Two-time Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling releases his stunning contribution to the big band legacy with In the Brass Palace
Due out February 13, the breathtaking album features Germany’s renowned WDR Big Band conducted by saxophonist/arranger Bob Mintzer
Glancing over his list of accomplishments, it might seem like Kurt Elling should be nearing the bottom of his wish list. The revered singer has won two Grammy Awards and topped the “Male Vocalist of the Year” category of the DownBeat Critics Poll a remarkable thirteen years in a row.
Since his Blue Note Records debut 30 years ago, Elling has released albums on several more of the most respected labels in the jazz world, including Concord, OKeh and Edition. He’s also chalked up collaborations with a stunning array of musical luminaries – a list that includes Branford Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, the Yellowjackets, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter, Sullivan Fortner, Christian Sands, and a long list of others. Last fall he made his Broadway debut, earning raves as Hermes in the musical Hadestown.
In early 2025, Elling crossed another entry off that list, declaring his independence with the launch of his own label, Big Shoulders Records, in partnership with longtime manager Bryan Farina. The imprint now allows him to fulfill another long cherished dream: the release of an album with big band. Due out February 13, 2026, the exhilarating In the Brass Palace features Elling with Cologne, Germany’s acclaimed WDR Big Band, conducted by special guest Bob Mintzer.
“Doing a big band record has been on my list of desires almost from the time that I made my very first record,” Elling says. “I’ve been fortunate beyond words to have worked with some of the greatest big bands from around the world – the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, a week at the Village Vanguard with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. I have a long history with the WDR Big Band, who are great swingers and beautiful cats.”
In the Brass Palace features repertoire by some of jazz’s most iconic composers, with insightful and eloquent lyrics penned by Elling and thoughtfully tailored arrangements by such elite composer/arrangers as Mintzer, Michael Abene, Tim Hagans, and the late Jim McNeely. The vibrant and daring music is fully in the spirit of Elling’s ever-questing spirit, celebrating the exuberant spirit of the jazz big band while stretching boundaries to explore new territory.
“I’m always trying to make something new if I can,” Elling explains. “I wanted the ethos of this album to satisfy the expectations in one’s mind of what a big band is, while at the same time not remaining bound to those expectations. I searched for a selection of arrangers, compositions and grooves that could be both signature and unexpected.”
The album begins with a spirited take on “Steppin’ Out,” Joe Jackson’s classic ode to metropolitan nightlife. Elling first interpreted the song with a small band on 2011’s The Gate; and Abene’s kaleidoscopic arrangement amplifies the energy level while retaining an elusive note substitution on the first line of each verse that was originally inspired by Nicholas Payton.
Arranged by Mintzer, the sultry “Desire” features a new Elling lyric for Thad Jones’ “Forever Lasting” that luxuriates in the sensual craving that burns in a new love affair – and, in the lyricist’s case, continues to smolder decades later. “That’s just me trying to get with my wife,” he laughs. “That is the number one theme of every poet who has ever lived – it’s the reason people write music in the first place.”
Singer-songwriter Nina Clark, a longtime friend of Elling’s from Chicago, contributed the lyric for “My Very Own Ride,” a swaggering interpretation of John Scofield’s funky “Jeep On 35” that fits perfectly with Elling’s recent reinventions. While the tune itself is rollicking fun, its inclusion here strikes a poignant note, arriving just months after the death of its arranger, the esteemed and influential Jim McNeely. “It’s an honor and a joy to be able to introduce an incredible new arrangement into the world just before a hero passes over to the other side,” Elling says.
Elling originally recorded Duke Ellington’s “I Like the Sunrise” on his 2007 album Nightmoves, in an intimate communion with rhythm section. Abene’s lush reimagining vividly illustrates the optimistic lyric of the piece, the opening movement of Ellington’s 1947 Liberian Suite. It provides a sublime backdrop for Elling’s vocalese, which marries a Rumi poem to an eloquent solo by another late hero and Chicago legend, the powerhouse saxophonist Von Freeman.
“I’m just a conduit on that one,” Elling insists. “I looked for years for a way to honor and praise Von, to thank him and love him. There are selections of Rumi in translation that sit perfectly on that solo, which is why one of my nicknames for Von is The Great Squealing Rabbi – brother was preaching!”
“They Speak No Evil” is another harmonious pairing of music and lyric, adapting three-time Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s poem “The City Dark” to Wayne Shorter’s immortal “Speak No Evil,” in a scintillating Tim Hagans arrangement. The album concludes with Elling’s new lyric for Joe Zawinul’s “Current Affairs,” which foreshadows another ongoing project: Elling’s celebration of Weather Report, which he’s explored with the likes of the Yellowjackets, Joey Calderazzo, and original member Peter Erskine.
The evocative title In the Brass Palace stunningly captures Elling’s profoundly personal addition to the big band canon – a majestic edifice with an endless succession of rooms to open and explore. “It’s a sonic palace,” Elling concludes. “The beauty, the power, the nuance, the wide variety of decoration and architecture. What an honor to open the doors and discover.”