Praised by The New York Times as “the standout male jazz vocalist of our time,” Chicago-based virtuoso Kurt Elling is renowned for his rich sound and an inventive body of work. With a singular style of contemporary Beat lyricism and vocalese-writing ingenuity, Elling has extended the parameters of vocal jazz and extended its vocabulary. The Guardian pronounces him “a kind of Sinatra with superpowers,” and those superpowers continue to make Elling an in-demand performer across the globe.
Over twenty-five years of touring and recording, Elling has earned an array of top honors, including seventeen Grammy nominations and a host of international awards. He’s spent two decades leading the DownBeat Critics and Readers polls and has won fifteen Jazz Journalists Association Awards for “Male Vocalist of the Year.” Elling has performed in over seventy countries, performing alongside Branford Marsalis, Fred Hersch, the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Symphony, and many more. Most recently, he appeared on Broadway as Hermes in the Tony Award–winning musical Hadestown.
Elling currently serves as Co-Chairman of the Chicago Jazz Alliance and as the Audrey L. Weaver Jazz Advisor to the Ravinia Festival.
