Once upon a time Kurt Elling sent a demo to Blue Note and at the age of 27 he won a record deal. With his elegant performance, which he learned from watching male top vocalists such as Jon Hendricks and Mark Murphy, the singer from Chicago established his reputation in a short time. There aren't many male jazz singers, but Elling can do more than just sing a song in a beautiful way. As a baritone he masters the art of voice acrobatics, he sings texts inspired by poetry on historical instrumental jazz solos (vocalese) and he gives a new dimension to wordless improvising (scatting). The singer has also developed his own style: 'randing' where he improvises with words on melodies made up on the spot. After numerous records for Blue Note, Elling now made the change to Concord Records. His new CD is entitled Nightmoves. Again he provides vocal improvisations to many obscure jazz solos. Besides his own quartet, Elling often performs with great jazz artists, such as Al Jarreau, Christian McBride and The Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra.
