Kurt Elling

GRAMMY winner Kurt Elling is among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. He won the DownBeat Critics Poll for fourteen consecutive years and was named “Male Singer of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association on eight occasions. An international jazz award winner, he has also been GRAMMY nominated a dozen times.

Elling's rich baritone spans four octaves and features both astonishing technical mastery and emotional depth. His repertoire includes original compositions and modern interpretations of standards, all of which are springboards for inspired improvisation, scatting, spoken word and poetry.

The New York Times declared, “Elling is the standout male vocalist of our time.” The Washington Post added, “Since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic or interesting as Kurt Elling. With his soaring vocal flights, his edgy lyrics and sense of being on a musical mission, he has come to embody the creative spirit in jazz.”

Elling was the Artist-in-Residence for the Singapore and Monterey Jazz Festivals. He has also written multi-disciplinary works for The Steppenwolf Theatre and the City of Chicago. The Obama Administration's first state dinner featured Elling in a command performance.

Elling is a renowned artist of vocalese — the writing and performing of words over recorded improvised jazz solos. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, Elling has set his own lyrics to the improvised solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny. He often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Rumi, Neruda and Proust into his work. The late poet and Bollingen Prize winner Robert Creeley wrote, “Kurt Elling takes us into a world of sacred particulars. His words are informed by a powerful poetic spirit.” Said Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States, “In Kurt Elling's art, the voice of jazz gives a new spiritual presence to the ancient, sweet and powerful bond between poetry and music.”

Kurt Elling has toured vigorously throughout his career, thrilling audiences throughout the world. In that time he has led his own ensemble and has collaborated with many of the world's finest orchestras.

Passion World, Kurt Elling’s 2015 recording, culminates nearly five years of collecting and honing songs – and in some cases writing new lyrics – that express love, romance and heartbreak around the world. Throughout his travels, Elling has observed how deeply felt passions are shaped in countless ways by each unique culture. Those insights have guided the creation of Passion World, a tour-de-force project that is vibrant with diversity, celebrating what makes us all human. In concert Elling tells rich stories about the history and context of each of these songs to sweep you away on a grand tour of exotic places, cultures and times. Passion World is a musical magic carpet taking you on a fascinating journey through the realms of romance in a concert not to be missed.

Awards

Grammy Awards:

• Best Jazz Vocal Album: Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman

• Best Jazz Vocal Album: Upward Spiral, by the Branford Marsalis Quartet with special guest Kurt Elling
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: 1619 Broadway – The Brill Building Project
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: The Gate
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: Dedicated to You
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: Nightmoves
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: Man in the Air
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: Flirting With Twilight
  • Best Jazz Vocal Album: Live in Chicago
  • Best Jazz Vocal Performance: This Time It's Love
  • Best Jazz Vocal Performance: The Messenger
  • Best Jazz Vocal Performance: Close Your Eyes
  • Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist "Dedicated to You" from Dedicated to You (Arrangement by Laurence Hobgood)
  • Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist "Easy Living" from Flirting With Twilight (Arrangement by Kurt Elling and Laurence Hobgood)
  DownBeat:
  • Critics Poll Winner: Male Vocalist of the Year – 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
  • Critics Poll Winner: Talent Deserving Wider Recognition – 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
  • Readers Poll Winner: Male Vocalist of the Year – 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013
  JazzTimes:
  • Readers' Poll: Male Vocalist of the Year – 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012
  • Readers' Poll: Best New Release - 2012: 1619 Broadway - The Brill Building Project
  Jazz Journalists Association:
  • Male Singer of the Year – 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
  JazzWeek:
  • Vocalist of the Year – 2006
  • Record of the Year: The Gate – 2011
  Edison Jazz/World, The Netherlands:
  • Edison Jazz Oeuvreprijs (Lifetime Achievement Award) - 2014
  • Jazz Vocal: Kurt Elling, The Gate – 2011
  Jazz FM Awards:
  • International Jazz Artist of the Year – 2013
  Blue Note Milano:
  • Award of the Year - 2013
  Scottish Jazz Awards:
  • International category – 2012
  Silesian Jazz Festival, Poland:
  • Jazz Ambassador – 2012
  ECHO Jazz, Germany:
  • International Male Singer of the Year: Kurt Elling, The Gate – 2012
  Académie du Jazz de Paris:
  • Prix Billie Holiday: The Messenger
  Nightlife Awards:
  • Outstanding Jazz Vocalist in a Major Engagement — 2010
  Union League Club of Chicago:
  • Distinguished Musician — Inducted in 2011
  Chicago Music Awards:
  • Jazz Record of the Year — 1997
  Rockford Area Music Awards:
  • Hall Of Fame Induction — 2000
  Chicago Tribune:
  • A Chicagoan of The Year (Arts) — 1995
  Crain's Chicago Business:
  • Inductee: 40 under 40 (Who Make a Difference in Chicago Business) — 1998
  Show less