We've all seen jazz sings with piano accompaniment, but vocalist Kurt Elling and pianist Joey Calderazzo are something special.
The pair of expert improvisers recreate songs in the moment, freely trading melodic ideas as two instrumentalists would. They have a palpable connection.
"You know, man, it's lonely out here for jazz people, so when we find some cats who we can really identify with and vibe with, you want to hold on to those people," Elling said.
Elling is a masterful improviser who's earned two Grammy wins over 16 nominations, and Calderazzo has accompanied notable talent, including Michael Brecker, Branford Marsalis, and Jack DeJohnette.
When the pair came together and performed in the KNKX studios in 2024, they created once-in-a-lifetime inventions. Calderazzo said its not as effortless as it sounds.
"I'm not just sitting there playing while he sings, you know, he's giving me ideas, and hopefully I'm doing the same for him. It's like a conversation, which is amazing, because there's not a lot of singers that would either know how to do it or actually be willing to do it," Calderazzo said.
Calderazzo has been the pianist with the Branford Marsalis Quartet over the past quarter-century, and his first collaborations with Elling were in the Marsalis band on the 2016 album Upward Spiral. Elling was thrilled to be surrounded by these master musicians.
"As always, I'm trying to play up to the level of the people who were on stage with me," said Elling. "In Branford's band, that was definitely like a real moment of heavy weightlifting to make sure that I was even approximating where the Venn diagram wanted to land between their abilities and mine."
Of course, Elling was being modest. Calderazzo quickly spoke of his remarkable talent as a singer and as a fellow musician in that band.
"Kurt's range is really good. I mean, it's better than good, it's as good as it gets. And not knowing what this project was going to be, I mean, he's just up for anything," said Calderazzo.
Elling's most recent recording series, Wildflowers, includes three volumes of spontaneous recordings with pianists Calderazzo, Christian Sands, and Sullivan Fortner.
"The goal in that series, as it is every time you encounter another jazz musician, is to try to find that common ground where the other person gets to be fully themselves and manifest their ability to expand into the space," he said.
Elling is currently touring and improvising under the Wildflowers name with another great pianist, Fred Hirsch.
Songs heard in this episode:
- "It's Only a Paper Moon"
- "Day Dream"
- "Straight, No Chaser"
