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Kurt Elling
Elling is the standout male vocalist of our time. ~ The New York Times
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March 2014: Swingin' into Spring!
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 Swingin' & Springin' Forward
Kurt's Concerts in March & April
March roars in like a lion with the Kurt Elling Quintet's full week of performances in Europe from 3-8 March. Gary Versace is at the keyboard for this leg of the journey and Kendrick Scott is on drums. Bassist Clark Sommers and guitarist John McLean are the backbone of the band, as always.On Monday evening, 3 March, they play at Teatro Lauro Rossi in Macerata, Italy and then at Teatro Ermete Novelli in Rimini, Italy on Wednesday, 5 March. The date in Rimini is part of the Crossroads 2014 traveling jazz festival that takes place in 50 cities in the Emilia-Romagna region over three months. This is its 15th year. Later in March, it's back to the West Coast of the US and a quick trip to Canada and back, this time with Xavier Davis on piano. Xavier is the featured artist in this month's "In the spotlight" profile below.
The KEQ starts off in California, performing on the Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, March 19. Then they head up to Edmonds, WA, just north of Seattle, for a concert at the Edmonds Center for the Arts on Thursday, March 20. The 20th is also the long-awaited vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere (and the autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere), the beginning of spring and the halfway point between the darkness of winter and the long light of summer. And they finish the month in San Francisco for four shows - two each night - at Yoshi's San Francisco that weekend, March 22-23. By then we hope the weather is warmer and gentle as a lamb as new growth springs up, budding out everywhere in poet e.e. cummings' world of "leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky." April is a simpler month for Kurt, at least on the touring front. On Saturday, April 5, he performs with the American Metropole Orchestra at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR, between Portland and Eugene. Not one to rest on his laurels for long, Kurt is always in motion with new music to learn and writing projects to do, preparing for all that comes next. May will be another intense month of travel, with KEQ performances at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in England, and then Montréal and Toronto. In mid-May Kurt headlines a special concert with the Children's Choir of Chicago, and then he takes off for a five-city tour in Denmark with the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra (formerly Klüvers Big Band). As always, full details of all Kurt's upcoming concerts are on his Touring page. Safe journeys and joyous jazz, gentlemen!
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 From 21-23 February, Kurt was the special guest of the magnificent Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, directed by saxophonist Tommy Smith, in a specially commissioned programme called Syntopicon. Their three concerts in Perth, Edinburgh, and Glasgow explored great ideas and life philosophies through song. They touched on themes such as Love, Life, Joy, Beauty, Knowledge, Language, and Courage.
These performances garnered high praise indeed. Jazz singers are not in short supply these days, but genuinely great ones are always a rarity to treasure. Kurt Elling is undoubtedly in that category, and the latest phase of his ongoing collaboration with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra will live long in the memory. Five stars. ~ Kenny Mathieson, The Scotsman
This musical project was inspired by the 'Syntopicon', a cross referencing index for 'Great Books of the Western World' published by Encyclopedia Britannica in 1952. SNJO director Tommy Smith bought the entire 54 volumes in 1990, and in Kurt Elling he has found the ideal collaborator to explore some of the key themes in the context of jazz. The programme included ideas of knowledge & wisdom, language, good & evil, love & beauty, life and death, with re-workings of pieces from composers including Wayne Shorter, Thelonius Monk, Leonard Bernstein and traditional Scottish music. Elling plays with many big bands round the world, and rates SNJO as one of the best. ~ Debra Milne, Bebop Spoken Here
The ultimate mark of a great singer is believability and Elling was as unarguably convincing on the ballad as he was when bringing Somewhere, from West Side Story, into brilliantly glowing life and delivering the rather more hip jive talk of the vocalese he committed to John Scofield's Jeep On 35. These last two examples...also shed light on the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra's suppleness in surrounding Elling with the gloriously sumptuous but subtle arrangement of the former and the down-home gritty grooviness of the latter. ~ Rob Adams, The Herald
The Mingus tribute to a great bandleader Duke Ellington's Sound of Love appears on the new SNJO CD American Adventure with Elling not so much guesting as collaborating. In performance we get to witness sublime control, superlative phrasing and sophisticated interpretation of a painstaking arrangement by Smith that expands like a small universe. It was an early high point in an evening of peaks, and yet more peaks. ~ Michael S. Clark, Instrumental
These concerts ended with a special encore, the Loch Tay Boat Song, a Scottish folk tune about unrequited love that Kurt said he learned from The Corries, the Scottish traditional music duo.
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Loch Tay Boat Song, Kurt Elling & the SNJO
Glasgow, Scotland, 23 Feb 2014
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As Michael Clark wrote,"Elling climbed into the soul of a confused and befuddled young man, perplexed by losing in love and heartbroken at the loss. It's an evocative Scottish song, set in an iconic Scottish place but it was sung by a nuanced, educated American voice that gave it universal meaning. Tommy Smith added his thoughts on saxophone and he too navigated the tricky channels between art, culture, identity, emotion and understanding."
Tommy said after their time together, "What a magnificent privilege it was to perform with Maestro Kurt Elling again. The end of a tour is always a sad occasion but we'll do it again, somewhere, somehow."We hope to have other videos from these concerts to share with you at a later date. Stay tuned! | |
 In the spotlight: Xavier Davis
Xavier Davis was raised in Grand Rapids, MI in a musical family. He had an early start in music when his mother began teaching him piano at 4, and he started private study on trombone at 8. Before entering the Interlochen Arts Academy for high school, Xavier toured Europe with the Blue Lake International Orchestra. He graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and Western Michigan University before making his way to New York.
Xavier's career as a Jazz pianist took off when the legendary vocalist Betty Carter spotted his outstanding talent at the 1994 International Association of Jazz Educators convention in Boston while he was performing with his college ensemble. It was she who brought Xavier to New York, hiring him exclusively as the pianist of her working trio.
Today, Xavier is one of the most accomplished jazz pianists world wide. Coming from a family of music educators and having led clinics and master classes, it's very important to him to pass on knowledge and skills to young musicians. Xavier is proud to be a member of the teaching staff in the Jazz department of the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
Xavier's development as a musician has been greatly influenced by inspiration and guidance from Carl Allen, James Williams, and Billy Hart, whom he respects as great mentors. In addition to Betty Carter and Carl Allen, Xavier has performed and recorded with many other world-famous Jazz artists, including Freddie Hubbard, Tom Harrell, Christian McBride, Regina Carter, Stefon Harris, Abbey Lincoln, Wynton Marsalis, Don Byron, Nat Adderley, Nicholas Payton, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Greene, Steve Turre, Al Foster, and Jeremy Pelt, among others.
He has been featured on more than 50 albums. Xavier is a member of the Christian McBride Big Band and was featured on Christian's album The Good Feeling, which won a Grammy award in 2012. He also played keyboard for the television series Cosby.
As a bandleader, Xavier has released two critically acclaimed albums, Dance of Life and The Innocence of Youth. "The pianist [Xavier Davis] simply knows how to make every note on his instrument sing, and he invariably finds the richest area of the keyboard for voicing his chords," says writer Bob Blumenthal.
Xavier is currently working on his long awaited follow-up to these albums.
In 2005, Xavier became the first person to receive the prestigious "New Works Grant" twice from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation under the auspices of Chamber Music America. He has won awards at several festivals as well as from DownBeat magazine.
Xavier says, "I love playing and writing and teaching. I would love to continue doing all of those things and have more opportunities for my writing to play a larger role in my career. I've written music for television and documentaries and really enjoy that. Music is like nothing else when it comes to touching people and Jazz is a very special type of music. I just want to get better and better at reaching people through my music."
 Now Xavier brings his many talents to the Kurt Elling Quintet where he shares the piano bench with Gary Versace this year.Xavier says, "It's great to play with Kurt because he's so musical. He gets "inside" the music, which is a beautiful thing for me. I love that fact that he is so sure of what he is going for when he sings something. He doesn't get thrown off by things that may happen in the rhythm section. In that way he reminds a lot of Betty Carter. Those types of singers don't depend on the rhythm section to tell them when or how to sing, like many singers do who aren't quite as comfortable and/or competent. In fact, it's Kurt's singing that is giving us cues on how we should play. We can just get on stage and make music. He's incredible!"
Listen to Xavier with the Stefon Harris Quartet playing "Tank's Tune" from Stefon's album Kindred. "Tank" is Terreon Gully, the amazing drummer in this Quartet, who also played on Kurt's 2011 recording The Gate. Stefon Harris played on Kurt's 2003 album, Man In The Air.
Listen to the Xavier Davis Trio playing "The Day Will Come" from his album The Innocence of Youth. This tune was written by Quincy Davis, Xavier's younger brother, a renowned Jazz drummer in his own right who is Professor of Jazz Drum-Set studies at the University of Manitoba. Quincy plays with the Kurt Elling Quintet on occasion, too.
For a recent interview with Xavier, click here.
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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
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 Short Takes
March 4th is Mardi Gras! To celebrate, here's Kurt with "Up from New Orleans" by Bob Mintzer & the Yellowjackets.
 | Up From New Orleans - Kurt Elling
Yellowjackets, Club Nocturne, 1998 |
 Many thanks to Kurt's 30,000+ Facebook fans for your all your love & support! Join us for more great jazz to come.
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| MARCH-APRIL Gigs |
March 3, 2014
Kurt Elling Quintet
Teatro Lauro Rossi
Piazza della Libertŕ, 18
62100 Macerata
Coming up!
In early May, Kurt performs in two concerts at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in England. The first of those concerts will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2. Next the KEQ plays shows in Montréal and Toronto. In mid-May Kurt is the headliner with the Chicago Children's Choir in a special show, Dancing in the Street, celebrating songs that sparked a revolution from the United States to South Africa. Finally Kurt finishes May with five performances with the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra in five Danish cities.
All of Kurt's upcoming gigs in 2014 and into 2015 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! |
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Your Moment of Elling . . .
For me, the definition of a successful jazz musician - the musician I want to be, and the kind of musician I revere most - is one who communicates his or her specific intellectual, spiritual and emotional life through articulate, passionate, immediate music. That's a jazz musician. It is where we find joy.
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