Kurt Elling — Menasha — 6:00 Show

6:00 & 8:00 Showtimes. See JazzCoterie.com for more details.

Jazz Coterie live music concert series presents ledgendary vocalist Kurt Elling with pianist Joey Calderazzo in our pop-up jazz club at North Shore Golf Club in Menasha, Wisconsin.

2X Grammy Winner + 14X Grammy Nominee!

Kurt Elling is a two-time GRAMMY Award winner who is renowned for a signature, rich sound and an inventive and individualized body of work. With a one-of-a kind brand of contemporary beat lyricism and vocalese-writing ingenuity, the Chicago-based musician has extended the parameters of vocal jazz and enlarged its vocabulary. The New York Times called Kurt Elling “the standout male jazz vocalist of our time.” The Guardian (UK) pronounced him “a kind of Sinatra with superpowers.”Over a twenty-five year career of touring and recording, Elling has won three Prix du Jazz Vocal (France), two German Echo Awards, two Dutch Edison Awards, and has been nominated for a GRAMMY Award sixteen times. He has had a 14-year run atop the DownBeat Critics and Readers polls, and has won twelve Jazz Journalists Awards for “Male Vocalist of the Year."

“Since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic or interesting as Kurt Elling.” — The Washington Post

Elling’s work with other leading figures in the jazz world has included important collaborations with Branford Marsalis, Danilo Perez, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter and Stefon Harris. He has also performed as a featured soloist with many of the world’s leading large ensembles, including the NY Philharmonic, The BBC Concert Symphony, The Count Basie Orchestra, The WDR Big Band and Orchestra, The Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, and The Village Vanguard Orchestra.

In addition to his work as a lyricist and composer for his own ensembles, Kurt Elling has co-created multi-disciplinary performances for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater and The City of Chicago. Jazz At Lincoln Center saw the world premier of The Big Blind, an entirely new jazz musical Elling is co-writing with collaborator Phil Galdston (“Save The Best For Last”). National Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky declared that, “In Kurt Elling’s art, the voice of jazz gives new spiritual presence to the ancient, sweet and powerful bond between poetry and music.”

“The standout male vocalist of our time.” — The New York Times

Elling has toured the world in a variety of contexts, including UNESCO-sponsored “International Jazz Day” performances in Havana, Cuba, in St. Petersburg, Russia, in Melbourne, Australia and in Washington DC. He has twice performed at the White House, including a performance in collaboration with the late Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony Orchestra for President Obama’s first State Dinner. He has served as Artist-In Residence at the Monterey and Singapore Jazz Festivals. As a music industry leader, Elling spent six years serving as a Trustee and two years as Vice Chairman of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

ABOUT JOEY CALDERAZZO

One of the finest pianists of his generation, having recorded thirteen albums as a leader, Joey Calderazzo has traveled the road from child prodigy to in-demand session musician to elite member of the finest ensembles in jazz. He's accompanied the music's geniuses, from Michael Brecker and Branford Marsalis to Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland. Throughout his journey, Calderazzo has boldly explored his own psyche and his place in the world, as a composer, improvisor, band member, and leader.

Joey began studying classical piano at age eight. His brother, Gene, got him interested in jazz. He studied with Richard Beirach and in the 1980s continued his studies at Berklee College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. At the same time, he was playing professionally with David Liebman and Frank Foster.

Early in his career, Joey produced groundbreaking records with saxophone legend Michael Brecker and solo recordings on Blue Note Records. Calderazzo's perennial trio has recorded multiple albums, including 1993's The Traveler (with John Patitucci and Jay Anderson (bass); Peter Erskine and Jeff Hirshfield (drums)), 1997s Simply Music (Sylvain Gagnon, bass; Jeff "Tain" Watts, drums); 1999's Joey Calderazzo (John Patitucci, bass; Jeff "Tain" Watts, drums); 2011's Live (Orlando le Fleming, bass; Donald Edwards, drums); 2015's Going Home (Orlando le Fleming, bass; Adam Cruz, drums); and his most recent release, Live from The Cotton Club Tokyo, Volume 1.

Calderazzo's breadth and depth as a pianist is astounding. A single solo, either with his trio or Branford Marsalis' Quartet, can allude to myriad generations of jazz piano giants, filtered through his keen, hard-swinging lens and joyous touch.