Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman

Recorded live at Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series, New York, New York.
Tributees: John Coltrane; Johnny Hartman.
Personnel: Kurt Elling (vocals); Mary L. Rowell, Cornelius Dufallo (violin); Ralph Farris (viola); Dorothy Lawson (cello); Ernie Watts (saxophone, tenor saxophone); Laurence Hobgood (piano); Clark Sommers (upright bass); Ulysses Owens (drums).
Audio Mixer: Dave O'Donnell .
Recording information: Allen Room, Fredrick P. Rose Hall, Lincoln Center, New (01/21/2009).
Photographer: John Abbott .
Arrangers: Jim Gailloreto; Laurence Hobgood.
Perhaps taking a page from Karrin Allyson's note-perfect tribute to John Coltrane's BALLADS, the contemporary jazz singer Kurt Elling offers his own live tribute to the classic Impulse LP JOHN COLTRANE & JOHNNY HARTMAN, the tenor icon's 1963 collaboration with the perennially underrated Hartman, an exquisitely mannered singer who brought out the romantic best in both Coltrane and his listeners alike. The burnished-voiced Elling brings his own considerable romantic best to this 2008 Lincoln Center concert (part of the "American Songbook" Series) with fulsome support from pianist Laurence Hobgood, who also did the skillful string quartet arrangements (played by ETHEL), and saxophonist Ernie Watts. Elling in no way channels Hartman; he retains his own contemporary style as he delves into key selections from COLTRANE & HARTMAN like "Lush Life," "They Say It's Wonderful," and, of course, "Dedicated To You," itself a nod to the swooning '40s duet by Coltrane favorite Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan. Stepping outside his own framework a bit, Elling also includes songs from BALLADS, the beautiful "Say It Over (And Over Again)" and a instrumental setting of "It's Easy To Remember," over which the singer narrates a little "jazz story" of his own devising.