Kurt Elling (born November 2, 1967) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
vocalist.
Elling graduated from
Gustavus Adolphus CollegeGustavus Adolphus College is a private liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. It is a coeducational, four-year, residential institution that was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans...
in
St. Peter, MinnesotaSt. Peter is a city in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,747 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nicollet County.St. Peter is part of the Mankato–North Mankato Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in 1989. He then enrolled in The
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
's Divinity School and remained a student there until January 1992, when he left school one credit short of graduation.
In the last decade, Elling has released seven albums for the
Blue NoteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
label. He has also performed and recorded with many musicians, including
David AmramDavid Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and virtuoso performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Willie Nelson, Charles Mingus, Leonard Bernstein,...
,
Bob BeldenJames Robert Belden is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and producer. He is noted for his Grammy Award winning jazz orchestral recording titled The Black Dahlia. He is also a past head of A & R for Blue Note Records.Belden was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in...
,
Joanne BrackeenJoanne Brackeen is an American jazz pianist and music educator.-Biography:She was born Joanne Grogan in Ventura, California. She attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but devoted herself to jazz by imitating Frankie Carle albums...
, Oscar Brown, Jr.,
Billy CorganWilliam Patrick Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet. Corgan is the vocalist and lead guitarist for alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. When the band broke up in 2000, Corgan went on to form the short-lived Zwan with former Pumpkins drummer Jimmy...
,
Orbert DavisOrbert Davis is an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.- Biography :Davis was born in Chicago and raised in Momence, Illinois. He began playing trumpet around the age of ten, but was not formally instructed until Charles Danish, an elementary school teacher, found him a trumpet teacher and drove...
,
George FreemanGeorge Freeman is an American jazz guitarist.By mid-1947, Freeman was a member of a sextet led by Johnny Griffin and Joe Morris and supporting touring musicians such as Lester Young and Charlie Parker...
,
Buddy GuyGeorge "Buddy" Guy is a five-time Grammy Award-winning American blues guitarist and singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and many other guitarists, Guy is considered an important exponent of Chicago blues. He is the father of female rapper Shawnna and...
,
Jon HendricksJon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
,
Charlie Hunterfor the New Zealand racehorse trainer and driver see: Charlie HunterCharlie Hunter is an American guitarist, composer and bandleader....
,
Randy BachmanRandolph Charles Bachman, OC, OM was lead guitarist, songwriter and a founding member for both the 1960s-70s rock band The Guess Who, and the 1970s rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive...
,
Bob MintzerBob Mintzer , originally from New Rochelle, New York, is a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger and big band leader based in Los Angeles. After graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1970, Mintzer made his mark as a soloist, mainly on the tenor saxophone and the bass clarinet. He is also...
, Rex Richardson, and
Bob SheppardBob Sheppard is an American jazz saxophone player. He has been a studio musician on a wide range of studio, film and television projects, and has also recorded his own albums...
.
Elling has won the
Down BeatDown Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
and
JazzTimesJazzTimes is a music magazine that covers jazz. It was founded by Ira Sabin in 1970, as a newsletter publication called Radio Free Jazz. In 1980 its name was changed to JazzTimes. Today the magazine is widely regarded as a leading jazz publication....
critics’ polls three years in a row in the Best Male Singer category.
Kurt Elling (born November 2, 1967) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
vocalist.
Elling graduated from
Gustavus Adolphus CollegeGustavus Adolphus College is a private liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. It is a coeducational, four-year, residential institution that was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans...
in
St. Peter, MinnesotaSt. Peter is a city in Nicollet County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,747 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Nicollet County.St. Peter is part of the Mankato–North Mankato Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in 1989. He then enrolled in The
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private, coeducational research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by oil magnate and benefactor John D...
's Divinity School and remained a student there until January 1992, when he left school one credit short of graduation.
In the last decade, Elling has released seven albums for the
Blue NoteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
label. He has also performed and recorded with many musicians, including
David AmramDavid Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and virtuoso performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Willie Nelson, Charles Mingus, Leonard Bernstein,...
,
Bob BeldenJames Robert Belden is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and producer. He is noted for his Grammy Award winning jazz orchestral recording titled The Black Dahlia. He is also a past head of A & R for Blue Note Records.Belden was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in...
,
Joanne BrackeenJoanne Brackeen is an American jazz pianist and music educator.-Biography:She was born Joanne Grogan in Ventura, California. She attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, but devoted herself to jazz by imitating Frankie Carle albums...
, Oscar Brown, Jr.,
Billy CorganWilliam Patrick Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet. Corgan is the vocalist and lead guitarist for alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. When the band broke up in 2000, Corgan went on to form the short-lived Zwan with former Pumpkins drummer Jimmy...
,
Orbert DavisOrbert Davis is an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.- Biography :Davis was born in Chicago and raised in Momence, Illinois. He began playing trumpet around the age of ten, but was not formally instructed until Charles Danish, an elementary school teacher, found him a trumpet teacher and drove...
,
George FreemanGeorge Freeman is an American jazz guitarist.By mid-1947, Freeman was a member of a sextet led by Johnny Griffin and Joe Morris and supporting touring musicians such as Lester Young and Charlie Parker...
,
Buddy GuyGeorge "Buddy" Guy is a five-time Grammy Award-winning American blues guitarist and singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and many other guitarists, Guy is considered an important exponent of Chicago blues. He is the father of female rapper Shawnna and...
,
Jon HendricksJon Hendricks is an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is considered one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists...
,
Charlie Hunterfor the New Zealand racehorse trainer and driver see: Charlie HunterCharlie Hunter is an American guitarist, composer and bandleader....
,
Randy BachmanRandolph Charles Bachman, OC, OM was lead guitarist, songwriter and a founding member for both the 1960s-70s rock band The Guess Who, and the 1970s rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive...
,
Bob MintzerBob Mintzer , originally from New Rochelle, New York, is a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger and big band leader based in Los Angeles. After graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1970, Mintzer made his mark as a soloist, mainly on the tenor saxophone and the bass clarinet. He is also...
, Rex Richardson, and
Bob SheppardBob Sheppard is an American jazz saxophone player. He has been a studio musician on a wide range of studio, film and television projects, and has also recorded his own albums...
.
Elling has won the
Down BeatDown Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
and
JazzTimesJazzTimes is a music magazine that covers jazz. It was founded by Ira Sabin in 1970, as a newsletter publication called Radio Free Jazz. In 1980 its name was changed to JazzTimes. Today the magazine is widely regarded as a leading jazz publication....
critics’ polls three years in a row in the Best Male Singer category. He is also Vice Chair of the
National Academy of Recording Arts and SciencesThe National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. is known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS. Established in 1957, it is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural...
, the 17,000-member service organization that produces the annual Grammy Awards. Kurt Elling's 2007 album "Nightmoves," released by Concord Jazz, was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album has been presented since 1977. Until 2001 this award was titled the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance...
.
As of 2008, Elling's band includes Laurence Hobgood on piano, Robert Amster on bass, and drummer Kobie Watkins. Elling is regularly featured at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge at 4802 N. Broadway in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, generally on Wednesday evenings when the band is not on tour.
Discography
- 1995 - Close Your Eyes (Blue Note)
- 1997 - The Messenger (Blue Note)
- 1998 - This Time it's Love (Blue Note)
- 2000 - Live in Chicago (Blue Note)
- 2000 - Live in Chicago Out Takes (Blue Note)
- 2001 - Flirting with Twilight (Blue Note)
- 2003 - Man in the Air
Man in the Air is a jazz album by vocalist Kurt Elling, released by Blue Note Records in 2003.-Track listing:#"Minuano " – 7:53#"In the Winelight" – 6:38#"Resolution" – 6:51...
(Blue Note)
- 2007 - Nightmoves
Nightmoves is a 2007 jazz album by vocalist Kurt Elling. It was the first Elling album to be released by Concord Records.-Track listing:#"Nightmoves" - 4:23#"Tight" - 2:55#"Change Partners/If You Never Come to Me" - 7:38#"Undun" - 5:10...
(Concord)
- 2009 - Dedicated To You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman (Concord)
External links