back to
Edition Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

SuperBlue

by Kurt Elling

/
  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of SuperBlue via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 1 day
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10.99 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

  • 'Moonlight' Coloured Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of SuperBlue via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
SuperBlue 04:45
Gooped up on gop? You’d wanna’ supercharge your mind? Don’t live resigned in total blindness to that undefined reminder of what’s creeping up on your behind. Take the grime off of how sublime your time is. Spoken : The important thing is to pull yourself up by your own hair to turn yourself inside out and see the whole world with fresh eyes (“Marat/Sade”, 1965) When Super Blue brings on that new & fateful brew, pull on that righteous stew. Go askew. Just a flick of a trick will do you. Because, it’s true. It’s not what you’re used to. That girl is no deja vu. Her voodoo should re-jigger your mental tissue. One swish of this delicious dish will nourish your curiosity to see if she can really hold the key to what’s been waiting in your psychic undersea. In this is waiting every bliss. It’s like you’re being kissed and never dismissed. You’ll find you’re finally free. Success is guaranteed. She’s Super Blue. She’s honeydew; the make-or-break-through you, too, oughta’ get to pursue. _______________ You come unglued; corkscrew anew. She’s more than you knew you could do. Even colors go groovier too. She’s Super Blue. She’s honeydew; the make-or-break-through you, too, oughta’ get to pursue, too.
2.
Sassy 04:18
Dig! Y' really wanna flip your lid? Step up & give a listen to the singer. Hip or square, say a prayer. When money's stiff, she’ll make it on a riff. She turns the major into minor cool. All over town she is renown. Woman’s the crown jewel of sound. _____________ Dig it! That Sassy’s on a hipper trip. Rhythm, she can sharpen to a stinger. Blows insane. That’s her lane. She keeps it loose, a ballad or a blues Ten thousand hours on a thousand gigs. Takin’ the crown, uptown or down. She is the baddest around. _____________ She’s brazen. / Simply amazin’. She’s blazing. / Shit is hair-raisin’. Vibration’s a brain invasion. But her phrasing’s just like a saxophone. ___________ Workin' in the daytime. Jammin’ ev'ry night. Blowin' over changes that would give most cats a fright. People call her “Sassy”. That’s her attitude. Actin' like the devil. But when she sings her blues, you know what she’s goin’ through… She’s brazen. / Simply amazin’. She’s blazing. / Shit is hair-raisin’. Vibration’s a brain invasion. But her phrasing’s just like a saxophone. ___________ Watch Sassy take another swig. Now she’s gettin’ evil with the people Cigarette… Final Set. Don’t wanna miss a prelude to a kiss. Even the trumpet player’s smilin’ know. She’s walkin’ the line, cuttin’ in rhyme, she is divine all the time Workin' in the daytime. Jammin’ ev'ry night. Hangin’ with the fellas, till she’s ready to ignite. People call her sassy, cuz she knows her mind. She became a living legend from songs she redefined She’s brazen. / Simply amazin’. She’s blazing. / Shit is hair-raisin’. Vibrations her own creation. Her phrasing just like a saxophone. She’s brazen. / Simply amazin’. She’s blazing. / Shit is hair-raisin’. Vibrations her own creation. Her phrasing just like a saxophone.
3.
Girl, don’t act so manic. I promise you we’re gonna be fine. Ain’t no need to panic. I’m telling you we’ll get our chance to shine. I got some reassurance that things are gonna work this time. You know that we’ve been walking a dangerous line while all the world’s been spinning on a dime We go leaning out over the roof ledge. We should try to sit still. We keep sliding on the knife edge ... like to get the both of us killed But He’s got the whole world in his hands. He’s got the whole wide world in his hands. _________________ Don’t the new look frightening? We have come so far so fast. We’re like bottled lightning. But how we supposed to make it last? Love is life’s assurance, no matter how the dice get cast. The shell of fortune will turn again & what’s present now will soon be past. We go leaning out over the roof ledge when we should try to sit still We keep sliding up and down the knife edge, like to get the both of us killed. But He’s got the whole world in his hands. He’s got the whole wide world in his hands. ________________ Well just remember - Well just remember what is really and truly and deeply true. And any time you can remember that you’ll get happy and smile the whole day through. All you are is just a tiny God-soul, paddling life’s canoe. Just take a ride down the river. Take a ride down the river & do what good that you can find to do. Do what good you can do. Do whatever good you can do... riding down the river ... in your little canoe. Maybe you’ll find you little canoe is, on occasion, big enough for two. Bang the groove ... on the groove on what is really true now ... ... on what good you can do.
4.
Find it in the message undelivered — unsealed, unlimiting, impulse pivoting. Find it in a line of facts not figuring — brainwaves triggering — tripping a spring. Find it in a footfall — feeling like a phantom's faintly beckoning fitful reckoning. Find it in a failing candle’s muttering when it’s guttering. Find it in the hopeful, helpless stuttering song I’m uttering. Find it in becoming — drumming like a running wind horse carrying your foreshadowing.
5.
On my first take your shimmy-shake looked sexy across the room. I could just about taste it — desire-fire — the hit of a dark perfume. All of the shades down — the lights are low — the flow is happening. You flashing your baby blues — just a little peek-a-boo — & I started imagining. But then, I notice that button. It probably means nothin — just some kind of a joke. ‘Cause girl, I think that you’re crushing. No point in discussing it, ‘cause you have to be ‘woke. But now you’ve got me wondering — & thinking all the sudden. Am I missing a trick? Are you a brick house or a brick? spoken: Huh. Is this, like… “dance 10 — thinks 3?” As I shake the question — & keep the connection — you boogie across the floor In a reckless necklace & a little black dress & possibly nothing more. You fingers in my hair now — lingering there — knowing just what to do. Your lips are glistening — getting me listening — and then you whisper that “Q” is true. And that’s when you murder the moment. The rabbit hole opens on some stranger than strange. I guess that I should have known it — Your button means you’re into that Stormy-insane stuff. I wish you’d kept it on the physical plane … … because I can’t make it with your brain. spoken: The champagne in this bar is expensive. Don’t you think you should buy me another? ‘Cause that’s when you murdered the moment. The rabbit hole opened on your stranger than strange. That button isn’t ironic. It’s Adrenochromic, and it’s some bloody insane. And, wow! That blows up the hook up. ‘Cause I ain’t wasting time cruising in your lane. Because now I’m only looking for grown-ups, and not some adolescent on a crazy-train. And you can buy your own expensive champagne … because I can’t make it with your brain. spoken: And now, the headlines: Bat-Boy found in cave 10 years ago says he’s not afraid of heights … Volunteers to operate NATO space laser! Disappeared brawny lumberjack Butch Jones released from 15 years as Bigfoot love slave. Mourning wife says, “He’s just not the man I married!” Vatican City miracle stunner! Tiny ghost of Pope John Paul the II living… under current pope’s hat! Shocking photos found in White House basement reveal: 27th U.S. president William Howard Taft was actually … a woman! There’s pictures and everything! The end is near! Elvis tells mummy aliens to shut us down! We’re fired!!
6.
The Seed 04:22
I don't ask, for much these days And I don't bitch, and whine, if I don't get my way I only wanna... fertilize another behind my lover's back I sit and watch it grow standin' at where I'm at Fertilize another behind my lover's back And I'm keepin' my secrets mine I push my seed in her push for life It’s gonna work because I'm pushin' it right If Mary drops my baby girl tonight I would name it Rock-N-Roll I don't beg For no rich man AI don’t kick and screm when his shit don't fall in my hands Because im gonna still Fertilize another against my lover's will lick the opposition cuz she don't take no pill Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh- You'll be keeping my legend alive I push my seed in her push for life It’s gonna work because I'm pushin' it right If Mary drops my baby girl tonight I would name her Rock-N-Roll I would name her Rock-N-Roll I would name it Rock-N-Roll I push my seed somewhere deep in her chest I push it naked cuz I've takin my test Deliverin' Mary it don't matter the sex I'm gon' name it rock and roll I'm gon' name it rock and roll I'll name it rock and roll Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll I'm gon' name it rock and roll Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll,Rock-N-Roll I'm gon' name her rock and roll
7.
Dharma Bums 05:58
Come on! I’ve got a wandering feeling that it’s time for moving on. The arms upon the clock that’s on the wall are telling me that I’ve been standing still for much too long. A picture’s always blank before it’s drawn. The night is darkest just before the dawn. So you bring your tender brains & I can provide the brawn. Come On! I’ve got a vintage Ford Falcon that is hungry for the road. The chromium is polished in the knowledge that we’re headed for an altogether distant postal code. Might I suggest that on the way find the mystic motherlode. Maybe we can find our just deserts & grab ‘em à la mode ! ‘Cause when the night falls & stars shed their sparkler dims & don’t you know that God is Pooh-Bear holding out his honeyed paws to both of us from way out there? And when the spirit calls … … and both of us are filled up to the over-brim in that mescal & sage flavored air, Then you’ll know that you are Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise is me! Come on! We’ll ball that jack straight until we reach the end of land and wash the miles off diving in the sea Two holy goofs having a good time & sodden on a aubergine toboggan, smoking constantly. You never know just what there is to find until you start looking, You never know just what you’re gonna dine on until you start cooking, yeah! And when the morning strolls and the great unrolling scroll of our lives imbibes and inscribes our heroic drives on the parchment of eternal vibes, we two holy-empty bowls with our ever-burning baby ember soul-coals — they watch & behold as we patrol down the fold in the rolls in the future-Buddha foretold mold, where bodhisattva whisper the Bodhi-being code and we find out path to the sold-out hold-out motherlode of what can never be eroded! (Don’t say I never told it!) Now, you don’t actually have to leave home to get the job done, but I promise you it can sure be a lot more fun! Two on the road is always better than one, son. spoken: Now: the thing about what we’re after, sometimes it’s invisi-bala-tash-is-ness. Sometimes it’s hiding. Not because it wants to. It’s not a little afraid of you. Maybe you’re a little afraid of you. Hey: But you can’t always see it, but it’s always there. You might forget to feel it - but then you say, ”it feels unfair!” But it ain’t just disappeared because it’s always in the air. And just because you win’t awake — it don’t mean you ain’t aware. So, listen up! ‘Cause the deepest truths ain’t written in no book. They’re all around you all the time, but you use your heart to look. They may be in a candy bar, maybe in a Baby Ruth, That brings back the true Madeleine of your long-lost youth. They may be waiting to be found in the freezing winter brook, Or in the photograph of a long-lost stare that somehow leaves you shook. They’re in the stories children tell or in an acrid, smokey smell. They’re in a breath when a story’s done, or the ringing of a bell. But they’e always there — like math itself; or whatever pre-exists. They’ll outlast your every waking doubt — ‘cause the truth always persists. The truth always persists. spoken: Well, let’s see. We have a full tank of gas, a half a pack of cigarettes. It’s dark. And we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it!
8.
Circus 04:55
We put up our tent on a dark Green knoll, outside of town by The train tracks and a seagull dump Topping the bill was Horse Face Ethel And her 'Marvellous Pigs In Satin' We pounded our stakes in the ground All powder brown And the branches spread like scary Fingers reaching We were in a pasture outside Kankakee And One Eyed Myra, the queen of The galley who trained the Ostrich and the camels She looked at me squinty with her One good eye in a Roy Orbison T-shirt as she bottle fed An orangutan named Tripod And then there was Yodeling Elaine the Queen of the air who wore a Dollar sign medallion and she Had a tiny bubble of spittle Around her nostril and a Little rusty tear, for she had Lassoed and lost another Tipsy sailor And over in The burnt yellow tent By the frozen tractor, the Music was like electric sugar And Zuzu Bolin played 'Stavin' Chain' and Mighty Tiny on the saw and he Threw his head back with a Mouth full of gold teeth And they played 'Lopsided heart' And 'Moon over Dog Street' And by the time they played "Moanin Low" I was soakin' wet and wild eyed And Doctor Bliss slipped me a Preparation and I fell asleep with 'Livery Stable Blues' in my ear And me and Molley Hoey drank Pruno and Koolaid and she had a Tattoo gun made out of a cassette Motor and a guitar string and She soaked a hanky in 3 Roses And rubbed it on the spot And drew a rickety heart and A bent arrow and it hurt like hell And Funeral Wells spun Poodle Murphy on the target As he threw his hardware, Only once in Sheboygan did he miss At a matinee on Diamond Pier and She'd never let him forget it They were doing two shows and she Had a high fever and he took Off a piece of her ear and Tip Little told her she should Leave the bum But Poodle said, "He fetched me Last time I run." But I'd like to hammer this ring into a bullet And I wish I had some whiskey and a gun My dear And I wish I had some whiskey and a gun my dear.
9.
Afloat and all at sea / the stars align in threes. They’re so fine and free in blue and in green Like leaves on endless trees. Come climb the sky with me. Come hear and come to see Melody in perfect symmetry In love / in light / in key. We chart from stars, lay too among islands The night thick hair around us And cold water lapping at the keel Upon deck in damp air, we lie back Feel our clothes turn wet to skin, and look for Orion’s belt We look for Orion’s belt Sky spills over us, so full We forget about days Out here when we touch, the earth turns We go sailing through Islands of stars Sink with the bears black fur. Drift in a dogs coat Become comets that flare and orbit the night. We sail highlands of stars We sink with a bears black fur We drift in a dogs coat Become comets that flare and orbit the night Come climb the sky with me. Come hear and come to see Melody in perfect symmetry In love / in light / in key In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light In love / in light / in key
10.
This Is How We Do

about

After scoring his second GRAMMY Award (and 14th nomination) in March 2021, the protean vocalist Kurt Elling hangs an unexpected left turn with SuperBlue for Edition Records. It’s a torrent of roisterous funk, indelible beats and all-too-current lyrics that boasts the talents of producer-guitarist Charlie Hunter and two stars of the hip-hop generation: drummer Corey Fonville and bassist-keyboardist DJ Harrison (both of the genre-hopping band Butcher Brown). Elling has always been a master of grooves, ranging from bebop to pure pop and progressive jazz to neo-soul, but he’s never filled an album with grooves quite like these.

Thanks to newly sprung melody and lyrics from Elling, along with Hunter & co.’s fresh grooves, SuperBlue features all-new songs, innovative takes on compositions from jazz lions Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard, and a raw and stripped-down treatment of “The Seed,” a still-dynamic, decades-old riff on immortality written by Cody Chestnutt. There is even a slamming new version of a Tom Waits tune.

Elling has never made an album like this – and he’s never made any album in the way that SuperBlue took shape. To this day, he has yet to meet the members of Butcher Brown in person: with travel confined by the COVID-19 pandemic, their collaboration happened across a distance of roughly 1,000 miles, with Hunter acting as go-between. In their Virginia studio, Fonville and Harrison met with Hunter to hammer out an assortment of grooves and colors; at his home in Chicago, Elling took the rhythm tracks and determined whether they called for new melodic narratives or were better suited to existing compositions. Once the groundwork was complete, Elling and Hunter got together at a converted horse barn in Urbana, Illinois, where they recorded the vocal and solo guitar tracks and mixed it all down.

For all that, Fonville considers this “one of the most organic sessions” he’s ever done, with a surprising lack of hassle or fuss. “The seeds were planted a while ago,” Elling says, “and then the pandemic got [Charlie and me] both stuck at home. The time inside was the hothouse for something new to grow. Finally, the seeds busted open and grew into this crazy, weird COVID flower.”

The writing process gave Elling the chance to return to several of his now-familiar passions, such as the Beat Generation, current politics and the interpolation of contemplative poetry into already transcendent ballads. But even these touchstones buzz with the fresh energy of contemporary jazz-funk fusion.

Speaking about Fonville and Harrison, Elling is grateful. “For those gifted young cats to give me the trust, and to vibe with me and be so enthusiastic about this project, is a great compliment. It’s enlivening and even rejuvenating in the truest sense of the word. I haven’t been paying as much attention to the groove-oriented stuff that younger cats have been developing, except in a cursory fashion – not because I don’t like it, but because I’ve been focused for so long on learning from cats like Prez and Wayne and Dexter Gordon. I feel like Joe Square-Britches coming into this stuff.”

That’s far from how the Butcher Brown musicians see Elling, widely acclaimed as the pre-eminent male vocalist in jazz. “I’ve loved Kurt’s music since high school,” says the 30-year-old Fonville, who co-produced the album. “I mean, he’s a legend at this point. I obviously knew him more as a straight-ahead vocalist, but I felt like he would feel at home with us – partly because our music is so rooted in the blues and Kurt already has a lot of blues in his music. And I was super happy at the fact that he trusted us enough to really steer things in this direction.”

Elling also placed his trust in the production expertise of Charlie Hunter to bridge the worlds of Elling and Butcher Brown; in fact, with his unassailable cred in both the jazz and groove camps, Hunter is perhaps the only musician who could have done so. “Between the records he’s made with cats like D’Angelo and John Mayer and A Tribe Called Quest, Charlie is a made guy in that world, just as he has the respect of jazz people” says Elling, who first met Hunter when both were signed to Blue Note Records in the late 1990s. They struck up an immediate rapport, leading to Elling’s guest appearance on Hunter’s album Songs From the Analog Playground; more recently, during the pandemic shutdown, they worked on some highly funkified videos for the weekly webcast Elling hosted during 2020.

As Hunter explains, “We both really thought that making those vids was a lot of fun, and when Kurt decided he wanted to make a whole record like that, he asked me to produce it. We shot some ideas back and forth and then I brought up Butcher Brown, because these guys have a great community and a great collective sound.” Hunter initially had no plans to bring his guitars to the sessions, but Elling insisted that he play on the date as well as produce. Hunter gladly gave in. “It was great working with Corey and DJ,” he says now – especially because the project didn’t call for any long guitar solos. “I’m much happier when I’m just grooving and laying in the cut, you know?”

On SuperBlue, those grooves are generous and bountiful and the mix is phat and vibrant, creating springboards for some of the most vivid tracks of Elling’s career. The new rhythmic playground shows off Elling’s still-broadening vocal prowess. The arrangements extend the singer’s already remarkable range and expand his role as a gifted storyteller, adept at both hipster humor and soul-shattering pathos.

For the former, go directly to “Can’t Make It With Your Brain,” a hilarious spear to the heart of conspiracy disinformation, wrapped in a dance-club scenario. For the latter, there’s his reprise of the Carla Bley composition “Endless Lawns,” which previously appeared on his album The Questions, and which carries a breathtaking Elling lyric, highlighted by a Judith Minty poem that clarifies the song’s ethereal beauty.

Elling’s serpentine lyrics combine with the psychedelic production to make Super Blue, Freddie Hubbard’s late-70s fusion gem, the latest addition to his portrait gallery of jazz classics. On ”Sassy,” the band freshens the dance rhythms that the Manhattan Transfer used in their 1991 tribute to Sarah Vaughan. Then Elling switches gears on “Where to Find It,” transforming Wayne Shorter’s rapturous “Aung San Suu Kyi” into a Buddhist meditation, with the assistance of Charles Twichell’s haunting poem “Animal Languages.”

Among the originals, Elling honors the centennial of Jack Kerouac – with asides to David Amram and Mose Allison – on Dharma Bums, an affectionate view of On the Road that crashes headlong into Circus, a prose poem from the Beats’ direct descendant Tom Waits. Waits recorded this offbeat narrative against a spooky big-top dirge; Elling intones it against a slam-dance funk groove that recasts the piece from a 50s pulp-noir paperback cover to a neon panel by Ed Paschke. And “Manic Panic Epiphanic” lifts the spirit with a message of hope – falsetto harmonies from the Bee Gees book – at a time when the world needs it most.

The universal accolades for Elling don’t always mention his relentless, career-long, search for new vistas. He’s recorded an album of global love songs (Passion World) and transformed the Christmas tradition (The Beautiful Day); he’s written lyrics to jazz classics, staked out 1960s-70s rock-n-roll (on 1619 Broadway), and entered into a galvanic partnership, on disc and on tour, with Branford Marsalis’s quartet. He earned his first GRAMMY for updating the historic collaboration between John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (Dedicated to You), and his most recent statuette for Secrets Make the Best Stories, his Latin-inspired project with modern piano giant Danilo Perez.

With SuperBlue, Elling continues on this path of bold collaboration – within the confines of worldwide lockdown – to map out a strikingly new direction, on a project guaranteed to gain new listeners and stretch the ears of his devoted admirers.

credits

released October 8, 2021

Kurt Elling: Voice
Charlie Hunter: Hybrid Guitar
DJ Harrison: Keyboards
Corey Fonville: Drums, Percussion

Produced by Charlie Hunter and Kurt Elling
Co-Produced by DJ Harrison and Corey Fonville
Executive Producers Bryan Farina & Dave Stapleton

Instrumental Tracking by DJ Harrison at Jellowstone RVA. 10/19/20-10/21/20 & 11/22/20-11/24/20

Vocal Tracking by Anthony Gravino at High Cross Sound 2/1/21-2/13/21

Mixed by Anthony Gravino
Mastered by Dave McNair Mastering

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Kurt Elling Chicago, Illinois

Renowned for his singular combination of robust swing and poetic insight, GRAMMY winner Kurt Elling has secured his place among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. Declared “the standout male vocalist of our time” by The New York Times, Elling has garnered unprecedented accolades, including a fourteen-year run atop the DownBeat Critics Poll, as well as a dozen GRAMMY nominations ... more

shows

contact / help

Contact Kurt Elling

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Kurt Elling, you may also like: