Blog
Apr 30, 2020
Review: Kurt Elling’s Secrets Are The Best Stories
As with most of Kurt Elling's albums, you can tell that he studied theology at one point, with his songs reflecting metaphysical questions such as "why are we here" and "how did we get all messed up" The beauty of Elling is that he presents...
Apr 22, 2020
Lighting the Beacon
In their first recorded collaboration, KURT ELLING and DANILO PÉREZ make music that reaches for a higher artistic and moral standard Picking at his weight-conscious lunch of Brussels sprouts, blistered shishito peppers, and wine at an...
Apr 18, 2020
Kurt Elling: Secrets Are the Best Stories review – oblique brilliance
Almost exactly two years ago, Kurt Elling brought out The Questions, an album that demanded much of the listener – the opposite, you might say, of easy listening The questions it asked were sociopolitical; he later summed them up as: "How did...
Apr 06, 2020
Review: Speaking To All of Us
Any album and/or concert Kurt Elling presents/creates is an adventure The vocalist, songwriter, and poet came out of Chicago 25 years ago singing jazz, cognizant of the music's history in that city and this country, melding poetry with music,...
Apr 03, 2020
Review: Kurt Elling featuring Danilo Pérez: Secrets are the Best Stories — a deep delve into the American psyche
The American singer Kurt Elling's bittersweet readings of the American songbook and literate vocalese have long set him apart, but more recently they have gained an overt political edge His 2018 album The Questions, a call to face one's fears...
Apr 03, 2020
Kurt Elling Talks New Album ‘Secrets Are The Best Stories’ & Collaborating With Pianist Danilo Pérez
Jazz vocalist Kurt Elling's craft goes way beyond singing A deep thinker inspired by the prose and the preaching of great poets and philosophers, past and present, he has carved out his own rightful place among them with his heartfelt lyrics...
Mar 31, 2020
Review: Vocalist Kurt Elling Teams With Pianist Danilo Pérez for ‘Secrets Are The Best Stories’
Renowned vocalist Kurt Elling collaborates with acclaimed pianist Danilo Pérez and a few other musicians on select tracks for Secrets Are The Best Stories Elling adds lyrics to compositions by Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorious, visionary...
Mar 24, 2020
Going to Church With Kurt Elling
I don’t think you’re supposed to congregate in a church during a pandemic, but Kurt Elling’s about-to-be-released album Secrets Are the Best Stories (Edition Records) is close enough, for jazz, to such an...
Feb 27, 2020
Kurt Elling on Working with Danilo Pérez, Politics and Recording with an Indie Label
Kurt Elling's work as a vocalist and poet-cum-lyricist always has exerted depth; vocal frippery isn't his style So, it comes as a surprise that he digs even deeper into eloquence on Secrets Are The Best Stories, a new disc set for release on...
Feb 04, 2020
Review: The Big Blind @ The Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London – Jan. 31
The BBC Concert Orchestra performs alongside an all-star cast in 'The Big Blind' - a noir-inspired jazz audio drama by Kurt Elling and Phil Galdston Cast: Clarke Peters - Eddie Freeman, an older, African-American jazz saxophonist Kurt...
Feb 04, 2020
Review: “The Big Blind” with Kurt Elling and Dee Dee Bridgewater at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
The musical The Big Blind is a big show: its music and dialogue run for a full three hours, plus there is a 20-minute interval The audience response at the end of the show on Friday night was ecstatic, overwhelmingly so: a packed Queen...
Jan 23, 2020
Psst! A Peek at ‘Secrets Are the Best Stories,’ Kurt Elling’s New Album with Danilo Pérez
"There's a mystery," Kurt Elling sings softly "An enigma" Then, gathering momentum: "There's a memory oh so slight" His words come near the opening of "A Certain Continuum," the first single from Secrets Are The Best Stories, which...