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ENLARGE
SOUNDINGS Kirk Robertson
Kurt Elling, who will be performing here in Fallon a week from Saturday, is the pre-eminent vocalist of his generation. His latest release, "Nightmoves" (Concord Jazz) - which was nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award - showcases many of the reasons why he's received a host of musical accolades.
These include seven Grammy nods, six consecutive years at the top of both 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.
These include seven Grammy nods, six consecutive years at the top of both 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.
The melodic and moving songs included on his latest range from Betty Carter's "Tight," Irving Berlin's "Change Partners," and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "If You Never Come to Me," to the Guess Who's "She's Come Undun." The arrangements vary from duets to septets and are perfectly suited to his vocal stylings.
He also has a penchant for poetry and this recording also includes settings of Walt Whitman's "The Sleepers" and Theodore Roethke's "The Waking" as well as weaving a lyric by the thirteenth century Sufi mystic poet, Rumi, into Duke Ellington's "I Like the Sunrise."
Works like the Ellington piece highlight one of his major accomplishments - as both writer and performer - his use of vocalese, the technique of putting words to the improvised instrumental solos of jazz artists. He's made the technique very much his own and in addition to his own passionate, humorous lyrics, he's also capable of bringing writers such as Jack Kerouac, Pablo Neruda and Kenneth Rexroth into the mix.
He also has a penchant for poetry and this recording also includes settings of Walt Whitman's "The Sleepers" and Theodore Roethke's "The Waking" as well as weaving a lyric by the thirteenth century Sufi mystic poet, Rumi, into Duke Ellington's "I Like the Sunrise."
Works like the Ellington piece highlight one of his major accomplishments - as both writer and performer - his use of vocalese, the technique of putting words to the improvised instrumental solos of jazz artists. He's made the technique very much his own and in addition to his own passionate, humorous lyrics, he's also capable of bringing writers such as Jack Kerouac, Pablo Neruda and Kenneth Rexroth into the mix.
His rich baritone is well-suited to his inclination toward being a storyteller, toward creating a kind of musical theatre in which his technical facility and emotional depth combine to conjure a variety of emotive states. Something to both hear and see.
Kurt Elling will perform Sept. 20 at the Barkley Theatre at the Oats Park Art Center. For tickets and more information, please call the Churchill Arts Council at 423-1440.
Josh Haden is a young vocalist and bass player, the son of legendary jazz bassist, Charlie Haden, and the former frontman for the band Spain.
Kurt Elling will perform Sept. 20 at the Barkley Theatre at the Oats Park Art Center. For tickets and more information, please call the Churchill Arts Council at 423-1440.
Josh Haden is a young vocalist and bass player, the son of legendary jazz bassist, Charlie Haden, and the former frontman for the band Spain.
His recent effort, "Devoted" (Diamond Soul), highlights some of the attributes of his work with Spain but heightens and strengthens their presentation. Haden's rendering of moods and late night feelings are conveyed in earnest, breathy, sexy vocalizations - there no more room for lies, you don't have to know the reason why, clothes are falling to the floor.
The vocals are set off with an eclectic merging of styles and attitudes, a jazzy kind of fringe electronica with its R & B roots never far out of sight.
These thoughtfully subdued late night jazz club renditions - both the songs and his delivery of them - plumb the heights, depths and dimensions of devotion, where it may lead, where it just might take us if we give in.
The vocals are set off with an eclectic merging of styles and attitudes, a jazzy kind of fringe electronica with its R & B roots never far out of sight.
These thoughtfully subdued late night jazz club renditions - both the songs and his delivery of them - plumb the heights, depths and dimensions of devotion, where it may lead, where it just might take us if we give in.
