Jun 04, 2016
Kurt Elling review: Dazzling skills stay one step back from the cliff edge
The moment came in Skylark The almost relentlessly buzzing imagination and invention fell away as Gary Versace began a piano solo so soft, so sparse and so fragile that Ulysses Owens stopped playing the drums altogether and Clark Sommers...
Jun 02, 2016
Music Review: Branford Marsalis Quartet with Special Guest Kurt Elling – Upward Spiral
As explained in the notes on the Branford Marsalis Quartet's album Upward Spiral (featuring Kurt Elling), this is truly a collaborative effort Everything about the album, from the instrumental musicians' desire to work with a...
May 31, 2016
When Kurt Elling comes to town
There is always a buzz when Kurt Elling comes to town He likes to visit us here in Australia on a regular basis and we are fortunate that he makes the long trip from the United States Last time he was here, Elling performed with the Melbourne...
May 31, 2016
Offbeat Review: Upward Spiral – Branford Marsalis Quartet with special guest Kurt Elling
From note one, this album sounds more like a Kurt Elling album backed by the Branford Marsalis Quartet than the other way around Elling's voice kicks in immediately on the opening cut, Gershwin's "There's a Boat Dat's...
May 19, 2016
Beauty Becomes These Musicians: Upward Spiral, The Branford Marsalis Quartet with Special Guest Kurt Elling
To one extent or another, jazz has always maintained a discriminatory dividing line between vocalists and instrumentalists Instead of being viewed as equals — artists on par with all the rest, possessing the same good sense, skill, and...
May 16, 2016
How Grammy Award-Winning Jazz Singer Kurt Elling Developed His Chops Singing Motets by J.S. Bach
Though Kurt Elling is one of the most well-loved and highly praised jazz singers of our time, he first developed his chops singing Bach motets As Elling returned to his native Chicago for performances at City Winery, he spoke about how...
May 14, 2016
Kurt Elling:
Kurt Elling has two or three reasons to be excited – not least among them his return to Australia "with a hot band" – his words He talks like that, spicing up his phrases with words like "cat", "hot", "magic"; he talks like the...
May 02, 2016
Jazz at the White House: The Obamas host jazz greats to celebrate International Jazz Day
Before we get to the message, let us praise the logistics management What poor, sleep-deprived soul was tasked with editing down Friday evening's White House jazz concert, hosted by the Obamas, which stretched toward two and a half...
May 01, 2016
Jazz Australia Interview with Kurt Elling
JK: One of the standout things to me is that you have a wonderful breadth of projects You are about to release a recording with Branford Marsalis, you are doing a concert with Lang Lang, you write for Steppenwolf Theatre What inspires you and...
May 01, 2016
Aretha Franklin Pays Tribute to Prince With ‘Purple Rain’ at White House Jazz Concert
"There is something fearless and true about jazz," President Barack Obama said in his opening remarks Friday (April 29) at the White House concert celebrating the fifth annual International Jazz Day — and despite the fact that the show...
Apr 30, 2016
Global Flavors and Asides to Obamas at White House Jazz Gala
A few songs into the fifth International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert, on the south lawn of the White House on Friday night, a pointedly multicultural coalition took the stage Chucho Valdés on piano and Paquito D'Rivera on...
Apr 14, 2016
Kurt Elling To Perform in Lang Lang’s New York Rhapsody, Lincoln Center, May 3, 2016
Lincoln Center presents Lang Lang’s New York Rhapsody, a special one-night only concert featuring the internationally acclaimed pianist Lang Lang on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 This exclusive multi-genre concert event pairs one of the...