Kurt Elling @ The Soiled Dove Underground 3/14/07
By:Geoff Anderson, Tuesday evening jazz host on KUVO from 7 to 9 PM (listen for the Anderson Vinyl Vault at 8:30 Tuesdays)
Kurt Elling is one creative guy. As a jazz vocalist and composer he draws from many of the jazz greats including Duke Ellington, Dexter Gordon and Betty Carter. But he doesn't stop there. He also absorbs and channels influences like The Guess Who, a 13th Century Persian poet, the Zombies, Jack Kerouac and Steve Miller.
All those influences and more were on display when Elling sang at the Soiled Dove Underground last night; all that along with his amazing vocal abilities. Backing Elling was Laurence Hobgood, a certified monster on the piano, and a crack rhythm section of Willie Jones on drums and Rob Amster on bass. Last night Elling established his jazz cred up front by opening with the standard My Foolish Heart, then quickly took a left turn with She's Come Undone (“Undun”), a 1969 pop hit by the Canadian band The Guess Who. I've always thought that tune had a strong jazz undercurrent, but Elling brought that to the fore and turned the whole tune inside out. (Note to Kurt for future consideration: check out Up From the Skies by Jimi Hendrix, I think it has possibilities.)
Elling has a new album coming out in a couple weeks and consequently, much of last night's material came from that disc. It's called Nightmoves and, as Kurt says, it's about that which occurs between dusk and dawn, yeah, especially THAT. Actually, Elling is a true romantic tending to focus on things like kisses and dancing which is rather refreshing in this age of explicit lyrics and TV shows. That vibe was most pronounced on Freddie's Yen for Jen, a Freddie Hubbard tune that Elling wrote lyrics for, not just the head (the main melody), but Freddie's trumpet solo too. “I dig her kisses! While washing the dishes or feeding the fishes!” This was all illustrated with evocative sound effects and Elling-unique scatting. Some fun.
Another highlight was Pull My Daisy, a Jack Kerouac inspired piece with music by David Amram. This tune isn't on any Kurt Elling album, but he said he was inspired to do it last night by his visit, earlier in the day, to Naropa in Boulder. “We came all this way, we had to make the scene.” Kurt's a hipster. Anyway, the tune started with some Steve Reich type clapping by all the band members, each clapping a different rhythm with the same beat. The rhythm section then dropped out and took up their instruments while Hobgood and Elling continued to clap. When they stopped clapping and started playing/singing, the tune settled into a bebop groove with Elling singing lyrics that were written by Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg and Neal Cassady. Then he broke into a rap which I think was an excerpt from Kerouac's On the Road. It was a scene where Kerouac, Dean Moriarty and others stayed up all night in Chicago carrying on, then emerged onto the streets of Chicago at 9 AM with Moriarty attempting to drive their car, but crashing it into numerous objects resulting in the death of the car by a thousand cuts (or collisions). The narration with the bebop background reminded me of Ken Nordine and his Word Jazz. The tune then went full circle returning to the vocal chorus, then finally a reprise of the Steve Reich clapping. Pull My Daisy was also timely because Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road continues to be on display at the Denver Public Library through the end of the month.
Elling's vocal talents put him in the top tier of jazz singers. He's a performer who's in complete control. It's serious fun watching him because he is completely confident in what he's doing and he knows he can do whatever strikes his mood. He can sing in that casual Sinatra style where it sounds like he's simply talking, but in fact he's carrying the tune. Other times he lets loose with some pyrotechnics. He has perfect pitch. Several times he came up to the microphone at the beginning of a song before any of the instruments played, he'd start singing, then the piano would join him; no pitch pipe needed. He has a tremendous vocal range, but usually stays in comfortable baritone territory except when special effects are called for.
He's a long way from a jazz vocalist that simply puts a little new gloss on some jazz standards. His approach is far more ambitious. An example is I Like the Sunrise, a Duke Ellington tune in which lyrics from 13th Century Persian poet Rumi and a saxophone solo from Von Freeman's 2002 recording of the Ellington tune and all mixed together; 20th Century Ellington, 13th Century poetry and 21st Century saxophone blowing. Elling also performed his version of Body and Soul, a jazz standard, but with a completely rewritten lyric inspired by his 17 month old daughter Luiza and a Dexter Gordon saxophone solo.
The encore was another classic rock tune which Elling twisted and contorted into a highly esthetic and comic success. I always thought The Joker by the Steve Miller Band was kind of a cheesy tune anyway, but in this duet with Elling and Amster on bass, Elling was like a cat toying with a mouse before eating it; just a little fun before dinner. Since it's a well known tune, he got the audience to sing along, holding the mic out for the audience to recite the line “I'm a midnight toker,” to which he replied, “You're all under arrest.”
Kurt Elling is one of the top performers on the current jazz scene. He's highly creative, highly intelligent, quite talented and funny, too. For more info: http://www.kurtelling.com/
Set List:
My Foolish Heart
She's Come Undone
Tight
Change Partners/If You Never Come to Me
Freddie's Yen for Jen
Pull My Daisy
I Like the Sunrise
The Waking
And We Will Fly
Where Are You?
Body and Soul
Encore
The Joker
The Band: Kurt Elling - Vocals, Laurence Hobgood - Piano, Rob Amster - Bass, Willie Jones - Drums
Kurt Elling is one creative guy. As a jazz vocalist and composer he draws from many of the jazz greats including Duke Ellington, Dexter Gordon and Betty Carter. But he doesn't stop there. He also absorbs and channels influences like The Guess Who, a 13th Century Persian poet, the Zombies, Jack Kerouac and Steve Miller.
All those influences and more were on display when Elling sang at the Soiled Dove Underground last night; all that along with his amazing vocal abilities. Backing Elling was Laurence Hobgood, a certified monster on the piano, and a crack rhythm section of Willie Jones on drums and Rob Amster on bass. Last night Elling established his jazz cred up front by opening with the standard My Foolish Heart, then quickly took a left turn with She's Come Undone (“Undun”), a 1969 pop hit by the Canadian band The Guess Who. I've always thought that tune had a strong jazz undercurrent, but Elling brought that to the fore and turned the whole tune inside out. (Note to Kurt for future consideration: check out Up From the Skies by Jimi Hendrix, I think it has possibilities.)
Elling has a new album coming out in a couple weeks and consequently, much of last night's material came from that disc. It's called Nightmoves and, as Kurt says, it's about that which occurs between dusk and dawn, yeah, especially THAT. Actually, Elling is a true romantic tending to focus on things like kisses and dancing which is rather refreshing in this age of explicit lyrics and TV shows. That vibe was most pronounced on Freddie's Yen for Jen, a Freddie Hubbard tune that Elling wrote lyrics for, not just the head (the main melody), but Freddie's trumpet solo too. “I dig her kisses! While washing the dishes or feeding the fishes!” This was all illustrated with evocative sound effects and Elling-unique scatting. Some fun.
Another highlight was Pull My Daisy, a Jack Kerouac inspired piece with music by David Amram. This tune isn't on any Kurt Elling album, but he said he was inspired to do it last night by his visit, earlier in the day, to Naropa in Boulder. “We came all this way, we had to make the scene.” Kurt's a hipster. Anyway, the tune started with some Steve Reich type clapping by all the band members, each clapping a different rhythm with the same beat. The rhythm section then dropped out and took up their instruments while Hobgood and Elling continued to clap. When they stopped clapping and started playing/singing, the tune settled into a bebop groove with Elling singing lyrics that were written by Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg and Neal Cassady. Then he broke into a rap which I think was an excerpt from Kerouac's On the Road. It was a scene where Kerouac, Dean Moriarty and others stayed up all night in Chicago carrying on, then emerged onto the streets of Chicago at 9 AM with Moriarty attempting to drive their car, but crashing it into numerous objects resulting in the death of the car by a thousand cuts (or collisions). The narration with the bebop background reminded me of Ken Nordine and his Word Jazz. The tune then went full circle returning to the vocal chorus, then finally a reprise of the Steve Reich clapping. Pull My Daisy was also timely because Kerouac's original scroll manuscript of On the Road continues to be on display at the Denver Public Library through the end of the month.
Elling's vocal talents put him in the top tier of jazz singers. He's a performer who's in complete control. It's serious fun watching him because he is completely confident in what he's doing and he knows he can do whatever strikes his mood. He can sing in that casual Sinatra style where it sounds like he's simply talking, but in fact he's carrying the tune. Other times he lets loose with some pyrotechnics. He has perfect pitch. Several times he came up to the microphone at the beginning of a song before any of the instruments played, he'd start singing, then the piano would join him; no pitch pipe needed. He has a tremendous vocal range, but usually stays in comfortable baritone territory except when special effects are called for.
He's a long way from a jazz vocalist that simply puts a little new gloss on some jazz standards. His approach is far more ambitious. An example is I Like the Sunrise, a Duke Ellington tune in which lyrics from 13th Century Persian poet Rumi and a saxophone solo from Von Freeman's 2002 recording of the Ellington tune and all mixed together; 20th Century Ellington, 13th Century poetry and 21st Century saxophone blowing. Elling also performed his version of Body and Soul, a jazz standard, but with a completely rewritten lyric inspired by his 17 month old daughter Luiza and a Dexter Gordon saxophone solo.
The encore was another classic rock tune which Elling twisted and contorted into a highly esthetic and comic success. I always thought The Joker by the Steve Miller Band was kind of a cheesy tune anyway, but in this duet with Elling and Amster on bass, Elling was like a cat toying with a mouse before eating it; just a little fun before dinner. Since it's a well known tune, he got the audience to sing along, holding the mic out for the audience to recite the line “I'm a midnight toker,” to which he replied, “You're all under arrest.”
Kurt Elling is one of the top performers on the current jazz scene. He's highly creative, highly intelligent, quite talented and funny, too. For more info: http://www.kurtelling.com/
Set List:
My Foolish Heart
She's Come Undone
Tight
Change Partners/If You Never Come to Me
Freddie's Yen for Jen
Pull My Daisy
I Like the Sunrise
The Waking
And We Will Fly
Where Are You?
Body and Soul
Encore
The Joker
The Band: Kurt Elling - Vocals, Laurence Hobgood - Piano, Rob Amster - Bass, Willie Jones - Drums
posted at 5:19 PM
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