Cheap Live In Chicago (Music) (Kurt Elling) Price

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Customer Reviews of Live In Chicago

The album is also one of the best LIVE album I know. It has it all: atmosphere, personality, life, joy, humour and having said that, I'll emphasize 3 songs in particular:

2. My Foolish Heart - An intese an very beutifull love song

5. Night Dream - Really strong tunes, jazzy and seducing

7. The introduction to the song Esperanto (Esperanca) A lovely story - that prooves Kurt's joy in is work, his commitment and that he is both humerous and cool.

8. Esperanto (the song) - A philosophical journey! Oh! What a voice!!!

I just recieved the album today, and I've allready listended to it 4-5 times. It an experience beyond...

kimm

Uneven overall, but Kurt shines
There's a lot of converts to Kurt Elling nowadays, a superb and charming jazz singer and a fantastic performer. This live record features a lot of blistering music and some truly astonishing musical moments.

The feeling, overall, is intense! Not just in the obvious ways, i.e. fast and loud that seem to have overwhelmed some of Mr. Ellings least perceptive fans [see bizarre negative reviews of his masterful "Flirting with Twilight"]. There's plenty of the obvious intensity, especially in his performance of his vocalise on Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer, which is bravura. There's also the beautiful "Esperanto," which displays Kurt's wit on the introduction, and some wonderfully evocative lyrics based on Pablo Neruda. The real showpiece, though, is his interpolation of "The Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross into 'My Foolish Hear,' which works in sophisticated ways musically, from major diatonic harmonies to minor modal style and back again, and also lyrically and dramatically. Think of the concept alone! Daring, exploratory and extraordinarily successful.

Where the CD fails the last star is in the band and overall structure. The drummer is weak, and that detracts from the overall lustre, and the sense of the recording is incomplete, that we've caught a set that needs to be rounded by some further tunes to really come together. Although all that really does is leave one wanting to hear more of the leading contemporary jazz singer!

What Is It, That Makes Kurt Elling So Hip?
Okay. You are all probably sick of me saying this, but you know what? Too bad, so sad, because there are three more sides left to do plus one more hitting stores this July (I believe). So let's get through this together, shall we? What is it about this cat that we've come to as Kurt Elling that makes him all that? His wild scat solos? His quirky take on the beat scene's poetry? His lyrical profuseness? His innovative and profound "rants"? The arrangements and concepts he and his pianist Laurence Hobgood dream up. The Swingin' accompaniment provide by an excellent and groovy rhythm section? Or is it crooner style ballads? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and probably allot more. So what's left for such a hip player to prove. Can he do it live? I saw Kurt Elling live for the first time in June of 2002. Not his typical show mind you (he shared the stage with Jazz vocal greats Jon Hendricks, Mark Murphy, and Kevin Mahogany), but a very good taste of The Elling experience. But until Live At Chicago hit stores there was no solid proof to say to critics, "Yes, that hip cat can really blow." Now, for those who have never had the honor of digging one Elling's hip sets this provides a snap shot of a night at Elling's home town hot spot. A leftover dive from the dangerous days of Al Capone. In fact The Green Mill was actually owned by Capone at one point in time. Elling is joined by Laurence and the rest of the trio (Rob Amster on Bass and Michael Raynor on Drums), along with Tenor Saxophonists, Von Freeman, Ed Peterson, and Eddie Johnson, Percussionist Kahil El'zabar, and The Godfather of Vocalese, Jon Hendricks in a symbolic passing of the torch to Elling as the new King of Swing. A brief breakdown this time. I promise.
1. Downtown. Written by Yellowjackets Keyboardist Russell Ferrante for the record Politics. Elling gives a wonderful scat rendition as he jokingly encourages the house to "Sing along."
2. My Foolish Heart. This was the opener for Elling's last side, but he has mentioned in interviews that he frequently opens shows with it as well so it is quite fitting to see it here close to the front end of the set list. Included in this cut is a poem by St. John of the Cross which Elling recites with improvised melody over the Hobgood's airy piano.
3. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Soft and bittersweet with a vocalese over Keith Jarrett's piano coda. Brilliant!
4. Oh My God. Okay, I was the first question the fact that Kurt Elling would to a Police cut, but lest we forget, Sting also has roots in jazz and with Kahil El'zabar's hand drums it just a sweet funk groove that the group creates.
5. Night Dream. Originally Night Dreamer by Wayne Shorter from his album of the same name. Elling spins some over powering vocalese on us here folks.
6. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons. A Nat King Cole standard during which Elling not only expresses the perfect ballad emotions in his voice but stuns the audience along with anyone who listens to this cut as he holds out a note for a staggeringly large amount of time.
7-8. Esperanto. Not technically a Vocalese, but just as skillfully done as if it were. Originally titled Esperança, Elling gives an intriguing introduction about how the new title came to be.
9. Don't Get Started. Jon Hendricks enters the stage and pass Elling the torch. Singing a Stand Getz Vocalese written by Hendricks and his Mentor, King Pleasure, Hendricks does Pleasure's part well Elling wails on the line written by Hendricks.
10-11. Goin' to Chicago. As Hendricks states, this is a Jazz Anthem. Kurt sings the Vocalese around the melody, nicely put down by Hendricks. On a side note, I saw them perform this at a later date. It is truly Jazz History in the making.
12-13. The Rent Party. A groovy little Lord Buckley tribute about a tradition the stems from the very roots of Jazz in America. Elling spins some wild stuff while hips us to dig the three Tenors on the stage.
14. Blues Chaser. A goodbye over blues changers. Elling introduces the band as the close this hip and happenin' set of music.
Whether he's in the studio, or on the stage, Kurt Elling is clearly the voice of Jazz Vocalese.