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This certainly has been a successful summer for Kurt Elling. The Chicago-based vocalist topped the jazz chart with “Dedicated to You,” a celebration of the John Coltrane-Johnny Hartman collaborations. There has been a West Coast tour, festival performances and two high-profile New York gigs.
At Elling’s side for much of the summer has been Laurence Hobgood, the pianist-composer who arranged “Dedicated to You.” Asked about their collaboration here in July, Elling made it clear that Hobgood is an equal partner in creating his sound. “He always thinks orchestrally and is full half of any recording or concert project we have done.”
Hobgood has long pursued a recording career of his own and his latest album, “When the Heart Dances,” was released last week on the Naim Jazz label. For those who know Hobgood only as Elling’s self-described “right-hand guy,” the disc is sure to prove something of a revelation, the 11 tracks clearly demonstrating the pianist’s deft touch and creative vision. The meat of the album finds Hobgood performing with bassist Charlie Haden; Elling is on hand to sing “First Song,” “Stairway to the Stars” and “Daydream.” That said, the most impressive numbers may well be the solo piano pieces “Sanctuary” and “Leatherwood.”
As Hobgood makes clear in the following interview, he is quite content with his place in jazz – working closely with Elling and pursuing a solo career on his own terms.
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Question: This may seem an obvious place to start but walk us through the genesis of this project. When and where did you first meet Charlie Haden and how did you two decide to collaborate on "When the Heart Dances"?
Hobgood: I actually first met Charlie in 1995 somewhere in Europe (I think it was Nice, as in France). Over time, I think he started to dig Kurt's thing and what we were getting into. I remember he came to hear us once at the Jazz Bakery in L.A.
But the real connection that ultimately helped bring this to fruition was that Charlie's been friends with Ken Christianson for probably more than 30 years now. Ken, as you may know, is the engineer specializing in his own evolved audiophile recording process who records many of the records put out by Naim and has recorded all the discs I've done for them. It's not widely known but Charlie's already done a number of discs for Naim over the last 15 years or so – with Quartet West, with Chris Anderson, Jon Taylor, Mike Melvoin.
That's pretty much all through the connection with Ken. So Ken definitely helped make it happen, but I think that Charlie was familiar enough with my work on Kurt's records to not need his arm twisted too much. At least, I hope not.
Question: As great as Charlie and Kurt are, I am particularly taken with the solo pieces, with "Sanctuary" being my favorite. When it comes to composing, do you sense instantly that such tracks should be solo works or is that a decision that takes shape in the studio? Is there something inherent in the composition of such pieces that demands they be recorded as a solo?
Hobgood: Not necessarily "demands," but there are certain considerations which definitely recommend certain pieces for solo treatment: Registral span of both melody and root (bass) function, complexity/length of form, rhythmic issues. Both "Sanctuary" and "Leatherwood" meet those criteria easily, which is not to say that either is necessarily automatically restricted to solo treatment. I still want to do a trio version of "Sanctuary" and actually did a trio version of "Leatherwood" once which never got released.
For me, the real issue here was that I'd gotten to know these pieces well enough (i.e. had had enough years with them) that I could be comfortable improvising in a fairly expansive style without too much risk of painting myself into corners with no way to get out.
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Question: I had the chance to see the Coltrane-Hartman set last year at the Monterey Jazz Festival and interviewed Kurt when you performed it last month in Northern California. He said at the time that the live album "is still more proof that LH needs and deserves to have more opportunities to be heard as an arranger and in ever-larger settings." Do you feel that you that way? Do you consider yourself overlooked by the jazz establishment/audience?
Hobgood: On one hand, I suppose that, in a specific sense, I sometimes feel a little bit that way because, realistically, being Kurt's "right-hand guy,” a lot of what I do is naturally going to stay under the radar. But I feel like, over the years, we've built a pretty appreciable repertoire which includes a lot of – if I'm permitted to say so – pretty cool arranging and compositional work of mine which, considered as one "book" if you will, is something I'm very proud of on a number of levels.
One the other hand, the truth is I've never been the ultra-ambitious guy who's obsessively composing, constantly has a bunch of irons in the fire in terms of exploring multiple avenues for getting their name out there, sending CDs to labels, maintaining a deep e-mail list – all of that "biz" stuff you have to do to really establish yourself. It's just not how I've chosen to live my life. Which is fine, but I'd be foolish to expect undue attention to result from that paradigm. And I'm not in a hurry.
By the way, the barometer for this issue, as far as I'm concerned, is gauged by how many other singers or instrumentalists seek me out for arrangements and/or to play with them. If you go by that measurement, hardly anybody knows who I am at all. (cue laughter…)
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