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Kurt Elling is a two-time GRAMMY Award–winning vocalist renowned for his signature rich sound and an inventive, deeply individualized body of work. With a one-of-a-kind approach to contemporary beat lyricism and vocalese, the Chicago-based artist has expanded the expressive possibilities of vocal jazz. The New York Times has called Elling “the standout male jazz vocalist of our time,” while The Guardian (UK) praised him as “a kind of Sinatra with superpowers”
.Over a career spanning more than twenty-five years of touring and recording, Elling has earned three Prix du Jazz Vocal (France), two German Echo Awards, two Dutch Edison Awards, and sixteen GRAMMY nominations. He has topped the DownBeat Critics and Readers Polls for Male Vocalist of the Year for more than a decade and is a twelve-time Jazz Journalists Association Award winner. In recent years, his work has continued to garner widespread acclaim for its ambition, range, and cross-genre reach
.In 2024, Elling made his Broadway debut to critical praise, starring as Hermes in the Tony Award–winning musical Hadestown, further underscoring his rare versatility as both a jazz artist and theatrical performer. His performance introduced him to new audiences while reaffirming his stature as one of the most expressive vocalists of his generation.
Elling has collaborated with leading figures across the jazz world, including Branford Marsalis, Danilo Pérez, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter, and Stefon Harris, and has appeared as a featured soloist with many of the world’s premier large ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Symphony Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, the WDR Big Band and Orchestra, the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, and the Village Vanguard Orchestra .
A prolific lyricist and composer, Elling has also co-created multidisciplinary works for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and the City of Chicago. Jazz at Lincoln Center presented the world premiere of The Big Blind, a new jazz musical he is co-writing with songwriter Phil Galdston. National Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky has written 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”
.Elling has toured internationally in a wide range of settings, including UNESCO-sponsored International Jazz Day performances around the globe, and has appeared twice at the White House. He has served as Artist-in-Residence at both the Monterey and Singapore Jazz Festivals and, as an industry leader, spent six years as a Trustee and two years as Vice Chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.