Jazz vocalist Kurt Elling in Hartford, CT

Grammy Award winning jazz musician Kurt Elling will perform at Hartford's Infinity Music Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
The 46-year-old vocalist is a Chicago, Ill., native and is now living in New York with his family. To date, Elling has released 10 albums under two different record labels: Blue Note and Concord.

His first six albums — “Close Your Eyes” (1995); “The Messenger” (1997); “This Time It's Love” (1998); “Live in Chicago” (2000); “Flirting with Twilight” (2001); and “Man in the Air” (2003) — were released under Blue Note. His four most recent albums — “Nightmoves” (2007); “Dedicated to You” (2009); “The Gate” (2011); and “1619 Broadway — The Brill Building Project” (2012) — were released under Concord.

Elling has been nominated for a Grammy Award 11 times. Each of his albums have been nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2009, Elling won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album for his album, “Dedicated to You.”

Elling is characterized as a baritone singer. His range spans four octaves and “features both astonishing technical mastery and emotional depth,” according to the biography on his website. In an interview with Elling from Jan. 11, 2013, NPR described the musician's “commanding, richly grained” voice as the “perfect vehicle for jazz songs.”

In a review of his latest album, the New York Times' Nate Chinen says Elling “sounds unstoppable.” Highlights of the album, Chinen wrote, include “So Far Away” and “I Only Have Eyes for You.”

“He puts a special ache into the line, 'So far away from home,' which concludes the first verse,” Chinen wrote. “It's an intriguing echo, given that Mr. Elling left his native Chicago for New York four years ago.”

Elling will perform at the Infinity Music Hall, 32 Front St., Hartford, on Oct. 1.