Elastic vocalist Kurt Elling is six for six--six recordings, six Grammy nominations. The most inventive of male jazz singers and lyricists of his—or perhaps any—generation, Elling and his quartet (pianist Lawrence Hobgood, bassist Rob Amster, and drummer Willie Jones III) will head west with stops in Santa Cruz on February 26th (Kuumbwa Jazz Center), Oakland on March 1-4 (Yoshi's), and in Hollywood, March 7-11 (Catalina's). Material from Elling's forthcoming Concord release, Night Moves, will be featured.

Not yet 40, with his string of hit recordings and Vocalist of the Year decrees from DownBeat and others, Elling could easily ride on his high tide of acclaim. But that’s not his style. As intense and cerebral as he is poetic and engaging, Elling is a master of improvisation, both vocal and literary, twisting covers such as Guess Who’s “Undun” and “Detour Ahead” and inventing lyrics to unsung gems from Grolnick (“Nighttown”) and Coltrane (“Resolution”).

Elling’s father was a church musician, and playing instruments and singing was just a natural part of growing up. Although he never formally studied music, young Kurt participated extensively in choral music through high school and college. But it wasn’t until college at Gustavous Adolphous in Minnesota that he was initially turned on to jazz, hearing records of Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon, Dave Brubeck and more in his dorm. He performed during his college days, attracting audiences with his scatting which at that time was not very familiar with Midwest, small town audiences. Still, he was not really thinking of singing as his career, and headed to the University of Chicago for graduate studies in Divinity. Notes Elling, “I was not there to become a priest but an academic--a professor. That having been said, I was there to try to answer deep level questions of meaning that were gnawing at me… Graduate school sharpened my mind, my analytic and my writing skills. It gave me the tools to root around in questions of meaning.”

Citing key influence as Mark Murphy, John Hendricks and Frank Sinatra, Elling is best known for his scat, vocalese, and a variant informally known as “rant.” Says Elling, Ranting is an informal term a friend of mine came up with for improvised melodies coupled with improvised lyrics. Sometimes there is no melody - just an improvised story or ‘open thought process.’” Elling describes his first impromptu effort at ranting: “I was doing wedding band things... On these gigs, we'd be in the middle of ‘Isn't it Romantic’ or something like that, and the leader would come up while I was singing and say in my ear, ‘Tell them that they're going to cut the cake now,’ or ‘five minutes to the bouquet toss.’ So instead of stopping singing, I'd just start making up the announcement in song, often trying to rhyme the lyrics and sometimes making up little stories to go with it, singing all the while over the changes.”

Photo by Paul Natkin

Why is Elling special? Because he can hold a note forever and yet it never seems too long nor does it waver off the mark. Because his unique phrasing makes even familiar standards such as “April in Paris” memorable. Because his classical training is never too far removed, even from covers of Horace Silver or John Coltrane. Because his arrangements have shapes as exquisite as their sounds (e.g., Curtis Lundy’s “Orange Blossom”). Because he is the musical equivalent of a gold medal Olympian gymnast, “leaping octaves in a single bound” (Pamela Espeland, Jazz Police), shifting meters as well as dynamics and pitch as if it is all a ball of vocal silly putty. Because he has the ultimate control of his own instrument—his voice, sliding up and down like a melodic slinky toy, splattering rounds of notes like machine gun fire, filling space like a horn soloist.

Elling further stands out because he has assembled one of the finest supporting rhythm sections in jazz—pianist Lawrence Hobgood, the master of tight improvisation, be it comping with zesty chords or inventing blues-infested ripples; strangely unheralded bassist Rob Amster, creator of ethereal, haunting lines, magical bent note and double-stop phrases, and pulsating ostinato vamps; and propulsive drummer Willie Jones III, who has proven his chops in the company of Milt Jackson, Horace Silver, and Roy Hargrove, and currently tours with Elling, Eric Reed and Hank Jones.

Kurt Elling will be on stage at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz on February 26th at 7 pm; tickets and information at www.kuumbwajazz.org. On March 1-4, Elling and company will perform at Yoshi's in Oakland at Jack London Square, 2 sets each night; visit www.yoshis.com. (Wille Jones III leads his own ensemble at Yoshi's on February 28th!) The tour moves south to Catalina's in Hollywood, March 7-11, 2 shows each night; information at www.catalinajazzclub.com