A GRAMMY Award-winner
and 12-time GRAMMY Award-nominee,
Kurt Elling has
been awarded two
German Echo Awards,
two Prix Billie
Holiday from the
Academie du Jazz
in Paris, the
Dutch Edison and
the Edison Oeuvreprijs.
He has been named
Jazz Ambassador by the nation
of Poland. Within the
United States, Kurt
Elling was named
"Male Singer of
the Year" by
the DownBeat Critics
Poll for fourteen
consecutive years and
by The Jazz
Journalists Association on
eight occasions. The Washington Post confirmed he
acclaim declaring, ”Since
the mid-1990s, no
singer in jazz
has been as
daring, dynamic or
interesting as Kurt
Elling. With his soaring
vocal flights, his
edgy lyrics and
sense of being
on a musical mission,
he has come
to embody the
creative spirit in
jazz."
Kurt Elling's
rich baritone spans
four octaves and
features both technical
mastery and emotional
depth. A close
protege of the
late master-singers Jon
Hendricks and Mark
Murphy, Elling has
collaborated with many
of the finest
instrumentalists in the
jazz world, including
the pianists Kenny
Barron, Joey Calderazzo,
Bill Charlap, Fred
Hersch, Harold Mabern
and Brad Mehldau.
Kurt Elling’s
repertoire includes original
compositions and modern
interpretations of standards,
all of which
are springboards for
inspired improvisation, scatting,
spoken word, and
poetry. As a
lyricist, Elling incorporates
images and references
from writers such
as Rilke, Rumi,
Neruda and Proust
into his work.
The late poet
Robert Creeley wrote,
"Kurt Elling takes
us into a
world of sacred
particulars. His words
are informed by
a powerful poetic
spirit." U.S. Poet
Laureate Robert Pinsky,
concurred, writing that,
”In Kurt Elling’s
art, the voice
of jazz gives
a new spiritual
presence to the
ancient, sweet and
powerful bond between
poetry and music.”
Jon Hendricks, the
greatest of all
jazz lyricists, said
simply, “He is
my son.”