Home » Jazz Articles » Live Review » Kurt Elling Group Brilliant in Saratoga Springs, NY

531

Kurt Elling Group Brilliant in Saratoga Springs, NY

By

View read count
He was a blazing be-bopper one minute, an Indian sitar the next, a vocal acrobat in parts, and even ripped off a kind of Satchmo-meets-Native American chant.
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 melodic, rhythmic and harmonic phrases - whether subtle or in skyrocket flights of scat or vocalese verbalization; and whether planned or improvised - come from the same core as a Stan Getz solo or a Clifford Brown run.
Singer? Yes. But he's a true improvisational musician. Elling sees possibilities and has the guts to explore them. Sonic possibilities. Musical possibilities. And he has sympathetic musicians that enhance any mosaic Elling wants to create.
To see this band is to get a whole vocal experience, as the Kurt Elling Quartet demonstrated in a July 6 concert at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. With Elling in great voice - the long tones, the flexible range - and accompanied by his veteran compatriots Laurence Hobgood on piano, Rob Amster on bass and Frank Parker on drums, the group tore it up. They just keep doin' it at a high level. Ballad or scorching tempo, this organization left an impression on a crowd of young (aspiring musicians enrolled in the college's summer jazz program), old and in-between fans who cheered for more and left smiling.
Elling promised the audience moments of romance as well as adventure, and kicked off with "Moonlight Serenade," done slower and more sensual than it appears on Flirting With Twilight. It was utterly romantic, with slow and understated support from Hobgood and Amster. A beautiful rendition. "Easy Living" showed how Elling can sell a lyric like Sinatra could. "If you are presenting more challenging music, you are obliged to help the audience hear it, either by gesture or by eye contact or by a certain performance aspect. I think of that simply as an extension of the responsibilities I carry as a performing artist," he said in an All About Jazz interview last summer. The longer Elling's career goes, the more polished a performer he has become. You believe "there's nothing in life but you" when it comes from the singer's sonorous and expressive tone. Cardio-vascular, baby.

Another ballad gem was a special treatment of "All the Way," which Elling performed for two friends in the crowd celebrating their first wedding anniversary. It's not one they'll ever forget, as Elling - starting a cappella - was sublime, his sound coming from the soul and weaving a story like a Ben Webster sax solo, with warm sound and inflection. He was charismatic, even theatrical, in delivery, and his voice filled the house, augmented by cascading piano from the irrepressible Hobgood and deep, rich bass notes from Amster,

"Winelight" took on a funky groove, keyed by Amster, but segued from the soft song Grover Washington penned to a tour-de-force ranting scat vehicle that saw Elling toy with sound, rhythm and dynamics. He was a blazing be-bopper one minute, an Indian sitar the next, a vocal acrobat in parts, and even ripped off a kind of Satchmo-meets-Native American chant. It was practiced, yet off-the-cuff.

"Man in the Air" was buoyant and sassy and after a mammoth solo by Hobgood, it segued into a monolog by Elling reminiscent of Coltrane's preaching in the "Acknowledgement" section of A Love Supreme , exhibiting Elling's great sense of drama in delivering lyrics. Parker's cymbal work and drumming was ethereal behind the vocal, lending to the mood, before eventually getting back to the main course.

The band doesn't have a new CD out this year, but Elling was involved with pianist Fred Hersch's project in which the poetry of Walt Whitman was put to music. From that catalog, he performed "The Sleepers," which was reflective, lyrical and delicious as the words floated over melody. Elling's affinity for it perhaps comes from the fact that he is a student of such things and the lyrics he writes are so poetic.

Wayne Shorter's "Night Dreamer" was Elling at his vocalese best, matching his hip, some say beat-influenced, poetry over Shorter's complicated melody with the dexterity of a great athlete. Even at its most frantic, when the words are leaping fast and furious, hard to decipher, the spirit of the music comes across brilliantly through the improviser.

Pat Metheny's "Minuano" was a fitting closer, an uplifting, soaring journey in which all members of the band came together to make a joyful noise beneath Elling's resonant vocals. The song is heartening and inspiring and its driving crescendo as Elling intones: "Already been as high as Kathmandu/Willing to go as far as Timbuktu/Nowhere's too far away - I may catch up with you today/maybe today will finally be the day," can sweep the listener away.

Elling's flexible, expressive, resounding voice is one of the great instruments in jazz, owned by an artist. Creators like this are a joy to experience and it's unfortunate more people aren't willing to open their ears to this kind of jazz... Maybe today will finally be the day.

Visit Kurt Elling on the web at www.kurtelling.com .

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Kurt Elling Concerts


Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Jazz article: Downtown Tacoma Blues And Jazz Festival 2025
Jazz article: Bark Culture At Solar Myth
Jazz article: Hingetown Jazz Festival 2025

Popular

Read Take Five with Pianist Irving Flores
Read SFJAZZ Spring Concerts
Read Jazz em Agosto 2025
Read Bob Schlesinger at Dazzle
Read Sunday Best: A Netflix Documentary
Read Vivian Buczek at Ladies' Jazz Festival

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.