2013 GRAMMY Nomination for 1619 Broadway – The Brill Building Project!
On December 5 when the 55th annual Grammy nominations were announced in Nashville and Los Angeles, renowned jazz vocalist Kurt Elling was honored with his tenth Grammy nomination for 1619 Broadway – The Brill Building Project in the Best Jazz Vocal category.
Every one of Kurt's albums has been Grammy nominated. Ten albums, twelve nominations in all — that's excellence!
The New York Times is one of numerous publications to declare that Kurt Elling is the “standout male vocalist of our time.” With this new album, Elling celebrates a legendary legacy from outside the jazz world. 1619 Broadway – The Brill Building Project honors a locale that the London Telegraph called “the most important generator of popular songs in the Western world.”
“Having done so many projects about my love for Chicago,” Elling says, “I wanted to make something that spoke of my love for New York.”
“I didn't want to cover any of the New York songwriters jazz people usually go to: the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, all of whom I love; I wanted to reach out for something different for jazz. The vast collection of songs coming out of The Brill Building seemed like a gold mine.”
A honeycomb of offices and claustrophobic studios at 1619 Broadway, in the heart of midtown Manhattan, the fabled Brill Building at its peak served as the creative home for more than 160 tenants associated with the pop-music industry. Of these, the vast majority were composers and lyricists. Duke Ellington's publishing company had an office there; Paul Simon still does. From the mid-1930s through the early 1970s the architects of the “Brill Building Sound” churned out a preponderance of the popular songs that three generations of America grew up hearing and singing.
On track after track Kurt Elling and Laurence Hobgood, his collaborator for nearly two decades, illustrate the creative fireworks that have marked their work together from the start. Some tracks, such as “On Broadway” and “You Send Me,” glow with atmospheric reharmonizations (either audacious or subtle), unexpected rhythms, and jazz sensibility.
Others, such as “I'm Satisfied” and “A House Is Not A Home,” artfully distill the essence of the original through a jazz filter. But all of them manage to strike a balance of tradition and modernity that will by now be familiar to Elling's longstanding admirers, on a program of songs guaranteed to bring new fans to the party.
The party takes place at 1619 Broadway, as The Brill Building Project provides the inspiration for intrepid explorations by one of the great jazz singers of our time.
The 55th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held February 10, 2013 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast on CBS.
As always, bountiful and heartfelt congratulations, Kurt!