Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling, considered the preeminent young male jazz singer today, boasts a rich baritone voice that spans four octaves and displays an astonishing technical facility and emotional depth. Elling has an impressive command of rhythm, texture, phrasing, and dynamics and his repertoire ranges from his own compositions to modern interpretations of standards, both of which can serve as a springboard for free form improvisation, scatting, spoken word, and poetry. One of his 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 new contemporary voice of vocalese. Infusing his lyrics with passion, humor, and a startling intellectual depth, he often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Proust, Kerouac, Rumi, Neruda and Kenneth Rexroth into his work. A seven-time Grammy nominee, Elling was at the top of the DownBeat Critics and Jazz Times Readers’ polls for six consecutive years and was awarded three Jazz Journalists’ Association Awards for Best Male Vocalist along with the Prix Billie Holiday from the Academie du Jazz in Paris. He has recorded and/or performed with numerous artists, including Terrence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, Al Jarreau, John Pizzarelli and many others and has been featured in profiles for CBS Sunday Morning and for CNN. Elling’s quartet tours constantly, performing worldwide to critical acclaim. It features longtime accompanist, Laurence Hobgood, piano; Ulysses Owens, drums; bass TBA.

$35/$30 Members & Students (No Member Passes)
Available in advance, by phone or in person, at the Outpost Performance Space (268-0044); Lensic Box Office 505-988-1234; 
or on the web at www.ticketssantafe.org