Blog
Dec 10, 2009
Live review: A Night of the Beats at Disney Hall
It was difficult to know what to expect going into the Night of the Beats concert at Disney Hall on Tuesday night In this final performance in the West Coast, Left Coast festival, the only sure thing was a celebration of the intersection of...
Nov 07, 2009
Kurt Ellingist: He did it his way
There was a time when Kurt Elling seemed destined for a different path altogether In his youth, his thoughts were of academia; at graduate school in Chicago, he was wrestling with the complexities of the philosophy of religion until he began to...
Nov 06, 2009
Kurt Elling: Man in the Air
Let's come right out and say it: Kurt Elling is the most influential jazz vocalist of our time Mercurial but ever-lyrical, a serenader as well as a searcher, he represents the higher instincts and aspirations of a field crowded with every sort...
Oct 29, 2009
Guinness Jazz Festival, Cork, Ireland
As if on cue, a Dixieland band struck up When the Saints Go Marching In as passengers disembarked at the airport In a city that is reeling from the recession — as every taxi driver reminds you — the festival banished memories of...
Oct 18, 2009
Jazz singer Elling woos Venue crowd
Kurt Elling was one credit shy of graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in divinity when he heard another calling The estimated 400 attending Saturday night's Jazz Arts Group concert were happy the singer took that...
Oct 13, 2009
A satisfying evening in every way
Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota is about an hour's drive from Minneapolis, a bit longer if you stick to speed limits It's also Kurt Elling's alma mater (class of 1989), and last night (Oct 10) he returned for homecoming and...
Oct 08, 2009
Jazz musician Elling sings with heat & soul
Even though jazz singer Kurt Elling is an intellectual, once on the stage or in the recording studio, his music breathes with emotion that stirs the soul Once bound for the academic life, Elling interprets standards and creates originals,...
Oct 05, 2009
A beautifully realized work
In a single three-hour session in March 1963, John Coltrane and the singer Johnny Hartman convened in a studio (along with the other members of Coltrane's legendary quintet) and recorded an album's worth of ballads that became one of the most...
Oct 03, 2009
Dedicated to You
As sumptuous as Johnny Hartman's espresso-dark baritone was, his brand of balladeering remained forever steeped in conservatism Indeed, when Hartman formed an unlikely but glorious union with John Coltrane in 1963, it was Coltrane who curbed...
Oct 02, 2009
Jazz vocalist Elling is used to letting the music evolve
Jazz vocalist Kurt Elling's eclectic reach includes everything from scat and vocalese to great American standards to sung instrumental music His eighth and latest album, however, is a less-taxing-than-usual tribute to a classic 1963 jazz duet...
Oct 01, 2009
Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars Shine
Three Generations of Pianists, a celebration of piano jazz, spotlighting a family of greats from Jason Moran through Dave Brubeck, highlighted the 2009 Monterey Jazz Festival at Monterey County Fairgrounds in Northern California And...
Sep 23, 2009
Breathtaking – not to be missed
The second set was a breathtaking performance by the 2nd edition of the Monterey All Stars Anchored by pianist Kenny Barron's trio with Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums, the band featured violinist Regina Carter, Russell...