Kurt Elling - 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project

Elling Is In The Building

Kurt Elling’s latest release is a vocal, jazz and songwriting delight, celebrating as it does the songcraft that took place at the album title’s famous address, as well as others. I’ve been a firm fan of Elling ever since hearing his beautiful version of Carl Lundy’s Orange Blossoms in Summertime from Kurt’s 2001 album Flirting With Twilight, an instrumental original for which Elling composed lyrics.

1619 Broadway: Brill Building Project begins with an apt and upbeat On Broadway, prefaced with a sequence of verbal rejections where Kurt, as everymusician, tries to hawk his songs – it’s an ironic narrative preamble before launching into this classic selection. Both this opener and Come Fly With Me present familiar jazz standards but with Elling’s own stamp of crisp and rhythmically taut deliveries, always tonally perfect. It’s the arrangements too, with a sassy jazz guitar riff on that first song and some great percussion over the funky bass beat. CFWM has to dogfight with Sinatra’s vapour trail, and I think again that mix of Elling’s own perfect timings and the band arrangements – here some harmonising horn interjections – establishes its own distinct flight-path. Long-time collaborator/arranger Laurence Hobgood provides signature orchestration and a piano solo.

There is a great version of Sam Cook’s You Send Me which again has a funky rhythm where a staccato opening guitar platforms Elling’s emotive voice that is then accompanied by some silky smooth harmonising. When near the end Elling swoons to his falsetto with those echoing harmonies, it is truly gorgeous.

Elling takes the 1934 Warren/Dubin I Only Have Eyes For You, made syrupy sweet by Art Garfunkel in 1975, and slows it down from that engrained version to a pace and slightly syncopated rhythm that gives emotional credence to the romantic ruminations, holding out a deep resonating note on those two closing key words: for you. That ruminating pace is picked up and swung around on next I’m Satisfied with some sweet sax provided by Ernie Watts. A short but rousing rendition.

Two other stand-out numbers for me are again familiar but re-worked here to wonderful effect: the first, Goffin and King’s Pleasant Valley Sunday, gets a jaunty, vocal distorted outing that highlight’s the song’s satirical message which The Monkees’ much prettier version tends to conceal; the second, Paul Simon’s An American Tune, is powerfully faithful to its exquisite melody – as so many versions over time are, and have to be – and Elling sings gloriously with a simple piano accompaniment from Hobgood.

The huge appeal of this album has to be this significant song selection and then Kurt Elling’s genuinely engaging and fresh interpretations. That’s taking as read what an outstanding singer he is. 

Surprise Songs

Peace Pin Boogie - Kurt Elling [Note of Hope - A Celebration of Woodie Guthrie] - 2011

Not surprising in as much as I am a big Kurt Elling fan, but in trawling through collaborations Elling has done with other artists, I came across this wonderful but unexpected version of Woodie Guthrie's satirical song. It is sung with Elling's trademark flair, but also a lively sense of the fun intended: sassiness in the sonorous rendition. As Guthrie put it,

Peace, peace, peace, peace, boogie for peace,
Wanna kiss my sweet, I gotta boogie for peace.
Looks like I'm gonna, ain't got no peace pin on;
Can't kiss my sweet peach when I've got no peace pin on!

Kurt Elling - The Gate

Enter for sheer pleasure

I've referred to this brilliant vocalist in some detail earlier in this blog. So I'll keep this short and supportive, the latter an understatement.

This is a superb album with interesting covers: King Crimson's 'Matte Kudasai', The Beatles' 'Norwegian Wood', and Stevie Wonder's 'Golden Lady' [see clip below, and check out others on YouTube to see this amazing performer live].

'Norwegian Wood' is an early favourite with its jazz timings and strong central guitar solo.

The gate has been opened onto a garden of Elling delights.

Kurt Elling - Flirting With Twilight

Orange blossom

I like those aural surprises, musically speaking. It's brilliant when you 'discover' an artist/band/song by chance when listening to the radio or however it hits you. I've picked up on a variety of classical pieces by having Classic FM on in the background. A while back when listening to Jazz FM Kurt Elling's 'Orange Blossom in Summertime' stopped me in my hearing tracks. Having missed who was singing I sought out the playlist and was introduced to Elling for the first time and I ordered his cd 'Flirting With Twilight' - and subsequently all of his other recordings - just for this track. Couldn't wait. Wasn't disappointed. Always delighted.

I'm no expert on jazz vocal or jazz more widely but know what I like. Elling's known for his 'scat-singing' and 'vocalese' and I like this when I hear it but I think he is just more conventionally a superb singer. He has a full range and at the top, which is high, it is beautiful, but lower down it isn't - by that I mean there is a roughness and at times even a raw sound that is authentic, though I'm not wholly sure what I mean by that! It's not 'pretty' or smooth, though it can be the latter when required. That's the oher range.

The song 'Orange Blossom in Summertime' is an amalgam of the original 'Orange Blossom' by Curtis Lundy with lyrics added by Elling. On the original, Lundy plays bass and Bobby Watson is on sax on their album 'Beatitudes', and the beautiful melodic line is picked up and made even more wonderful in Elling's version and delivery.