Introduce Yourself thread

[Dave]

Hi

My names Dave living in the UK and i had the greatest pleasure in seeing Mr Elling perform at Birdland when i was on a tour of New orleans and New York earlier this year.

I embrace all forms of music and spend much of my time listening to and following the UK artist Jamie Cullum.

Will be seeing Kurt play at Pizza Express in London on November the 14th and had a table for ten booked LONG before it was publicised. So thrilled to have my good friends from the UK and US join me at the table.

Though at the minute ive three spare seats become available. So before i put them back in the hands of Pizza express....does anyone need them ?

Thought i'd check with REAL fans first....just incase anyone had missed out.

[Lekica]

[Dave]

I can wait until 0900 GMT on Friday 6th Nov and then will have to pass these back on

[Lekica]

[ronkav]

Dave,

do you still have tickets available for this gig. I will definitely take one and probably a second...

Ronan
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Ronan Kavanagh

[SamoI]

Hi, everyone!

My name is Samo (male), I'm from Slovenia (south of Austria, east of Italy).

I created a profile for this forum right after KE's Vienna concert, Nov. 9th, when I finally got to hear Him perform live! Waiting for such an opportunity was really hard, since I don't travel much and He never comes closer to Slovenia ...
But when I wanted to make a post, I freaked out, since I consider Him to be »a divine messenger«, meaning everything He does (sings, says …) is so well weighed, so full of deeper meaning … that my every thought seems so common
But, I got over it and after a month of reading almost everything on this webpage and listening to all of His recordings over and over again – I am brave enough to post and even to have a question for all you – KE-experts:

in the concert in Vienna, Elling started to talk about how lucky He is, because in every town He comes to, He gets to hang out with all the sexiest people – because being sexy is a thing of mind (not looks) and jazz-people are definitely the ones using their mind (couldn't agree more) – then He sang a very sexy song – that I haven't heard before and didn't catch the title and can not find it on any of His records. Does any of you experts know, what the song might be?

Thanks for any hints and keep up the good work with the forum!
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»I learn it daily, learn it with pain to which I am grateful: patience is everything!«
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters

[Rev]

Hello SamoI, and welcome to the forum.

I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that what you heard was a vocalese on Marc Johnson's brilliant Piece "Samurai Hee Haw" from the Bass Desires album. As far as Kurt's recording of it goes, I don't think it has an official name yet, but we've been using "Life of the Mind" and "Kobuki Cowboy" to discuss it here.

The only evidence I have to base this guess on is this youTube video of Kurt at Pizza Express in London (which my friend Gabriel pointed me too last month) and at about 2:05 in, he makes some very similar comments to the ones you mentioned. Enjoy!

[SamoI]

Hello, Rev!

Thank you so much for pointing this out to me. That's it. It's really cool!
And it's going to make my wife very happy, too, since she really liked the piece and Kurt's explanation about the jazz people.

Samo
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»I learn it daily, learn it with pain to which I am grateful: patience is everything!«
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters

[P+T]

Hi Samo, and welcome!

You and your wife might also enjoy the podcast of Kurt's GQ interview in which he includes a bit of Samurai Hee Haw, his vocalese of a Marc Johnson lick over a John Scofield solo. See:

http://kurtelling.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787

It's a great interview! GQ reposted it recently when Kurt performed at the White House. See:

http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2009/11/kurt-elling-live-at-1600-pennsylvania-avenue.html

And please feel free to start a new topic any time. This one is mostly for introductions and doesn't always get read and responded to. There's lots of room in the Forum for conversation, and we're glad you're here.

P+T

[Scott Bronnes]

Hi everybody;

I'm new to the forum.
I had the good fortune to have seats right in front of the stage at the first set of the first show at Kurts recent Boston visit at Scullers.

I must say i was very inspired & impressed! I am a long time blues/soul singer making my first baby steps into jazz singing (Jazz is all I listen to these days). I was amazed at his freedom at the mic -the organic give & take with the band (especially the drummer).
As a rabid Hartman fan -I really feel Kurt is the next step. I learned a lot!
And had a great time too!
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MOJOSCOT

[SamoI]

Hi, P+T!

Thanks for your tip about the GQ interview - it's really great - and also very educational for us - wanna be jazzes!

Samo
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»I learn it daily, learn it with pain to which I am grateful: patience is everything!«
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters

[budreblu]

I'm a Kurt Elling fan and a Chicagoan. I've loved his music and his style from the beginning. Seen him perform at the Green Mill and other venues and events around the city. Great talent and a really nice person. Something very cool happened several years ago when I was getting on the bus home from downtown. I was listening to Live From the Green Mill on my headphones when Kurt walks up with a New York Times tucked under his arm. So, there he and I are, getting on the southbound #6 Jeffrey bus, rolling to Hyde Park. I didn't say anything to him, I just wanted to keep that moment magical - bopping my head to Night Dreamer and looking across the aisle to see the man himself reading the newspaper.

Anyway, happy to be aboard!

Betty

[Roberto]

Hi, I'm Roberto from Italy. I'm happy to register her first the day deservedly Kurt has finally won his Grammy! I've seen him live twice and I'm a fan for life!

[ptillen]

Hello- My name's Paula, I'm a pianist, arranger, singer, composer, living in the Milwaukee area.
My "I discover Kurt Elling" story: I've had a version of "Cool Yule" on my Xmas iPod playlist for close to ten years now by this singer named Kurt something, whom I didn't know from Adam. Liked the version of the tune, though, really hip.
One day last December I was feeling kinda bored, and sought some new music by browsing on YouTube, I thought, y'know, I'm gonna find out who this Kurt somebody is, so I ran a search and stumbled across this killer live performance of "My Foolish Heart" from the 2008 Montreal Jazz Festival.
Hot damn! I'm instantly in love. Who IS this guy?? And that pianist, holy cats. I'm doubly in love.
I spend the rest of the day prowling around YouTube, listening to every clip I can find by this Elling guy. I posted the "Foolish Heart" clip on my Facebook page that night, saying, "meet my new musical crush."
The crush has not abated since. I dragged my husband (a Grateful Dead kinda guy) to the Glen Ellyn performance on January 16, and plan to be in attendance on March 12 in Chicago as well.
My vocal jazz students are gonna grow sick of my citing Kurt Elling's example in class, I'm sure. And I find myself asking, "WWLHD?" when I'm writing arrangements and playing.
It's love this time, it's love, my foolish heart.
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"'If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, but to dream more; to dream all the time."
(Marcel Proust)

[jazzieone]

Too funny.
I came on here to chat and intro myself and found that my very good friend Dave was at the top of the page 5 page... of course offering tickets to see Kurt at Pizza Express in London.

I was at Birdland with Dave and at Pizza. What a good time we had. Mr. Elling was great.

Well yes I love jazz and feel that Kurt is the top vocalist for his generation.
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just have to love the drummer !!!