Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling brings his vocal jazz to Birdland for a single billed set. No accompanying musicians or program are named in the listing, so the focus is Elling himself: a singer whose work is noted for contemporary Beat lyricism and vocalese writing. The evening follows his current Broadway turn as Hermes in Hadestown, alongside an active recording schedule that includes his duo EP Wildflowers, Vol. 3 with pianist and composer Christian Sands, and the Bob Mintzer and WDR Big Band album …in the Brass Palace.

Chicago-based Elling is a two-time Grammy Award winner with 17 Grammy nominations and more than 25 years of touring and recording. He has worked with Branford Marsalis, Danilo Pérez, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter and the Yellowjackets, and has appeared as a featured soloist with ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, BBC Concert Symphony, WDR Big Band, and the Count Basie, Metropole and Village Vanguard Orchestras. He has performed in more than 70 countries, led DownBeat’s Critics and Readers polls for two decades, and won 15 Jazz Journalists Association Male Vocalist of the Year awards. The New York Times called him “the standout male jazz vocalist of our time”; The Guardian heard “a kind of Sinatra with superpowers.”