Concert review: Kurt Elling at the Dakota, first night, both sets

Kurt Elling

Who: Kurt Elling, voice;  Laurence Hobgood, piano; Harish Raghavan, bass; Ulysses Owens Jr., drums; John McLean, guitar • Where: Dakota • When: Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A blow-by-blow for Kurt Elling fans and others who plan to catch the band on their latest tour. (By “others,” I mean those who haven’t yet seen Elling live, because once you do, you’re a fan.) This tour is mostly about The Gate, the new CD produced by Don Was and the successor to Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman, for which Elling won his long-overdue first Grammy in 2010. But it’s not just about The Gate. Here are the setlists and remarks along the way.

FIRST SET

“Moonlight Serenade” (from Flirting with Twilight, 2001). Elling wrote the lyrics to the version of the Glenn Miller/Mitchell Parish song recorded by Charlie Haden and Quartet West on Haunted Heart (1991). A romantic showcase for his voice, which only gets better. Everyone in the house feels all warm and cozy at the end, when suddenly he turns around, snaps his fingers, and the band moves immediately into…

Patricia Barber

When: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 • Where: Dakota • Who: Patricia Barber, piano; John McLean, guitar; Michael Arnopol, bass; Eric Montzka, drums



Hearing Patricia Barber play is not about tapping your feet and snapping your fingers and clinking your ice in your glass. It’s about paying attention and feeling reflective and sometimes rueful and sad. If you want jazz as entertainment, Barber is not your girl. She often seems removed from her audience, tonight more than usual. We learn after her set that her longtime sound man, tour manager, and friend Jay ten Hove died over Memorial Day weekend. On Barber's Web site, ten Hove is a member of the band.



Monk’s “Bemsha Swing” is rarely a solemn tune, but it is tonight, beginning with Arnopol’s thoughtful bass solo. The melody and chord changes are Monk but the rhythm and mood are Barber. Toward the end, it becomes Bach’s Two-Part Invention #1, a beautiful trio on piano, guitar, and drums. “But Not for Me” is haunting and spare. Barber’s original “Hunger” (from Mythologies) is a song with issues, toothy and wicked. (McLean wryly throws in a quote from “Salt Peanuts.”) There’s a dense instrumental that spends a lot of time on the piano’s lower keys, and an intriguing tune or two from her new CD, Cole Porter Mix, due out in September. (One sounds a bit like “My Way.”) An elegant “Jitterbug Waltz,” a sardonic “White World,” and, as an encore, a Barberesque “Norwegian Wood” that makes me forget all about John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Visit the a/v page on Barber's Web site to see and hear her play.