A great new singer. His vocalese lyrics are great, his "rants" (improvised tune and words) are interesting, and he and his collaborators can make old warhorses sound fresh and exciting.

Actually, the collaborators need a note, especially on his second and fourth albums. Perhaps it's just too much listening to vocalese, but I'd gotten used to the instrumental accompaniment being mostly just a simple rhythm section. With Kurt and the Laurence Hobgood Trio, this is not the case. It's more like, say, the old Brubeck Quartet, with Kurt taking Paul Desmond's place. He has the bulk of the solos, but the band has a real personality, and you get neat things like Kurt vamping under a piano solo.

Links

• This is the official Kurt Elling page. Mostly there now, lots of graphics and painfully slow. Very cool looking, at least. It also has a chat board, tour schedule, and lyrics (now with many more songs).
• This is the official recording label Kurt Elling page.
• The Blue Note Kurt Elling page.
• Who's Who in Chicago Jazz.
• CDNow's Kurt Elling page, with sound samples from all three albums.
• Washington Post review of Close Your Eyes.
• All About Jazz review of The Messenger.

Recordings

All four mainstream releases have been Grammy-nominated.

• Close Your Eyes (1995, Blue Note)
  • "Close Your Eyes"
  • "Dolores Dream" The vocal introduction and coda is a vocalese based on Wayne Shorters's solo introduction from the 1977 VSOP version of "Dolores".
  • "Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
  • "(Hide the) Salome" Elling lyrics
  • "Married Blues"
  • "Storyteller Experiencing Total Confusion" Elling lyrics with a Jim Heynen poem interpolated
  • "Never Say Goodbye (for jodi)" Elling lyrics
  • "Those Clouds Are Heavy, You Dig?" Elling vocalese on Paul Desmond's solo from Brubeck (Quartet?) recording of "Balcony Rock". One of the album's standouts.
  • "Wait 'Till You See Her"
  • "Hurricane" Elling lyrics
  • "Now It Is time That Gods Came Walking Out"
  • "Never Never Land" Elling improv lyrics in body -- I really like this track.
  • "Remembering Veronica"
• The Messenger (1997, Blue Note)
  • "Nature Boy"
  • "April in Paris" Nifty version of the old chestnut.
  • "The Beauty of All Things" Excellent Elling rant.
  • "The Dance" Short instrumental
  • "Prayer for Mr. Davis" Elling lyrics on a tribute to Miles.
  • "Endless" Elling rant.
  • "Tanya Jean" A ten minute long Elling vocalese on a Dexter Gordon solo. (Album is reported to be One Flight Up.) Spectacular -- half the time I listen to this, I rewind and listen to it again right away.
  • "It's Just a Thing" Elling homage to those annoying Lord Buckley spoken things. However, this doesn't strike me as annoying anymore. Weird.
  • "Ginger Bread Boy"
  • "Prelude to a Kiss"
  • "Time of the Season"
  • "The Messenger" Elling lyrics
• This Time It's Love (1998, Blue Note)
  • "My Foolish Heart"
  • "Too Young to go Steady"
  • "I Feel So Smoochie"
  • "Freddie's Yen For Jen" Elling vocalese on Freddie Hubbard's "Delphia" from Red Clay.
  • "My Love, Effendi" Elling lyrics (?)
  • "Where I Belong" Elling original lyrics (rant?)
  • "The Very Thought of You"
  • "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" Cute Irving Berlin piece, with Elling using overdubbing to make himself a quartet.
  • "Rosa Morena"
  • "She's Funny That Way" includes Elling vocalese on a Lester Young solo.
  • "A Time For Love"
  • "Every Time We Say Goodbye"
• Live in Chicago (2000, Blue Note)
  • "Downtown"
  • "My Foolish Heart" Much longer than the This Time It's Love version, this one contains an extended section based on a poem by St. John of the Cross.
  • "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" The coda is a new Elling vocalese based on a Keith Jarrett recording of the song.
  • "Oh My God"
  • "Night Dream" Another long Elling vocalese (8:55), this one based on the Wayne Shorter original. (Lyrics)
  • "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons"
  • "Esperanto" Elling vocalese based on Vince Mendoza's "Esperanca". (Lyrics)
  • "Don't Get Scared" An older vocalese I'm not familiar with. Jon Hendricks guests to sing the words King Pleasure wrote; Kurt sings the words Jon Hendricks wrote.
  • "Goin' To Chicago" The Jon Hendricks vocalese version, with Jon guesting again.
  • "The Rent Party" Another of those weird spoken things.
• Live in Chicago -- Out Takes (2000, Blue Note)
  This album of things taped in the Live in Chicago sets but not used at that album. It's only available in Australia and at Kurt's live performances, though Amazom.com will import it for you.
  • "Resolution" Exciting new Elling vocalese on the John Coltrane piece from A Love Supreme. (Lyrics)
  • "What I meant To Say Was..." Nice Hobgood ad lib piano solo.
  • "Moon and Sand" Inspired by Keith Jarrett, it says, whatever that means.
  • "Dolores Dream"
    including "An Extemporaneous Prolegomenon to Any Future Extraneous Thought on The Subject of Mirrors" The vocalese from Close Your Eyes with a new, long, funny spoken piece in the middle.
  • "Renaissance of the Resistance" Kahil El'Zabar piece.
  • "Senor Blues 2000 (the Alien Version)" A weird studio piece tacked on as a bonus track.

Performances

I caught their second set at the Bird of Paradise on March 6, 1998. Kurt and the band both come off even better live. From memory, the setlist was something like this:

• Trio plays something I don't know, with a real nice piano solo.
• "Tanya Jean" -- no head or coda, but he nailed the solo.
• One of those (mock?) Kerouac things. (Referred to in the This Time It's Love liner notes, I see, as "his thus-far unrecorded tribute to Lord Buckley." Unless there's yet another of these?)
• "I Feel So Smoochie"
• A really nice new Elling/Hobgood number for Elling's wife. Now that I have the new album, I believe this was "Where I Belong".
• "Billie's Bounce" The Jefferson vocalese version. I think I liked Kurt's rendition better than Eddie's. With a nice long scat solo as well.
• "Polka Dots and Moonbeams"
• A bunch of scatty things I didn't recognize
• Encore was a subdued Elling/Hobgood duet whose name and lyrics I've completely forgotten.

I caught their first set at the Bird of Paradise on July 7th, 2000. Great show. The setlist included

• Trio plays into.
• "Downtown"
• "Resolution" -- Great new vocalese on the Out Takes CD.
• "Not While I'm Around" -- from Sweeny Todd. I want a recording of this.
• "I Feel So Smoochie" incorporating "The Jerk". Amazingly funny reading of a funny poem. I'd kill for a recording of this!
• "April in Paris"
• "Night Dreamer"

June 28th, 2001, found Kurt and the gang back in Ann Arbor, this time as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. Frank Parker, Jr has taken over as the quartet's drummer, and seemed to fit in well. Kurt just seems to keep getting better -- though it certainly didn't hurt that he did my two favorites ("Resolution" and "Tanya Jean").

The setlist included

• "Resolution"
• "Too Young to go Steady"
• A Kerouac spoken-word thing.
• "Tanya Jean"
• "Orange Blossoms in Summer" -- nice piece from the upcoming album.
• "April in Paris"

See Also

The Manhattan Transfer's Swing.