Twenty-five years ago, vocalist Kurt Elling released a debut album that immediately begged comparisons between the newcomer and jazz luminary Mark Murphy. That album, Close Your Eyes, on Blue Note Records, earned Elling his first of 14 Grammy nomination to date. Through the intervening decades he went on to release more than a dozen albums as a leader, for the most part on major jazz labels: besides Blue Note, Concord, Decca, and Sony’s Okeh. For his latest album, though—Secrets Are The Best Stories, his first duo collaboration with Wayne Shorter pianist Danilo Pérez—Elling turned to the independent label Edition, based in the U.K. Why?
For the freedom of it, he says. After a quarter of a century in the spotlight, Elling wants more room to craft his image as he sees fit—plus a greater cut of the proceeds. Thus, “Edition is the perfect home for this album,” he asserted in a press release. “Edition’s fresh ideas and energy bring a vital boost at a pivotal career juncture.”
On the new album the two musicians offer sobering social commentary—not only through the somber imagery of Ellings’ lyrics but through Pérez’s artfully disarticulated accompaniment (hear “Song of the Rio Grande”, available as a pre-release on YouTube.) Elling’s performance, however, is as warm and kindly as ever. Not all things change. The album drops on Apr. 3.
Back in 1934, a 17-year-old Ella Fitzgerald stepped out on the Apollo Theater stage for the first time, thinking that she’d dance as a contestant in the Apollo’s newly birthed Amateur Night contest. The problem was that the Edwards Sisters, a high-energy dance act, were starring at the Apollo that night. Intimidated, Fitzgerald decided to sing instead. At first the audience booed her. But then she collected her wits, launched into Hoagy Carmichael’s, “Judy”, and changed jazz history forever.
Eagle Rock Entertainment’s new documentary, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One Of Those Things, contains lots of known anecdotes like this, some in Fitzgerald’s own words. It also contains many lesser-known stories about this jazz deity, including several that expose the racist and sexist forces that threatened to undermine her enormous talent. (History can attest that she won.) Interspersed with clips of Fitzgerald performing and speaking are interviews with informed subjects like dancer Norma Miller, who knew her, and jazz journalist Will Friedwald, who knows all about her. Check the Eagle Rock website for New York screenings. (April dates may be rescheduled.)
One of the casualties of COVID-19 was the CD release concert of singer Aubrey Johnson’s debut album, Unraveled (Outside In Music), originally booked for Mar. 20 at Rockwood Music Hall. A pity—this is a splendid, sure-footed release that deserves lots of attention. Johnson, who wrote four of the album’s tracks and arranged all 10 of them, has been traveling in good company for many years, so the virtue of her first solo effort comes as no surprise. She’s sung with ensembles as varied and notable as Fred Hersch’s Pocket Orchestra, John Zorn’s Mycale, and Sara Serpa’s City Fragments, and her uncle is Pat Metheny’s longtime pianist, the late Lyle Mays (1953-2020). As with the projects of her previous collaborators, the new album features solid writing, sophisticated harmonic abstractions, and the effervescence of Johnson’s wide-ranging voice. This time, though, it’s under her own banner.
One of Johnson’s more high-profile projects as a contributing artist was Bobby McFerrin’s 2010 Grammy-nominated release, VOCAbuLaries (Emarcy). This year, McFerrin is one of four musicians granted a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship. At 69, McFerrin is the youngest recipient of the Fellowship, usually understood as a lifetime achievement award. McFerrin is also the only member ever to have had a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100—his 1988 pop-reggae single, "Don't Worry, Be Happy". But he’s best known for his preternatural ability to improvise on almost any tune, pulling wildly divergent musical ideas seemingly out of the walls. The celebratory concert for this year’s Jazz Masters, slated for Apr. 2 at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., has been postponed and is yet to be rescheduled. Once that happens, all tickets to the sold-out event will be honored, NEA and SFJAZZ say.
VoxNews PSA: Hundreds of singers lost their New York gigs this month with the darkening of concert halls, theaters, and clubs. They’ll be back. In the meantime, consider buying a disc or download. Tunes help.
(Reprinted from the April 2020 issue of The New York City Jazz Record)