Kurt Elling at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild

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."...

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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.”

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