Customer Reviews

Messenger

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have said to many of my friends that are also hip to Elling's musical prowess and lyrical prolific ness that this particular side is my least favorite of all that he has put out so far. That having been said, this is an amazing record. Kurt is the voice of jazz singing today. And what a hip voice to have too. As an aspiring jazz singer myself, I cannot thank Mr. Elling enough for what he has done for jazz today. In fact, he is the reason I got into vocal jazz in the first place. Here's the breakdown of his second side.
1: Nature Boy, What a great cut! "The greatest joy, you will ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return," he sings softly as a ballad the first time through as the rhythm section bursts into an up-tempo bossa-like even 8th rhythm. His scat solo on this is like non-other.
2: April In Paris. Funk time. The groovy trumpet is a wonderful addition to the groove that is set to spice up this swingin' ol' chestnut.
3: The Beauty of All Things. This is the beginning of a three song suite by Elling and his pianist Laurence Hobgood. It's has a very spiritual fusion feel to it. Kurt does one of his trademark rants of simultaneous melodic and lyrical improvisation even quoting a Keith Jarret lick from his song Questar.
4: The Dance. A sudo-instrumental segue from cut 3 to cut 5. A strictly Hobgood composition. Celtic feel here.
5: Prayer for Mr. Davis. I read in a review that in '91 after hearing of the [demise] of Miles Davis, Hobgood wrote a beautiful piano ballad in his memory. Elling's magically pinned lyric transforms this song into a somber yet peaceful musical wake.
6: Endless. It is at this point that I should mention that this whole side is reportedly based on a two set show the band had done. Endless closes the first set with a very hip jam session during which Elling goes off the deep end in an indescribable stream of unrelated words and phrases.
7: Tayna Jean. A really hip tenor saxophone cat named Dexter Gordon made a record in 1962 called On Flight Up, and on that side he cut a solo that lasted nearly ten minutes on the song Tayna. Tayna Jean is the result of Kurt writing a vocalese lyric of that solo. It's a very flipped out take on musical masters under the guise of a dream.
8: It's Just a Thing. Anyone who doesn't know who Lord Buckley is may have a heard time digging this at first, but it's a great little spoken word prose over a spontaneous tone setting musical background.
9: Ginger Bread Boy. Jimmy Heath's composition made popular by Miles Davis is his free jazz days. Elling just scats the melody and the as he solos so does Hobgood. Anything goes in this tune.
10: Prelude to a Kiss. Duke! Eddie Johnson's sweet sentimental tenor sax intro(most of witch happens with no accompaniment) sets Elling up for the perfect straight interpretation of this classic love ballad.
11: Time of the Season. A Zombie's tune? 60's rock on a 90's Jazz record? When Cassandra Wilson is on board don't be too picky. She has a reputation of doing hip takes on unlikely cuts such as this. The magical duet, the musical backing. I'm still not sure how, but it just works.
12: The Messenger. Title cut, but there's more, so much more. Elling's brother died not long before the making of the side. The lyric he pins over Ed Peterson's surreal masterpiece is a dedication to his brother's memory as is the spoken portion in which he encourages us not to take life nor love for granted. Ever.

That is my least favorite of the records Kurt Elling has released. Yes I said least. I have to listen to all the others to remind myself why now and then. My only real complaint is that it's too perfect. Too produced. But that is just an opinion. I love this side and listen to it frequently. That is my Take on the side.

This is a voice in which one can hear reflections of a number of vocalists, namely Jon Hendericks and especially, Frank Sinatra; the difference being that his voice is much more salty and he swings harder than Frank ever did. He seems to get inside of a pitch, very simular to that of a instrumentalist. This gentleman is the next male vocalist who will join that elite group of jazz vocalists (Joe Williams, Tony Bennett, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin)! If you're ever in Chicago, check him out at the Green Mill on Broadway and Lawrence...........

As Kurt Elling's discography grows, the quality of this record must be superceded by last year's marvelous "Flirting With Twilight," but this earlier CD will not disappoint. It's a real showcasse of his strengths at vocalese - a truly incredible 'Tanya Jean,' set to the original Dexter Gordon solo off 'One Flight Up' - his original lyrics - a beautiful, personal expression on 'The Messenger' - and his sense of humor - the hilarious hipster-jive of 'Just a Thing.' His duet with Cassandra Wilson is very nice, the two voices a rich blend, but it really shows their divergent paths, with Elling standing out as the only jazz singer of the two. The bland, smooth-jazz funk of 'April in Paris' is the only lackluster point of the whole record, but a minor flaw when listening to the leading young jazz singer. And what a singer . . .

In the world of popular music, it's rare for bands to be successful enough to make a second album... even rarer is when that album surpasses the first. For the second time, Kurt shows that music is very alive within him, as well as within the incredible band with which he performs. His ability to scat is much improved from his first effort, and all the other aspects of his musicality are in top form. Nature Boy is a perfect pick for the first track as it seems to accurately show off almost every aspect of the Kurt Elling and band experience, April In Paris is put in a new light, Time of the Season is put in a new dimension with the help of Casandra, and the rest is delightfully spectacular.

This has got to be one of the coolest jazz albums since "Kind Of Blue".I never leave home without it.I have all his albums but this my favorite.There is not as much scatting as on some of his other records which I like.He just gets down to some very expressive jazz singing with a voice that is wonderful to listen to.He reminds me of a blend of Mark Murphy and Frank Sinatra with a bit of beat poetry mixed in. It is truly marvelous. His treatment of standards like "April in Paris" are very outstanding and original. The lyrics he wrote to Tanya are great. They do a Doors tune, Time of the Season, with Cassandra Wilson as guest. His trio of musicians out of Chicago is great. His musical director Laurence Hobgood is a wonderful pianist.

Listening to this album is like watching Barry Bonds play baseball. You will hear (see) some strikeouts; but you will also hear (see) enough "shots into McCovey Cove" to convince you that both deserve to be in their respective Halls of Fame.

The most immediately impressive piece is "Ginger Bread Boy." This is the finest meld of free jazz and vocal jazz I've ever heard. The way Elling scats here is just sensational; listening to this made me hear Mingus, Dannie Richmond, Don Pullen and Eric Dolphy--with Elling doing a knock-off of Dolphy.

I was also blown away by "Tanya Jean"--a vocalese creation based on a Dexter Gordon tune about a "spiritual siren", and "Nature Boy", a hard-bending improv over a 4 beat with accents on "2" and "3" that takes the tune way beyond where Nat King Cole originally took it.

The strikeouts? Mainly, Elling has a 3-octave range (including falsetto), but too often he tries to push it to four, and is singing out of his range. I was also somewhat disappointed by Elling and Cassandra Wilson's cover of the Zombie's "Time of the Season"--mainly because it was written too low for Ms. Wilson. It was great, but I expected sensational.

OTOH, I'm very impressed with Elling's poetry. He does beat poems "It's Just a Thing" and the title cut, which is far more than a meandering bass with "I'm too cool to care" lyrics strung together. In fact, "The Messenger" has to do with the premature death of Elling's biological brother. Two more home runs, IMO.

In sum, the high points of this album are so high, that it's an essential for every connoisseur of vocal jazz. If you are one, you will get over the album's unevennness very quickly.

It is hard to throw a rope around styles as diverse as those that eminate from cuts like "April in Paris" and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, "Time of the Season", a haunting duet with Cassandra Wilson, the end product of which is a langorous, cychadelic journey arguably more effective than the original. Elling is a jazz musician, purely that, with no tips of the hat to current pop fancies or even the R&B warblers that these days garner the title of "Lite Jazz" from hyper-saxaphonic radio stations around the nation. No, his jazz is true jazz, the kind that was built first and foremost on improvisation, the kind in which a vocalist played only one part in a true ensemble. True, he is the lead, but he is not afraid to let the music lead him as well, which is, it seems to me, what the purest jazz is all about. He performs equally well with his own originals or when he is adding his signature to such well identified cuts as "Nature Boy" and "April In Paris", which stands out as one of the best recordings of that song I've ever heard, blending sophisticated rythms with a vocal he owes in part to Frank Sinatra. In short, the cd is great, and Kurt Elling is a real find. Congratulations!

The music on this album--both in terms of conception and execution--expresses the sort of Shelleyan romantic idealism that is unlikely to repeat itself in middle age, when prudence measures distances and imposes limits. But on this occasion Elling throws caution to the winds and dedicates his muse to the pursuit of rapture. On "Nature Boy" and "Gingerbread Boy" the voice is occasionally out of control, uncomfortably close to "primal-scream" territory, yet Elling gets us there from a recognizable place and returns us to the same secure spot of earth.

The outstanding track on the album is the vocalist's transcription and performance of "Tanya," the epic solo recorded by Dexter Gordon. How Elling managed to set the marathon, adventurous tenor saxophone solo to Ginsberg-like apocalyptic verse and engrave it in memory defies explanation, but it represents some of the most arresting "jazz poetry" on record as well as a stirring tribute to the powerful progenitor, Dexter Gordon.

Truth be told, I probably won't play this album as much as its source, but it can still be viewed as a necessary complement to Dexter's "One Flight Up" as well as the singlemost essential recording to own by Kurt Elling.

Kurt Elling is fantastic, truly an amazing jazz singer that is inspiring and moving to hear. The CD starts out with an amazing Kurt Elling version of the song, Nature Boy. Kurt's vocals really stand out on this album; he possesses a deep, soothing voice that is so pleasurable to listen to. I really enjoy relaxing or driving to a CD like this, the music conveys some interesting messages and it is calm enough to listen and ponder. Kurt's voice is also very fun to imitate, singing along with him can be very challenging. To me, the greatest aspect of this CD is Kurt's scatting. The intensity and emotion he puts into his scatting is amazing! While this CD definitely contains some songs not everyone will enjoy, it is another Kurt Elling master piece and a must buy.

This just may be Kurt's best album. For that lucky group of you familiar with Kurt's work, that's all that needs to be said.

For those not familiar with the Elling oeuvre, Kurt is a very fine jazz singer, with strong influences from Mark Murphy and John Hendricks, among others. His singing is powerful and emotional. He is distinctive in his own right, and some people say he can be an acquired taste; I acquired the taste for his singing immediately, so YMMV.

The Kurt Elling Quartet swings hard, especially on April in Paris, Tanya Jean, and Gingerbread Boy.