Beat poetry accompanied by jazz has a much-maligned reputation. It seems terribly self-indulgent for someone to go up on a stage and say whatever and then some musicians play whatever and somehow insist that it's profoundly meaningful and if you don't get it, it's your own fault. There is a bit of truth to this stereotype, but what it really reveals is how hard it is to marry poetry - with its own internal rhythms and sounds - to music,... read full article

How many ways can you sing a song? Why do some pieces work only with certain vocalists? Why is it so rare to have the right fit between a singer and a song? Is it simply a matter of arrangement, or does the style and sensibility of a particular vocalist lend itself to making a piece "work"? These five tunes — all from excellent 2011 releases — exemplify how great singers and great songs fit together. In each case, the... read full article

Kurt Elling thrilled the audience at this Pennsylvania college with his seemingly inexhaustible, four-octave baritone voice and dramatic songs that swept from one emotional high to another. The show began with Elling and his rhythm section—Laurence Hobgood on piano, Clark Sommers on bass, Ulysses Owens Jr. on drums and special guest John McLean on guitar—spinning through a grooving version of Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out.” Elling’s romantic, luxurious version of Coltrane and Hartman’s “Dedicated To You” was followed by several tunes... read full article

The confluence of poetry or spoken word with improvisational music goes as far back as the Harlem renaissance, became synonymous with the Beats, figured heavily in proto-rap music (Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets) and continues to flourish. Along the years, there have been many recordings of poets reading their work to jazz accompaniment. Some of it was great, some mediocre, most atrocious. Poet/visualist Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972) was no stranger to filtering his artistic mien through music with better-than-average collaborations... read full article

Vocalist Kurt Elling was in St. Louis recently to perform at Jazz at the Bistro. Arguably, he is one of the top jazz singers in the world today. He was born in Chicago and raised in Rockford, Ill., where his father was the Choir Director of a Lutheran Church. Elling said that he spent most of his school years hanging out in choir rooms. He also played violin, piano, French horn and drums. He apparently treasured these years singing in... read full article

Kurt Elling’s creative and commercial impact in jazz over the past 15 years makes the following hard to fathom: thousands of fans throughout the world might have been deprived of one of the most celebrated voices of this generation had this Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and scat master gone ahead and earned that final credit towards his master’s degree at the University of Chicago Divinity School. After graduating in 1989 from Gustavus Adolphus, a private Minnesota liberal arts college, Elling enrolled... read full article

Jazz singers were out of vogue for a while, perhaps because the focus on trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the young lions who emerged in his wake put the emphasis on instrumentals. But in recent years, vocals have regained their place in the music. Any discussion of putting an improvisational spin on a lyric would certainly include Dianne Reeves, Diana Krall and Gretchen Parlato. As for their male counterparts, Jamie Cullum, Harry Connick Jr. and Bobby McFerrin immediately come to mind.... read full article