Elling and Hunter for one special night only

Sydney’s City Recital Hall has been host to many great shows this year but few are more anticipated than that of jazz vocalist Kurt Elling.

Accompanied by guitarist Charlie Hunter, keyboards, Kenny Banks Jr, and drummer Marcus Finnie, Elling is doing one night only at the CRH presented by The Basement after a five night run at Melbourne’s Bird’s Basement in his first Australian appearances since the pandemic.

The Grammy award winning vocalist first came to the music world’s attention in 1995 with his album “Close Your Eyes” that was picked up by Blue Note, the world’s most regarded jazz label.

The album not only received a Grammy nomination but put the four octaves range singer on the map with his distinctive phrasing and scat style of singing that soon had him in high demand around the world as a live act at a time when jazz was in something of a doldrum.

That Elling sought a career in jazz was never in doubt, as coming from Chicago he was immersed in a melting pot of music, ranging from blues, rock’n’roll to the many styles of jazz being played in small clubs across the city.

“I fell in love with the kind of music I fell in love with, and I wanted to be around very specific players and I wanted a variety of music that set a tight example for me,” Kurt Elling said.

“It wasn’t like trawling, I was aiming for a very specific outcome.”

“I was always going to be a jazz singer, but I have a diversity of talents and I am always open to learn.

“With jazz being the ultimate syncretic art form, any music that it encounters it adopts and takes it into it and creates something new from it.”

Elling’s influences at the time in the Chicago scene included tenor sax player Eddie Johnson and jazz singers Mark Murphy, Jon Hendricks and Joe Williams.

Until 2013 Elling worked with pianist and arranger Laurence Hobgood before seeking other musical collaborators, which included a stint with the Branford Marsalis Quartet, and now the extraordinary guitarist Charlie Hunter, who he as known for around 30 years.

“Charlie Hunter and I were signed to Blue Note at the same time and we have always had a liking for each other and there was an opportunity for us to work together,” Elling said.

“Charlie works in a more 21st century environment and he understands the technology a lot better than what I do and we were able to record in different locations.”

Elling is no stranger to Sydney, having performed many dates at the iconic Basement, now Mary’s Underground.

During one engagement he became a regular at a Potts Point, Victoria Street cafe called Joes, since closed.

“Joe’s “Deluxe” Cafe, I have very fond memories of and I will be getting to see my friend Stan (Joe’s  owner), and we will be going on the harbour when we catch up,” Elling said.

Unfortunately for Elling he won’t be catching up with James Morrison, with whom he recorded the 2019 album Kurt Elling, “James Morrison, Live in New York”.

“I have been texting James and we have been calling each other but I believe that he is playing in Melbourne on the same night,” Elling said.

On the night at City Recital Hall, Elling and band will be looking to his recent Super Blue series of albums recorded with Hunter for repertoire.

“The Super Blue series grew out of Covid and Charlie and these friends of ours got together and put a bunch of rhythm tracks down and sent them over and I wrote the melodies and figured out some lyrics,” Elling said.

“It’s coming out of a jazz world but I could have a little bit of an electric band for a while and it was a lot of fun.”

Expect a lot more fun on the night as Elling says the City Recital Hall’s larger stage will allow the band and the audience to lift the roof.

 August 30, 7:30pm