THE GIG

Give the Mule What He Wants

Michael Nagle / NY Times

Queens of the Stone Age

Terminal 5, March 25

Kurt Elling on Youth, Critics

This month’s cover story for JazzTimes, re: singer Kurt Elling, has been excerpted online. There’s way more insight behind the paywall, so if you like what you see, please go buy a copy, or swipe one from your neighbor. Meanwhile, I thought I’d expand on just one (major) aspect of the piece here, having to do with his thoughts on artistic maturity and its antipode, callow youth. 

Elling is nothing if not a self-reflective artist, and soon after we sat down he was musing on his stature vis-à-vis jazz’s critical establishment. The tide had been turning for him in that regard, especially since the generally acknowledged triumph of his Coltrane-Hartman album, Dedicated to You, in 2009. But what Elling seemed eager to talk about were his detractors, some of whom he felt had formed their opinions early on.* Here is some of what he said:

Real Good Try

Critics' Choice: New CDs

Josh Kelley, "Georgia Clay"

Sparks, Fly

Alan Nahigian

Melvin Sparks, Soul Guitarist, Dies at 64

Johnny Come Lately

Terell Stafford Quintet

Village Vanguard, March 15

Related: WBGO/NPR recorded the set

Tribal Wisdom

Critic's Choice: New CDs

Vijay Iyer, Prasanna, Nittin Mitta, “Tirtha”

Youth Novels, Hands Together

Playlist, March 6

Lykke Li, Fred Hersch, Nate Wooley, Parts & Labor, Beach Fossils

The Backwards Step

Michele V. Agins/New York Times

Nicholas Payton Big Band

Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, March 1