[.ca] Messenger

Chronique amazon.fr:
Qu'est-ce qui peut bien pousser un jeune type de Chicago de trente ans à peine à faire "le chanteur de jazz" ? C'est pourtant bien cette carrière improbable, vouée dans le meilleur des cas à un obscur succès d'estime, qu'a décidé d'embrasser Kurt Elling en cette fin de millénaire. Ceci étant, passé la surprise, on comprend mieux : un timbre chaud et vibrant de ténor profond qui s'aventure à l'occasion dans le registre si délicat du crooner de charme ; une façon très personnelle de se situer stylistiquement entre l'intelligence musicale d'Eddie Jefferson et le raffinement exquis de Mark Murphy ; un sens de l'improvisation étonnant, se permettant les dérives les plus audacieuses aux limites du free jazz - Kurt Elling synthétise et actualise à lui seul cet art si délicat de faire swinguer les mots. A découvrir d'urgence. --Stéphane Ollivier

Wildly Inventive Effort:
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.

The least of the greatest(in my humble opinion).:
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 \odemise\c 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.

Shoot THE MESSENGER:
Kurt Elling's freshman CD displays all the problems of a young artist showing off before taste, restraint and maturity thankfully caught up with him. Aside from a few wonderful cuts, such as the swinging "Tanya Jean" and a duet with Cassandra Wilson on "Time of the Season", much of the ablum is an unlistenable collision of Elling's worst excesses in vocal flash against blaring crash in the arrangements. Case in point: The unfortunate version of "Nature Boy" which opens the album, and which Elling and Co. send to Pluto and back before it slams to Earth. Anyone looking for an introduction to Elling - and he is one of the most thrilling, amazing jazz singers out there, particularly when seen live - would be best off with one of his later efforts, such as the lovely extended mood piece of FLIRTING WITH TWILIGHT or 2003's jazzy THE MAN IN THE AIR, which displays the matured Elling at his best. As for THE MESSENGER, don't bother to answer the call.

Not on the bandwagon:
Kurt Elling is the current darling, the bandwagon proclaims. I guess this speaks to the sad state of jazz singing today or to the lack of hindsight in this new generation. Buy a Joe Williams CD, or Cassandra for that matter. There is no comparison. I really wanted to like him. But while the musicians on this album are often wonderful, there are some very capable renditions of great standards, and Elling obviously has talent, I have one question: Where is your heart Kurt? Granted he is a technical wiz. His scat singing is right on target, though chilly, even if his voice is often flat and inconsistent. He has the concept down pat. He throws in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink (though that might have appeared in one of his "rants", I lose track during these noun downpours). But in the end you have the feeling that he is really trying very hard to impress us, and for all his technical skill, there actually is not much under the surface. His ersatz beat poetry is similarly empty. While there are some quite beautiful short passages, they are ultimately a blizzard of psuedo-spiritual, dada-esque images assembled from late night cramming in divinity school. This ultimately amounts to much "sound and fury, signifying nothing". Elling has been a good student of jazz singing, and he has self-conciously made an effort to be "different", but he really isn't that cool, as much as he strives to be. With the best, the "coolest", jazz singers the music literally pours out of their soul, shaped by life experience and, yes often suffering and pain. I'm sorry to say that in the final analysis Elling offers us hip-wannabe suburban beatnik jazz singing that leaves us out in the cold. Maybe the substance will come with time and maturity, and couple of honest reviews.

Cheesy...:
Kurt Elling has a decent voice, but doesn't write meaningful lyrics. His writing involves copying the style of beat poets to a much lower standard, and placing words above fast solo passages to which he can barely pronounce the syllables. It ends up sounding entirely ridiculous. The musicians on the album sound great, even if they're playing on some obnoxiously smooth arrangments, yet Elling hardly improvises in his phrasing, giving the tunes a hokey, and uninspired sound. Unfortunately, it's hard to find a modern jazz vocal album that is very good. I recommend the classics for this genre.

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