Jun 01, 2013
Review: Kurt Elling and NJ City University Jazz Ensembles
April 29 is the last time I was able to attend a NJCU concert and I am going to miss the trips to Jersey City California here I come! The featured guest was the 11-time Grammy nominated vocalist Kurt Elling, who provided the second set The...
May 21, 2013
Kurt Elling in Dublin: An orchestra and all that jazz
Kurt Elling plays the National Concert Hall, in Dublin, this evening, after a gruelling tour of Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands Last week, the jazz singer was battling a chest infection "I was built to sing, physiologically, but the fatigue...
May 14, 2013
Chilling with Elling
Anyone familiar with top-drawer jazz will have savoured the rich 4-octave coffee-and-cigar voice of Kurt Elling Those who haven't – yet – are missing out on an extraordinary sound: one of the most dazzling, educational –...
May 11, 2013
Kurt Elling … and all that jazz
Yes, jazz singer Kurt Elling is easy on the eye But forget about all that for now, ladies The American baritone with a four-octave range is one of the most innovative jazz singers to come along in years It's hard to picture him as a young...
Apr 18, 2013
Kurt Elling at Ronnie Scott’s: A masterclass in jazz singing
OK, so you've given your copies of Rod's It Had To Be You and Robbie's Swing When You're Winning a few listens (released many, many years ago, the latter is still top of the iTunes jazz albums chart in a gazillion countries)...
Apr 17, 2013
Kurt Ellng: Charismatic ambassador for the music
Kurt Elling is in residence at Ronnie Scott's, though his reputation as one of jazz's all-time great vocalists means that only theft or bribery could now secure a ticket for anyone who has just woken up to it A singer of astonishing...
Apr 16, 2013
Kurt Elling: Ronnie Scott’s, London
Kurt Elling is unmistakably a jazz singer; his subtle shifts of accent and time transform the most mundane lyrics into narratives steeped in the human condition His current repertoire, based on his recent CD 1619 Broadway , celebrates the...
Apr 16, 2013
Kurt Elling: Vocal dexterity & mental agility
Within 10 seconds of Kurt Elling's arrival on Ronnie Scott's stage, negligently yet somehow expensively elegant, one knew the only thing to do was to yield Seduction is all about mastery, after all, and is there any more masterful...
Apr 07, 2013
Jazz Fest review: Kurt Elling commands the stage at the Miller Center
Kurt Elling just doesn't make a song his own He dissects it, modifies it, examines it under a microscope then reassembles it in a way that reassures you of the song's origins but suggests, oh so subtly, that this is something new...
Apr 06, 2013
1619 Broadway: One of Kurt’s finest albums
Kurt Elling's Wellington performance last year was stunning; a treat to finally see him perform and to see him embody a range of songs live That's what he does when he sings He gets inside the songs and builds a new home, gives them a...
Apr 04, 2013
Cole Porter tribute offers triumphs and missed opportunities
Why do Cole Porter's songs still get under our skin For starters, his lyrics show a degree of poetry, wit and insight unattained before he began penning hits in the late 1920s and rarely has been matched in American song since (though...
Apr 04, 2013
Jazz vocalist Kurt Elling has a way with words
Kurt Elling left the University of Chicago Divinity School just short of a graduate degree, but he's a master at preaching with his music As an accomplished singer, Elling enjoys not only improvising musically but also lyrically A devotee...