Kurt Elling is the preeminent young male jazz singer today. NIGHTMOVES, Elling’s first recording for Concord/Universal will propel his career to new heights. This follows a ten-year stretch that saw Elling earn seven GRAMMY nominations for six Blue Note albums, six consecutive years at the top of the Down Beat Critics and Jazz Times Readers' polls, three Jazz Journalists' Association Awards for Best Male Vocalist and the Prix Billie Holiday from the Academie du Jazz in Paris. His quartet has toured the world, performing to critical acclaim in Europe, the Middle East, South America, Asia and Australia, and at jazz festivals and concert halls across the North America.

In addition to working with his own quartet, Kurt Elling has spent recording and/or performing time with an array of artists that includes Terrence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, The Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra, Benny Golson, Jon Hendricks, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter, Al Jarreau, David Liebman, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, Marian McPartland, The Bob Mintzer Big Band, Mark Murphy, John Pizzarelli, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and The Yellowjackets. He has written multidisciplinary works of art for The Steppenwolf Theater and for the City Of Chicago. Moreover, Kurt Elling is a former National Trustee and National Vice Chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The GRAMMYS) and was artist-in-residence for the Monterey Jazz Festival’s 2006 season.

Kurt Elling's rich baritone voice spans four octaves and displays an astonishing technical facility and emotional depth. Elling has an awesome command of rhythm, texture, phrasing, and dynamics, often sounding more like a virtuoso jazz musician than a mere singer. His repertoire ranges from his own compositions to modern interpretations of standards, both of which can be the springboard for free form improvisation, scatting, spoken word and poetry. As composer and lyricist, Elling has written scores of his own compositions and set lyrics to the songs and improvised solos of many jazz masters. In addition to the compositional work he has done with collaborator-in-chief, Laurence Hobgood, Elling has collaborated in the creation of new pieces with Jon Clayton, Fred Hersch, Bob Mintzer, Charlie Hunter and Orbert Davis, among others.

One of Kurt Elling's major contributions is as a writer and performer of vocalese, the art of putting words to improvised solos of jazz artists. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, and Jon Hendricks, Elling is the contemporary voice in vocalese, setting the solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, Dexter Gordon, Pat Metheny, and others to his own deeply spiritual and compelling lyrics, an approach that reminds us of the beauty of the original music and opens us up to a fresh vision. Elling infuses his lyrics with passion, humor, and a startling intellectual depth, often incorporating images and references from writers such as Rilke, Proust, Kerouac, Rumi, Neruda and Kenneth Rexroth into his work.

Kurt Elling has been featured in profiles for CBS Sunday Morning, for CNN, and in hundreds of newspaper and magazine reviews and articles. The New York Times called his shows at Birdland “good, battering entertainment.” (1/99) Said the Chicago Tribune, “Kurt Elling is going to change many listeners’ minds on the meaning and purpose of Jazz singing.” (1/96) Playboy Magazine named Elling “the male Jazz vocalist of the Nineties.” (10/98) More recently, The Guardian (UK) declared, “Elling is an omnicompetent artist of almost ruthless efficiency ... (He) is truly a musical phenomenon.” (2/02) And Jazz Review (UK) raised the possibility that “Elling may be the greatest male Jazz singer of all time.” (1/02)

In 2002, Elling produced a vocal summit entitled “Four Brothers” at Chicago’s Park West Theater, which featured Elling and Mark Murphy, Kevin Mahogany, and the legendary Jon Hendricks. A cross-generational tribute to the art of jazz singing, the "Four Brothers" on occasion also featured Andy Bey, Giacomo Gates and Peter Eldrige in place of Kevin Mahogany. Elling led the group on successful tours of Europe and the U.S. in 2003 and 2004 to broad acclaim. A final blowout performance in the summer of 2005 took place in Chicago's Millennium Park. The concert featured Sheila Jordan in the fourth spot and was called "Three Brotha's and a Motha'".

In 2004, Elling was invited to perform and record a groundbreaking work by pianist and composer Fred Hersch. A prolific composer, Hersch created a song cycle based on words from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, performed by a 10piece chamber jazz ensemble of voices, brass, woodwinds, strings, and rhythm section. Hersch's masterful writing, together with the vocal performances of Elling and Kate McGarry, make this a transcendent record. "Both vocalists bring a pure tone and the kind of technique that makes everything seem effortless to Hersch's twisting melodic lines, bringing out their lyrical beauty while ensuring that none of Whitman's words are obscured." (Jazz Times, April 2005).

In 2006, acting as artist-in-residence at the 49th annual Monterey Jazz Festival, Elling teamed up with composer/bassist Jon Clayton to create “Red Man/Black Man.” Here Elling juxtaposed his own new writing with the works of Native American poets – most notably, Maurice Kenny – and Chicago poet and Pulitzer Prizewinner the late Gwendolyn Brooks in a musical setting that featured the Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra. Said allaboutjazz.com, “...the emotional depth of the piece, the power of Elling’s poetic selections and the strength of Clayton’s musical conception are undeniable. This outstanding composition hits home with substantial force.” (September 29, 2006)

Elling has gone beyond jazz performance to write and direct more broadly based literary and artistic events, most notably in works commissioned by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater. In 1998 he undertook a critical, multi-dimensional exploration of the life and work of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. In reviewing the show, The Chicago Tribune called it “audacious” and “provocative ... Elling’s [treatment] turned a fairly predictable survey of Beat Literature into a more balanced view of a key chapter in American history. Here was an evening of poetry and music informed by a sense of morality, as well as an aversion to politically correct points of view.”(Jan/98) This show was remounted to further critical acclaim at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia, and at the Galway Festival in Ireland.

Elling was commissioned one year later to create an event fusing jazz and modern dance, this time featuring his wife, professional dancer Jennifer Elling. Again Elling was praised as an innovator. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote that, “Having risen as a jazz singer on the wings of modern poetry, including his own, (Elling) is in full thrall of art’s interactive possibilities.” (Feb/99) The Chicago Tribune agreed, proclaiming, “Because spoken word, subtle lighting design, fluid stage direction and a heady spirit of improvisation all play key roles, the evening touches on more aesthetic forms than one generally encounters in a week’s worth of concert going... So many of these vignettes prove eloquent – with the crisp imagery of Elling’s lyrics enhanced by the abstract, poetic motion of the dancers – that it’s difficult to single out highlights.”(Feb/ 99) Perhaps the highest profile commission to date has come from the City of Chicago, which invited Elling to write, direct, perform in and host a ninety-minute performance event for its millennial celebration. Two guests from every country in the world were invited to Chicago and were hosted by the city for a weeklong celebration, “The Whole World Comes Home To Chicago.” Elling’s production, “This Is Our Music, These Are Our People”, served as the showcase of the city’s artistic life. The show featured blues great Buddy Guy, Von Freeman, author and historian Studs Terkel, word artist Ken Nordine, Illinois Poet Laureate the late Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks, members of the Joffrey Ballet, visual art from Ed Paschke and Tony Fitzpatrick and a ninety voice gospel choir, The Reginald McCracken True Voices of Christ Concert Ensemble. The Chicago Tribune called the results “stirring ... magical ... Such seamless blends of talent resulted from long hours of planning...” (Jan/ 00)

In February of 2001, Elling created yet another new work for the Steppenwolf Theater. For this production, titled “LA/CHI/NY”, he invited one poet and one musician from each of America’s three great cities to bring the sounds of their environments to the stage in a new collaboration. Poets Kamau Daa’ood and Tracie Moore represented Los Angeles and New York, with Elling himself speaking for Chicago. The musical ensemble featured Elling’s Blue Note label mate, New Yorker Charlie Hunter playing 8-string guitar, L.A.’s B-Sharp Quartet leader Herb Graham, Jr. playing drums, with Chicago’s Mars Williams (NRG Ensemble, Liquid Soul) playing tenor saxophone. The Sun-Times wrote, “... ‘LA/CHI/NY’ was less about geographical connections than spiritual ones. But it radiated such good vibe, you can only hope that plans to take it east and west come to fruition.”(Feb/01) The Tribune went further, saying, “Someone, somewhere ought to give Elling the means to take stage work, or any of his others, and bring them to fruition through a longer engagement. With that opportunity, Elling might truly be able to change the way audiences think about jazz, poetry and life in America.”(Feb/01)

In addition to his work as an artist, Kurt Elling served as a national trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences beginning in 1999. In May of 2003, he was elected Vice Chair of the 17,000 member service organization and served two successful terms. While Vice Chairman, Elling was effective in opening up new channels of communication within the Academy. He helped create and hosted the first two annual Recording Academy Salutes to Jazz. He oversaw the creation of the Academy's Lifetime Achievement and Trustees Awards Review Committee. For his work on behalf of the Academy, Elling was presented with two distinguished service medallions.

In late 2006 Kurt Elling took on well-known artist manager Mary Ann Topper as a business partner. With her collaboration Elling signed a multi-disc recording contract with Concord/Universal. His new disc, entitled NIGHTMOVES, is a noir-ish musical exploration of life lived between dusk and dawn. With guests Howard Levy, Romero Lumbambo, Christian McBride and Bob Mintzer, the new disc features Elling’s own writing alongside that of Duke Ellington, Betty Carter, and A.C. Jobim.

2002, 2006

	Sunday Night - September 21, 2008 / 7:00pm
	Arena / Jimmy Lyons Stage

	Sunday Night - September 21, 2008 / 9:30pm
	Dizzy's Den