"One for the Road:" Kurt Elling

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 9, 2011 10:30PM

These days Kurt Elling is an internationally renowned jazz vocalist. His proving ground was his longtime Wednesday residency at Green Mill, where he worked constantly on perfecting his brand of vocalese. It could be tedious at times, thrilling at others. But never boring.

We were listening to his 2007 release Nightmoves while working yesterday and were reminded of why we loved the album so much. Specifically, Elling's ability to take poetry and form them into song. One of the standout tracks from Nightmoves is an interpretation of Theodore Roethke's The Waking. Here's a performance of that song from a Jools Holland show.