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Kurt Elling with The Swingles

Spirit of the Season

Kurt Elling, voice
Stu Mindeman, piano/organ
Clark Sommers, bass
John McLean, guitar
Christian Euman, drums

The Swingles
Joanna Goldsmith-Eteson
Sara Davey
Oliver Griffiths
Jon Smith
Kevin Fox
Edward Randell
Lucy Potterton

Presented in partnership with KUTX's Sunday Morning Jazz with Jay Trachtenberg

Grammy®-winning jazz vocalist Kurt Elling is joined by a cappella group The Swingles for an exquisite evening of jazz and harmony in the spirit of the season!

Revered as one of the world’s foremost jazz vocalists, Kurt Elling’s rich baritone spans four octaves and features both astonishing technical mastery and emotional depth. The Washington Post declared, "Since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic or interesting as Kurt Elling. He has come to embody the creative spirit in jazz."

For more than half a century, The Swingles have pushed the boundaries of vocal music. Formed in 1963 by Ward Swingle, the seven young singers that make up today’s London-based group are driven by the same innovative spirit that has defined the five-time Grammy® winners since their inception.

If there is a royal bloodline of male jazz singers, I'd suggest it progresses from Satchmo to Mel Torme to Jon Hendricks to Mark Murphy to Kurt Elling.

JazzTimes

Kurt Elling - Where the Streets Have No Name (Official Music Video) from Kurt Elling on YouTube.

Fun Facts:

  • Elling won the DownBeat Critics Poll fourteen years in a row.
  • Elling performed at the first state dinner of the Obama administration.
  • Elling has been nominated for over ten Grammy awards.
  • Elling attended University of Chicago Divinity School studying towards a master’s degree in philosophy of religion. He left one credit short to pursue a career as s jazz vocalist.
  • Elling was a special guest on the Branford Marsalis Quartet’s album, “Upward Spiral.”
  • The Swingles have won five Grammy® awards and appeared on numerous film and TV soundtracks, including Sex and the City, Milk, Grey’s Anatomy and Glee.
  • The Swingles present their own London A Cappella Festival at Kings Place each January.