I just spent most of the day at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studio, where Guy Barker was rehearsing the BBC Concert Orchestra and his own big band. Kurt Elling joined for the afternoon, straight off the plane from Miami, with one and a half hours sleep under his belt, and began to sing the ballad from That Obscure Hurt, the piece being rehearsed. He was singing my words and I was reminded of a quote from maverick producer/writer Kip Hanrahan on his music : “Sometimes it doesn’t mean anything more than handing rolled steel to Jack Bruce and watching as he turns it into gold in front of thousands of people.”
Well there weren’t thousands there today, but you can catch Kurt do just that same alchemy by listening to That Obscure Hurt on Radio 3 on Wed. 12th June at 7.30pm or, better, seeing him do it live at Snape Maltings in Suffolk at the same time (see http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk).