kurt elling

Publication: The Guardian
Author: John Fordham
Date: August 4, 2016

Branford Marsalis has mastered most tricks of the sax-player’s trade – traditional song-playing lyricism, an advanced post-Coltrane technique (lately coupled with a classical one), and long experience of playing with singers, notably Sting in the 90s. All that colours this memorable meeting between Marsalis’ quartet and Kurt Elling, one of the best jazz vocalists on the planet. Elling mixes his signature rhythmic hipness with (slightly stagey) jive-talk on the Porgy and Bess classic There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York, lets loose his Mark Murphy-inspired scatting ingenuity on Rollins’ Doxy, and illuminates, with unselfconscious poignancy, the downbeat intensity of Sting’s Practical Arrangement. 

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Publication: BlogCritics.org
Author: Jack Goodstein
Date: June 3, 2016

As explained in the notes on the Branford Marsalis Quartet’s album Upward Spiral (featuring Kurt Elling), this is truly a collaborative effort. Everything about the album, from the instrumental musicians’ desire to work with a vocalist, to the choice of that vocalist—although when that choice is Kurt Elling what other choice is there—to the choice of material, is the result of “serious musical debate” creating what Marsalis calls “a true partnership.”

“I usually reject the word ‘collaboration,’” Marsalis explains, “because it implies a third thing from that which each collaborator does well. I don’t need a collaborator to do what I normally do, and Kurt doesn’t, either.” The idea for the new album was to get together to do something different. “The goal here, even though he sings lyrics, was to highlight Kurt’s voice as an instrument.” In effect, Upward Spiral was not intended to be just another vocalist fronting just another quartet.

Now while in any artistic endeavor there is often a great chasm between what was intended and what resulted, and in spite what is oft said of good intentions—the Marsalis-Elling intentions are plenty good, and the road they pave could well bridge over any chasm and end at an innovative musical heaven.
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Publication: Louisiana Weekly
Author: Geraldine Wyckoff
Date: December 7, 2015

Branford Marsalis Quartet + Kurt Elling – Four Big Nights

It is difficult to believe that the last time saxophonist Branford Marsalis headlined at Snug Harbor, New Orleans most prestigious modern jazz mecca, was circa 1984. At that time, Marsalis, who appears at the club for a unprecedented four-night stand (December 10 through December 13), co-led a group that was put together by the late Earl Turbinton and included the legendary “Big” Nick Nicholas. Dubbed “Three Generations of Jazz Saxophone,” Turbinton’s aim, it is said, was to illustrate how influences shape the jazz world. Nicholas’ blowing (he’s the guy taking the sax solo on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca”) affected Turbinton and thus the heritage was passed on to Marsalis.

Of course, Marsalis, a New Orleans native now residing in North Carolina, has stood on stage at the Frenchmen Street club since then but only to sit in most often with his father, pianist Ellis Marsalis. For these dates, the three-time, Grammy-winning saxophonist is bringing in his entire, highly-regarded Branford Marsalis Quartet with longtime pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner. The world-renowned vocalist Kurt Elling will join the group as a special guest. Elling, a Chicago native who also claims multiple awards, is truly a dynamic jazz singer and noted for his unique vocalese and scatting. The musicians are all coming to New Orleans to record an album.

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