Jazz Articles about Kurt Elling

like 272

Kurt Elling: Nightmoves

by Woodrow Wilkins
May 3, 2007

To say that vocalist Kurt Elling has tremendous range only reveals part of the picture. Listening to Live at MCG with Kurt Elling (MCG Jazz, 2004), which he recorded with the Bob Mintzer Big Band, Elling's seemingly effortless move from low to high and back, whether singing lyrics or scatting, is a jaw-dropping experience. The seven-time Grammy nominee and 2006 Down Beat Male Vocalist of the Year now exhibits his range in another way. Nightmoves, his Concord ...

like 351

Kurt Elling: Nightmoves

by Jim Santella
March 28, 2007

Kurt Elling has mellowed some. Quite the original voice in jazz for more than a decade, he's introduced us to adventure and thrills. He's helped to maintain the spirit of straight-ahead jazz with a superb pianist by his side while moving enchantingly in and out of the mainstream. Elling's soothing baritone voice lends itself to both the romantic ballad and to the thrills of more adventurous music.

Lately, however, he's concentrated more on the romantic ballad and has ...

like 339

Kurt Elling: Nightmoves

by J Hunter
March 27, 2007

Everyone deserves a fresh start. What's more, everyone gets a fresh start, every day: It's called “sunrise. That sounds like a bad joke, but it's true. Every day is a clean slate, if we just commit ourselves to that concept. This theme of renewal and redemption drives Nightmoves, Kurt Elling's first disc in four years.

Elling is all about new beginnings nowadays; he's taken on new management, and he's making his Concord debut after a ten-year relationship with ...

like 366

The Bob Mintzer Big Band: Live at MCG with Kurt Elling

by Jack Bowers
September 25, 2004

Bob Mintzer leads a superlative big band with seasoned pros in every chair, but what really gives the engine its get-up-and-go are the maestro's invariably admirable charts, unerring road maps that always ensure a smooth and delightful journey. This first-ever live album by the ensemble, recorded in May '02 at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, PA, is at its best on the half-dozen instrumentals, even though guest vocalist Kurt Elling does what he can to jump-start the other three. ...

like 531

Kurt Elling Group Brilliant in Saratoga Springs, NY

by R.J. DeLuke
July 10, 2004

Kurt Elling continues to show, on an extraordinarily consistent basis, that he is one of the most remarkable musicians to appear on the scene in the last decade. It's easy, and understandable, to call him a singer, or vocalist. He is that, for sure. But the instrument he carries is comprised of more than vocal chords and breath forced from lungs. He's a complete musician whose polished performances come from the soul of an artist. The twists and turns of ...

like 382

Live From Zanzibar Blue: Kurt Elling

by Victor L. Schermer
April 6, 2004

Zanzibar Blue Philadelphia, PA April 2, 2004 First Set | 8:00PM

(This is the second in a series of reviews that we will be doing from the “catbird seat” at Zanzibar Blue, Philadelphia’s premiere jazz club, located at Broad and Walnut Streets in Center City. We are grateful to the Zanzibar management for their generosity and cooperation in this venture.)

Kurt Elling is a consummate jazz vocalist packaged in the persona of a nineteen-fifties ...

like 208

Kurt Elling: Man In The Air

by Joshua Weiner
October 14, 2003

When recording songs written by other artists, the jazz musician faces a dilemma: how to pay homage to, and show respect for, the composer's vision, while at the same time bringing to the tune a fresh approach and original talent? On his new Blue Note record, Man In The Air, vocalist Kurt Elling walks this tightrope admirably, sometimes astonishingly. This is all the more impressive considering that Elling has not simply recorded songs by John Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Joe Zawinul, ...