Written interview with American jazz singer, songwriter, and vocalese artist known for his rich four-octave baritone range Kurt Elling – In The Brass Palace with the WDR Big Band and Kurt Elling & Yellowjackets Play Weather Report: Alive in Europe + Bonus Studio Recordings․
Jazz Blues European Union: – Thank you for taking the time to have this interview with Jazz Blues EU. Tell us about your music. When did you start performing?
Kurt Elling: – I’m a Jazz Singer. I count Jon Hendricks, Mark Murphy, Joe Williams and Andy Bey as my immediate predecessors, and I am proud to have called them all my friends. Jon Hendricks in particular took me under his wing and shared many personal and professional gifts with me. I called him “Pops” and he called me “Son”.
My goal is to honor them and the history of Jazz musicians by bringing their innovations into the present by way of new arrangements, compositions, juxtapositions and innovations that include their musical DNA.
My birth father was a Kappellmeister on the Illinois prairies. He was the first to teach me how to sing and to teach me the emotional power of music when created at its highest levels.
I am grateful that all my memories, to my earliest days, include singing.
What do you consider to be your hometown and how does that affect your music?
I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that somber city – and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man’s character is his fate, says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn’t any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles…
What performers have been your inspiration?
I have mentioned my singing predecessors. But I really owe the audacity of my choice to join the Jazz world to the musicians on the Chicago scene 35 years ago, when I began sitting-in around town. Saxophonists Von Freeman, Eddie Johnson and Ed Petersen, pianists Willie Pickens and Jody Christian and rank-and-file players all over town welcomed me time and again to that stage. It is thanks to their generosity and energies that I came to see that I had a place in this incredibly rich milieu.
What do you find most challenging about being an independent artist in today’s music industry?
I am grateful beyond words not to be just starting out on a professional career at this point. For all the complaints we used to have about the music industry, its structures and gatekeepers, we now see how hard it can be without traditional avenues of exposure to cut through the overwhelming amount of information that fans and potential fans face every day.
What do you base your success on?
I have been blessed with opportunities, alliances and advocates. I have desired the life I have and have worked every day to be worthy of the doors that have opened to me. I also play the right instrument – there aren’t many male Jazz singers in this age. I hope what I am doing paves the way for more in the future.
Can you talk about your experiences collaborating with other artists or musicians? How does it influence your creative process?
Each collaborator brings his or her own world into the room, with whole constellations of memories, songs, victories and defeats … My hope is to learn from and lean into what they know that I do not. I try to sing with all my experience and skills so that the other person feels free to go as far into the music as they can. My favorite collaborative partners have been those who approach me in a similar way. There is a middle ground where we can bring the best of ourselves into collaboration for the highest good.
Do you have any news to share? Could you share the story behind your latest new CD Kurt Elling – In The Brass Palace with the WDR Big Band and Kurt Elling & Yellowjackets Play Weather Report: Alive in Europe + Bonus Studio Recordings what inspired its creation?
I have long been energized when working with big bands and orchestras. Fronting a big band is an essential format for a Jazz singer, and I am grateful to have had opportunities over the years to refine that part of my craft.
I have been friends with Yellowjackets for many years. They were an obvious choice to help me expand my time researching and recreating WR material.
I am doubly fortunate to have been given the chance to write lyrics for compositions originally intended for instrumentalists and to present them in these settings. My hope is to extend the possibilities for jazz singing and to present signature musical experiences and recordings of the highest quality to the audiences who entrust me with their time and attention.
How does your latest album fit into your creative path? Is this a goal you wanted to achieve?
Each project – and each individual song / lyric / track / collaboration within each project – is a unique combination of curiosity, listening, the carroming of energies & hints… and chance. I think the WR material is an appropriate moment of triangulation between my work in the acoustic sphere (doing more “traditional” Jazz material) and the work I have been doing in the most recent years with my electric band SuperBlue (featuring Charlie Hunter)
How do you approach the process of songwriting, and are there any specific themes or emotions you tend to explore in your music?
I just try to do my best to listen to whatever wants to come.
As an indie musician, how do you navigate the balance between creative freedom and commercial appeal?
I mostly just play what I want to play – what inspires me the most and calls to my need to sing. My manager worries about commercial appeal.
What role does technology and social media play in promoting your music and connecting with your audience?
Things are changing too fast for me to keep up. Mostly I use Instagram and FB to supply tour dates and the occasional video to let people know where I am headed – and the occasional ad in DownBeat (LOL)
Could you describe a memorable live performance experience or tour that has had a lasting impact on you and your music?
I had a thrilling and creatively challenging time touring almost 2 years with Branford Marsalis and his band. It was like working out every night. When that tour was done my chops were hot and I wd have taken on anybody in a jam session.
In an era of streaming platforms, how do you feel about the changing landscape of music consumption and its impact on independent musicians?
Again, I am happy to be an established artist at this point. People depend on me to deliver in live settings, which is exactly what I am on earth to do. As long as the geo-political situation does not implode entirely (which, sadly, seems all-too-likely at this juncture), I’ll be ok.
Musicians often have a close relationship with their fanbase. How do you engage with your fans and build a dedicated community around your music?
Through consistent hard work, creative regeneration and quality-control.
How can fans find you? Lastly, please share some final words with the fans.
www.kurtelling.com Insty: @kurtelling
By Olivia Peevas
