Kurt Elling

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KURT ELLING has earned seven Grammy nominations for six Blue Note albums, six consecutive years at the top of the DownBeat 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 performed to critical acclaim around the world, including Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, and at jazz festivals and concert halls across North America. In addition to working with his own quartet, Elling has spent recording and/or performing time with an array of artists, including Dave Brubeck, Al Jarreau, and The Yellowjackets.

Elling's rich baritone voice spans four octaves and displays an astonishing technical facility and emotional richness. One of Elling's major contributions is as a writer and performer of "vocalese," the art of putting words to improvised solos of jazz artists. A natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, and Jon Hendricks, Elling is the contemporary force in vocalese, setting the solos of Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, and others to his own deeply spiritual and compelling lyrics, infused with passion, humor, and a startling intellectual depth.

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," and Playboy named Elling "the male jazz vocalist of the Nineties."

08/07