Kurt Elling Swings Sinatra

Letter from the Director

Dear Friends:

Welcome to an incredible night of jazz singing, as one of the leading male jazz vocalists of our times honors one of the greatest male singers of all times. In this season of 92Y Jazz, we have had three great vocal artists who had appeared before as guests on our Lyrics & Lyricists or Jazz in July programming and have now returned to give us a full night of their wonderful singing. Tonight, we welcome back Kurt Elling, who had joined us for our 2008 and 2009 Jazz in July festivals. This great artist and innovative programmer salutes Frank Sinatra on the 50th anniversary of the landmark recording Live in Paris.

We may feel like it’s “April in Paris,” but before we know it, the calendar will tell us it’s July in New York, which can only mean Jazz in July. I am sure you share my enthusiasm for the great programs that artistic director Bill Charlap has prepared for us, from the opening night of Freddy Cole and Ernie Andrews to the great finale with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Yours,

Hanna Arie-Gaifman

Director, 92Y Tisch Center for the Arts

92nd Street Y

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The Chairman Flies to Paris

It’s 1962. There is the first transatlantic satellite transmission. The Beatles audition for a record deal. Marilyn Monroe dies under suspicious circumstances. The Cuban Missile Crisis unfolds—and in another JFK headline, Frank Sinatra flies into a violent rage after learning that President Kennedy will not be staying at Sinatra’s newly refurbished Palm Springs mansion during a West Coast visit, but will instead be the guest of rival Bing Crosby.

Sinatra had done everything he could to ingratiate himself with JFK. He had performed at fundraisers and personally planned a star-studded inaugural gala. Late at night when the press wasn’t looking, Sinatra had shown Kennedy the good life—Rat-Pack style. But Attorney General Bobby Kennedy advised JFK to steer clear of Sinatra’s mafia-touched compound.

The perceived insult and its aftermath made headlines—none good for Sinatra. His reputation in tatters, the Chairman of the Board toured Europe in benefit of children’s charities. Sinatra performed 30 dates in two months and recorded the renowned milestone Live in Paris.

Celebrate an album of Sinatra in peak form—accented with richly told stories of a fascinating moment in time—as can only be provided by one of the foremost talents of our generation, Grammy Award winner Kurt Elling.

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Kurt Elling is among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. He has been named Male Singer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association seven times since 2000, and during that same period he has been the perennial winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll for Male Vocalist of the Year. He has also either won a Grammy Award or received a Grammy nomination for every record he has made. Mr. Elling’s rich baritone spans four octaves and features both astonishing technical mastery and emotional depth.

Mr. Elling has recorded and/or performed with an array of artists, including Terence Blanchard, Dave Brubeck, Jon Hendricks, Charlie Hunter, Al Jarreau, Christian McBride and Kurt Rosenwinkel. He served as the artist in residence for the Singapore Music and Monterey Jazz festivals, and in 2010, he completed an extensive tour with the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars. This is his third appearance at 92nd Street Y; he has performed twice at the Jazz in July summer festival. The Obama administration’s first state dinner featured Mr. Elling in a command performance, accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marvin Hamlisch.

Mr. Elling is a renowned artist of vocalese—the writing and performing of words over recorded improvised jazz solos. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, Mr. Elling has set his own lyrics to the improvised solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny. He often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Rumi, Neruda and Proust into his work.

Mr. Elling’s repertoire includes original compositions and modern interpretations of standards, all of which are springboards for inspired improvisation, scatting, spoken word and poetry. The Chicago native has written multi-disciplinary works for The Steppenwolf Theatre and the City of Chicago, including a work on Allen Ginsberg; “LA/CHI/NY,” featuring a poet and musician from each of America’s three largest cities; and the vocal summit “Four Brothers,” with Elling, Mark Murphy, Kevin Mahogany and Jon Hendricks. Mr. Elling recently staged Passion World, a commissioned event for Jazz at Lincoln Center with French accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano, singing songs of love and loss in five languages.

Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman (Concord) built on arrangements by Mr. Elling’s long-time collaborator Laurence Hobgood, won the 2009 Grammy Award for best jazz vocal album. His other eight albums all received nominations, including his debut Close Your Eyes (Blue Note), Flirting with Twilight (Blue Note) and Nightmoves (Concord). His most recent release is Concord’s The Gate from 2011, which features interpretations of songs by The Beatles, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Stevie Wonder. Mr. Kurt Elling was a National Trustee and Vice Chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). His website is kurtelling.com.

Musical director for Kurt Elling since 1995, pianist Laurence Hobgood has played on, composed/arranged for and co-produced all of Elling’s nine Grammy Award-winning or nominated CDs. He has performed both with Elling and with his own trio in the leading halls of North America, Europe and Australia, as well as at the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals. Mr. Hobgood’s recent CD, “When The Heart Dances,” a duet recording with iconic bassist Charlie Haden, garnered 4-star reviews from DownBeat, the UK’s Mojo magazine and others. His latest project, POEMJAZZ, is a collaboration with three-term US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. The CD was released last February and features Mr. Pinsky’s readings of his poems, coupled with mr. Hobgood’s improvised accompaniment. His website is laurencehobgood.com.

Born in Racine, WI, saxophonist Joel Frahm earned a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and he first made a name for himself through his associations with singer Jane Monheit and his boyhood friend, pianist Brad Mehldau. He has since worked with a vast array of musical peers and jazz legends, including Maynard Ferguson, Betty Carter, Matt Wilson, Larry Goldings, Lee Konitz, The Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and many others. As a recording artist, his quartet released “Caminhos Cruzados” last February, preceded by “Live at Smalls” in 2011. In 2009, Mr. Frahm and keyboardist Bruce Katz, released “Project A,” a salute to Aretha Frankin, and in 2007, he released his solo album, We Used to Dance. His website is joelfrahm.com.

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A native of Houston, in 2001, jazz trumpeter Brandon Lee was one of the first students to enter the new jazz program at The Juilliard School. In 2007, he released his debut album, “From Within,” followed three years later by his second CD, “Absolute-Lee,” a disc of original compositions. He plays with his own group and has performed or recorded with others like Kenny Barron, Eric Reed, Christian McBride, Rodney Whitaker, Roy Hargrove and the Jazz Conceptions Orchestra. In 2008, Mr. Lee became the youngest person ever to become a faculty member at The Juilliard School. He is currently the assistant jazz orchestra conductor and the artistic coordinator for educational outreach at The Juilliard School. His website is bleejazz.com.

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Bassist Clark Sommers has performed all over the world and is featured on nearly 50 albums with renowned artists such as Cedar Walton, Ernie Watts, Marilyn McCoo, Marvin Hamlisch, Kevin Mahogany, Frank Wess and Charles McPherson, among others. Originally from Lake Forest, IL, he played with the Chicago-based rhythm and blues band The Mighty Blue Kings for two years, then earned a degree in jazz studies and world music from the California Institute of the Arts. He returned to Chicago for a few years where he joined the Dan Cray Trio, then moved to New York in 2008, where he met Kurt Elling and became his bassist. Now back in Chicago, he performs with several groups. His website is clarksommers.com.

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Drummer Lewis Nash was born in Phoenix, and in 1981, he moved to New York City, where for the next 10 years he played and recorded with the ensembles of Betty Carter, Ron Carter, Branford Marsalis and Sonny Rollins. From 1990-2000, Nash was a member of the Tommy Flanagan Trio and was featured on seven of its CDs. His discography of over 400 recordings includes his own CDs as leader, plus projects with artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Benny Carter, Natalie Cole, Bette Midler and Willie Nelson. Nash currently leads several groups and is a respected jazz educator and lecturer. He returns to 92Y for Jazz in July on July 25 in a concert saluting Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. His website is lewisnash.com.

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