Kurt Elling is a prominent American jazz vocalist. Each of his ten albums have been nominated for a Grammy award and he has been named “Male Singer of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association eight times.
His newest album, released in September 2012, is 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project. It pays homage to the Brill Building in the heart of midtown Manhattan which served as the creative home for dozens of tenants associated with the pop music industry. Music icons including Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington and Nat ‘King’ Cole have been associated with the Brill. Paul Simon still maintains an office there.
Kurt Elling began performing in St. Louis earlier this week and his performances run through Saturday at Jazz St. Louis’ Jazz at the Bistro.
Host Steve Potter talked with Elling about his new album and career. We also sampled two songs off his new album, “Come Fly With Me” and “I’m Satisfied.”
In this short snippet, Elling explains the term jazz vocalese as opposed to vocalese in classical music.
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