Name: Kurt Elling and Danilo Pérez
Start: 2024-05-09T18:00:00-05:00
Location: 312 Pearl Pkwy, Bldg 6, San Antonio, TX, United States, Texas 78215

$Kurt Elling and Danilo P\u00e9rez$

One night only! Shows at 7:00 and 9:30.
Kurt Elling:
Renowned for his singular combination of robust swing and poetic insight, two-time GRAMMY winner Kurt Elling has secured his place among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. The New York Times proclaimed Elling, “the standout male vocalist of our time”. Over a twenty-five year career of touring and recording, Elling has won three Prix du Jazz Vocal (France), two German Echo Awards, two Dutch Edison Awards, and has been nominated for a GRAMMY award sixteen times. He has had a 14-year run atop the DownBeat Critics and Readers polls, and has won twelve Jazz Journalists Awards for “Male Vocalist of the Year”.
Kurt Elling’s voice is instantly recognizable, embracing listeners with his warm, rich baritone and navigating the full span of his four-octave range as a virtuoso improvisor and a compelling storyteller. The Guardian (UK) has named Kurt Elling, “a kind of Sinatra with superpowers,” and, “one of jazz’s all-time great vocalists.”
Elling has recorded and toured with Branford Marsalis, Danilo Perez, Stefon Harris, Fred Hersch, James Morrison, and Charlie Hunter. He has performed extensively with larger ensembles like The Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra, The National Youth Orchestra (led by Sean Jones), The Bob Mintzer Big Band, The BBC Concert Symphony (led by Guy Barker) The Metropole Orchestra (Holland), The Irish Radio and Television Orchestra (led by Brian Byrne), The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and The WDR Orchestra and Big Band (Germany).
The Wall Street Journal said, “Elling combines authenticity with stunning originality.” The Washington Post declared that, “since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic or interesting as Kurt Elling.”
Elling’s dynamism is enhanced exponentially by the fact that he consistently generates new vocal material by writing and recording signature and definitive lyrics to the compositions of foundational jazz composers like John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Zawinul. Additionally, Kurt Elling has co-created multi-disciplinary performances for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater and The City of Chicago. Jazz At Lincoln Center saw the world premier of The Big Blind, an entirely new jazz musical-in-progress Elling is co-writing with collaborator Phil Galdston (“Save The Best For Last”). National Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky declared that, “In Kurt Elling’s art, the voice of jazz gives new spiritual presence to the ancient, sweet and powerful bond between poetry and music.”
Elling has toured the world in a variety of contexts, including UNESCO-sponsored “International Jazz Day” performances in Havana, Cuba, in St. Petersburg, Russia, in Melbourne, Australia and in Washington DC. He has twice performed at the White House, including a performance in collaboration with the late Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony Orchestra for President Obama’s first State Dinner. He has served as Artist-In-Residence at the Monterey and Singapore Jazz Festivals. As a music industry leader, Elling spent six years serving as a Trustee and two years as Vice Chairman of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Danilo Perez:
As a solo artist and as a collaborator with jazz giants from Dizzy Gillespie to Wayne Shorter, for over three decades Grammy® Award Winning Panamanian Pianist-Composer Danilo Pérez has been lauded as one of the most creative forces in contemporary music. With Jazz as the anchoring foundation, Pérez’s Global Jazz music is a blend of Panamanian roots, Latin American folk music, West African rhythms, European impressionism – promoting music as a borderless and multidimensional bridge between all people.
Born in Panama in 1965, Pérez started his musical studies when he was three years old with his father, a bandleader and singer. By age 10, he was studying the European classical piano repertoire at the National Conservatory in Panama. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in electronics in Panama, he studied jazz composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. While still a student, he performed with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi and Paquito D’Rivera. Quickly established as a young master, he soon toured and/or recorded with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra from 1989-1992, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Lacy, Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton, and Roy Haynes.
In 1993, Pérez turned his focus to his own ensembles and recording projects, releasing several albums as a leader, earning Grammy® and Latin Grammy® nominations for Central Avenue (1998), Motherland (2000), Across The Crystal Sea (2008), and Providencia (2010). In 1996, he was signed by producer Tommy Lipuma to join the Impulse label and recorded Panamonk, a tribute to Thelonious Monk which according to DownBeat magazine is one of the most important piano albums in the history of jazz. Pérez’s album Central Avenue, featured mejoranera music (a style of Panamanian folklore singing) and was chosen as one of the 10 best recordings across genres by TIME Magazine in 1998. A collaboration between Pérez and the prolific composer and arranger Claus Ogerman, 2008’s Across The Crystal Sea was praised by The Guardian as, “So ultra-smooth it achieves something like a state of grace.” Ogerman said, “This is a record I wanted to make before I leave the planet.” Pérez made his Mack Avenue Records debut in 2010 with the release of Providencia. The album was nominated for a 2011 Grammy® Award in the category of Best Instrumental Jazz Album.
Pérez joined the Wayne Shorter Quartet in 2010 with John Patitucci and Brian Blade. This latest iteration from Shorter has been known as a unique and predominant force in improvisational music both at their historic live performances and on several recordings. In 2018 Blue Note records released the highly anticipated EMANON from the Wayne Shorter Quartet which won a Grammy® in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental album in 2019.
For several years Pérez has also been touring with his trio – featuring Ben Street and Adam Cruz – and with Children of the Light, a collaboration with fellow Wayne Shorter Quartet members John Patitucci and Brian Blade. Mack Avenue released the Children of the Light album in 2015 to great critical acclaim. Pérez’s current touring project, the Global Messengers, spreads the idea that music can serve as a natural remedy to unfortunate situations, providing an uplifting message, connection, and common ground. The ensemble features musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds, coming together to build community through music.
As a composer, Pérez has been commissioned by The Lincoln Center, Chicago Jazz Festival, and Imani Winds Quintet, among others. His octet for members of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela was commissioned by Carnegie Hall. In 2014, the Banff Centre commissioned Pérez to write a piano quintet for the Cecilia String Quartet titled "Camino de Cruces" and he also composed the music for the Museum of Biodiversity in Panama, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. In 2015, Pérez premiered another two new compositions: “Expeditions – Panamania 2015” was premiered at the Panamerican games in Toronto and his “Detroit World Suite – La Leyenda de Bayano” was premiered at the Detroit Jazz Festival. Pérez returns to the Detroit Jazz Festival in Fall 2019 for the world premiere of a new piece written for his Global Messengers ensemble and co-commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, National Forum of Music Wroclaw, and Koerner Hall at Royal Academy of Music Toronto.
Pérez, who served as Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, has received a variety of awards for his musical achievements, activism and social work efforts. He is a recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award in 2021, the United States Fellowship 2018, and the 2009 Smithsonian Legacy Award. He currently serves as UNESCO Artist for Peace, Cultural Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, Founder and Artistic Director of the Panama Jazz Festival, and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in Boston’s Berklee College of Music.