthony Braxton, Richard Davis, and Keith Jarrett.
 
 

Can a government swing? You know, the way a great jazz band does? Dr. Wesley Watkins has this cool view of democracy. At its best it's all got the tone and timbre of the best jazz groups, where there's structure, but there's also plenty of room to solo.

"Dr. Wes," as he's known, is the Founder of The Jazz & Democracy Project, a music integrated curriculum that uses jazz as a metaphor to bring American democracy to life and enrich the study of U.S. History in elementary, middle, and high schools. Check out his 2012 TEDxFillmore Talk about Jazz & Democracy.
Passing the baton: From the jazz Masters to American democracy: Wesley Watkins, Ph.D at TEDxFillmore 
Passing the baton: From the Jazz Masters to American Democracy
JANUARY-FEBRUARY Gigs
January 3-4, 2014
TWO SHOWS
Kurt Elling Quintet
Green Mill
4802 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL

January 10, 2014
TWO SHOWS
Kurt Elling Quintet
Birdland
315 W. 44th St
New York, NY

January 11, 2014
TWO SHOWS
Passion World
Kurt Elling Quintet with special guest Regina Carter
Birdland
315 W. 44th St
New York, NY

January 24, 2014

Kurt Elling Quintet

Main Stage Theater

South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center

10959 SW 211th St

Cutler Bay, FL

 

January 25, 2014

Kurt Elling Quintet

Duncan Theatre

Palm Beach State College

4200 Congress Ave

Lake Worth, FL

January 26-February 2, 2014

Kurt Elling Quartet

The Jazz Cruise

Sails from Fort Lauderdale, FL  to Turks & Caicos, San Juan, St. Maarten, & Half Moon Cay and back

 

February 13, 2014

TWO SHOWS

Kurt Elling Quintet

Dakota Jazz Club

1010 Nicollet Mall

Minneapolis, MN

February 14, 2014

Kurt Elling Quintet

Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts

19805 W. Capitol Dr

Brookfield, WI

 

February 16, 2014

Kurt Elling Quintet

Valentine Concert & Cleve Carney Art Gallery Dedication

McAninch Arts Center

College of DuPage

Fawell & Park Blvds

Glen Ellyn, IL

February 21, 2014

An Evening with Kurt Elling: Syntopicon

Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

Conducted by Tommy Smith

Perth Concert Hall

Mill St

Perth PH1 5HZ

SCOTLAND

February 22, 2014

An Evening with Kurt Elling: Syntopicon

Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

Conducted by Tommy Smith

The Queens Hall

85-89 Clerk St

Edinburgh EH8 9JG

SCOTLAND

February 23, 2014

An Evening with Kurt Elling: Syntopicon

Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

Conducted by Tommy Smith

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

100 Renfrew St

Glasgow G2 3DB

SCOTLAND

February 26, 2014

Kurt Elling with the UMO Jazz Orchestra

Savoy Theatre

Kasarmikatu 46-48

00130 Helsinki

FINLAND

February 27, 2014

Kurt Elling with the UMO Jazz Orchestra

Tapiola Hall

Espoon kulttuurikeskus

Kulttuuriaukio 2

02100 Espoo

FINLAND 


All of Kurt's upcoming gigs in 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 about 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 . . .


Any music that jazz encounters,
it absorbs and transforms.
It takes it into itself and transfigures that art form.
It's true when jazz musicians go after classical music,
Afro-Cuban music, Brazilian music.
It's what jazz does.
It encounters unforeheard propositions,
and it absorbs and transforms those sounds
into something new
and amazing.