Jazz Articles about Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling: Man in the Air

by Dan McClenaghan
October 8, 2003

It's often said of particular jazz singers: “He's (she's) really got a good set of pipes." And the compliment seems meant to denote the sheer God-given beauty of the vocal instument.

The thirty-five year old Kurt Elling, who came to jazz singing relatively late in life – though his vocal beginnings can be traced back to his boyhood, singing in the church choir – is a definite possesser of pipes. His has perhaps the most horn-like vocal approach out there: ...

Kurt Elling: Don't Measure the Limbs

by R.J. DeLuke
October 8, 2003

Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don't start measuring her limbs. --Pablo Picasso

At a time when the music scene in the United States is in a funk, and the recording industry, suffering from limping sales figures, tends to be conservative--particularly in the realm of jazz--it isn't easy to find records on major labels that take ...

Kurt Elling: Flirting With Twilight

by Jim Santella
September 1, 2001

This weekend's shopping list is now clearly defined. Just released, Kurt Elling's fifth album grabs you by the heartstrings and just won't let go. It's a ballad album from the emotional jazz singer based in Chicago. Emphasizing traditional harmony with unique inner voicing, Elling strolls with a superb horn trio and rhythm section. From a delicately soft whisper to a mighty roar, the vocalist produces dynamic changes to enhance each lyric gem. Coming from a wide range of sources, the ...

Kurt Elling: Flirting With Twilight

by Jim Santella
September 1, 2001

This weekend's shopping list is now clearly defined. Just released, Kurt Elling's fifth album grabs you by the heartstrings and just won't let go. It's a ballad album from the emotional jazz singer based in Chicago. Emphasizing traditional harmony with unique inner voicing, Elling strolls with a superb horn trio and rhythm section. From a delicately soft whisper to a mighty roar, the vocalist produces dynamic changes to enhance each lyric gem. Coming from a wide range of sources, the ...

Kurt Elling: Live In Chicago

by Mark Corroto
February 1, 2000

Singer Kurt Elling’s first three recordings for Blue Note records were quite ambitious, but being studio albums, they lost much of Elling’s spirit in the production. The jazz singer, like the poet, is best heard live. Elling, captured during a three-night gig at Chicago’s Green Mill, finally has realized (on record) his full potential. He’s a scatting, rapping, swinging metaphysician of hip. The former philosophy and divinity student picks up on the vocal tradition of Mark Murphy, maybe becoming the ...

Kurt Elling: Live In Chicago

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2000

Kurt Elling and his trio should be on television. They appear regularly on Wednesdays at The Green Mill in Chicago, and his in-person performances are superb. Only the singer’s fourth album in five years, this one was recorded live July 14-16, 1999 with several influential guests. “My Foolish Heart," a carry-over from his last album, offers evidence of how different Elling’s in-person performances are from his studio sessions. The ensemble’s arrangement of “My Foolish Heart" on Live In Chicago employs ...

Kurt Elling: Live In Chicago

by Mark Corroto
February 1, 2000

Singer Kurt Elling’s first three recordings for Blue Note records were quite ambitious, but being studio albums, they lost much of Elling’s spirit in the production. The jazz singer, like the poet, is best heard live. Elling, captured during a three-night gig at Chicago’s Green Mill, finally has realized (on record) his full potential. He’s a scatting, rapping, swinging metaphysician of hip. The former philosophy and divinity student picks up on the vocal tradition of Mark Murphy, maybe becoming the ...