Mar 30, 2018
Kurt Elling: The Questions — ‘a supple jazz score’
The vocalist juxtaposes protest songs with poetry and follows showtune classics with literate vocalese Press notes tell us that the questions of the title range from the existential "What is this life" to the pertinent and political "Why is...
Mar 29, 2018
Kurt Elling’s The Questions CD reviewed
If you've followed vocalist Kurt Elling over the arc of his 25-year career, you're no doubt familiar with his exuberant persona and the kinds of songs that he sings so well The 50-year-old with the golden pipes can be a larger-than-life...
Mar 28, 2018
CD Review: The Questions
The fantastical promise of jazz singers like Billy Eckstine and Johnny Hartman was that everyone, regardless of race or birth, somehow might partake in the small pleasures of the American upper class A virtuoso African-American vocalist,...
Mar 26, 2018
Art FOR Something: The Questions
The live music that has spoken to me, of late, is art that seeks to unite, that carries a deeper message and purpose It is art FOR something Ars gratia artis, the poet said, and art for art’s sake can be worthwhile But in fractured times, ars...
Mar 21, 2018
Performance Review: Kurt Elling Returns with a New Album and a Hopeful, though Guarded, View
"Oh, where have you been my blue-eyed son" Dylan's opening line of "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" was also Kurt Elling's opening line in his return-to-Chicago, album release concert at The Promontory in Hyde Park on a windblown March 20th...
Mar 20, 2018
Review: Kurt Elling — The Questions
How does one grapple with existence and its juxtaposition against the present state of affairs That's the question that hangs heaviest over The Questions While vocalist Kurt Elling didn't come into this production with a theme in mind, he...
Mar 12, 2018
Kurt Elling Takes a Compassionate Stand with His New Version of ‘American Tune’
For as long as we've known Kurt Elling, he has been among our most inquisitive jazz vocalists He's bringing that impulse front and center on his probing new album, The Questions, which will be released on OKeh Records/Sony Music Masterworks on...
Mar 11, 2018
Kurt Elling Remembers Jon Hendricks (9.16.21 – 11.22.17)
The first thing — always — was the smile Immediate-upon-recognition, and wholly spontaneous Bona fide Beatific And big I'm talking little-kid-on-Christmas joyful, light-up-the-world big Generous, in a way that would always be entirely...
Feb 16, 2018
Kurt Elling’s THE QUESTIONS – To be released March 23, 2018
KURT ELLING'S THE QUESTIONS New Album Takes On Challenge of These Times Available March 23, 2018 From OKeh Records/Sony Music Masterworks Pre-order now from Amazon and iTunes The Questions, Kurt Elling's newest studio recording,...
Feb 16, 2018
For the Love of Jazz: Don Lucoff interviews Kurt Elling about Jon Hendricks
DON LUCOFF, PDX JAZZ: When did you first discover Jon Hendricks' music and what was your first reaction to it KURT ELLING: I discovered – or perhaps uncovered – what Jon was up to when I was living in a $100/month room in Hyde...
Jan 29, 2018
Concert Review: Spirit of light by Tommy Smith, featuring Kurt Elling
Rugged up against the bone-chilling cold in the Scottish capital's visually and acoustically impressive St Mary's Cathedral, the full-house audience seem aware they are in for something special The two-part concert begins with a clear...
Jan 18, 2018
Concert Review: Ann Hampton Callaway and Kurt Elling at Birdland
When the stars align in just the right way, something as wonderful as Ann Hampton Callaway and Kurt Elling appear on the same bill — a double whammy of jazz power Callaway, first up on stage, is a singer of great range, confidence, and...