Kurt Elling
Man in the Air.

The guest he could already hear

Before the sessions, Kurt Elling could hear Stefon Harris soloing on “A Secret I”. That imagined combination helped set the album in motion. Talking with pianist Laurence Hobgood, he proposed bringing in the vibraphonist, then drawing together lyrics he had already written and adding new ones. Some of that writing dated back to 1996 and 1997.

“The sonic concept came first,” Elling told R.J. DeLuke in All About Jazz in October 2003. The repertoire followed a sound he wanted to make with these musicians. His account describes a collection assembled from work developed over several years, with Harris’s vibraphone part of its conception.

Released in 2003, Man in the Air was his sixth Blue Note album, following Flirting with Twilight (2001). His debut, Close Your Eyes (1995), had already established original texts as part of his work. This time, writing words for existing jazz music became the organising thread across the programme, rather than an occasional part of a standards collection.

Following Coltrane, syllable by syllable

“Resolution”, the piece highlighted in the reel, takes its starting point from the second movement of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Elling fits his own words to Coltrane’s improvised saxophone melody. This is vocalese: writing a lyric to an existing instrumental line, including the turns and rhythmic decisions of a recorded solo.

“Time to Say Goodbye” makes another distinction worth knowing. Joe Zawinul wrote the underlying Weather Report composition, “A Remark You Made”, but Wayne Shorter’s solo supplies the line Elling follows. Composer, improviser and lyricist therefore have separate roles in the resulting song. The album’s credits preserve those different contributions.

Other pieces begin with compositions rather than a named solo. “Minuano” draws on Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays’s “Minuano (Six Eight)” from Still Life (Talking), released in 1987. “A Secret I” adapts Herbie Hancock’s “Alone and I”. On “In the Winelight”, William Eaton’s music receives lyrics shared by Elling and Phil Galdston; the title track pairs Hobgood’s composition with Elling’s words.

A working band in a Chicago studio

Elling’s collaborators were also his working band: Hobgood on piano and Rhodes, Rob Amster on bass, and Frank Parker Jr. on drums and percussion. Harris adds vibraphone, with soprano saxophone contributions from Jim Gailloreto and Brad Wheeler. Paul Wertico is credited on drums for “Minuano”. In the same interview, Elling described the quartet as a band whose members needed room to contribute.

Dan Garcia recorded the album at Chicago Recording Company on 13–17 January 2003. Elling and Hobgood arranged the music and co-produced with Bill Traut. Al Schmitt mixed the sessions, assisted by Bill Smith, Garcia and Steve Genewick. Dennis Tousana and Eddie Davis assisted the recording engineering.

The words become part of the line

Man in the Air earned a Best Jazz Vocal Album nomination at the 2004 Grammy Awards. Its connection to Elling’s earlier writing remains specific: instrumental phrases become structures for language. “Resolution” offers the clearest route into that idea. The saxophone solo remains the point of departure, while the lyric gives Elling another story to tell.

Track list

Recommended versions

CD: 2003 Blue Note (7243 5 90948 2 2, US). In 125 Discogs collections. Community rating: 4.63/5 from 8 votes. View this CD edition ↗

Album details

Original release	2003
Label	Blue Note Records
Genre	Jazz · vocal jazz
Recording	13–17 January 2003 · Chicago Recording Company, Chicago
Vocals	Kurt Elling
Core band	Laurence Hobgood — piano and Rhodes; Rob Amster — bass; Frank Parker Jr. — drums and percussion
Guests	Stefon Harris — vibraphone; Jim Gailloreto and Brad Wheeler — soprano saxophone; Paul Wertico — drums on “Minuano”
Production	Kurt Elling · Laurence Hobgood · Bill Traut
Arrangements	Kurt Elling · Laurence Hobgood
Recording / mixing	Dan Garcia / Al Schmitt
Tracks	12