Elling

This is Elling’s first new release with Sony Music Masterworks since his 2016 recording. The Questions includes interpretations of songs by some of music’s most influential composers including Bob Dylan and Leonard Bernstein. Also included are arrangements of instrumental compositions with Elling’s original lyrics – A Secret in Three Views (adapted from Jaco Pastorius’ Three Views of a Secret), Carla Bley’s Endless Lawns (originally titled Lawns), and Joey Calderazzo’s The Enchantress (originally called The Lonely Swan). The album rounds off with Hoagy Carmichael’s classic Skylark. The album includes acclaimed guest performers such as Branford Marsalis (soprano and tenor saxophones), Joey Calderazzo (piano), Marquis Hill (flugelhorn) and Jeff “Tain” Watts (drums).

When his mother, who has sheltered him his entire 40 years, dies, Elling, a sensitive, would-be poet, is sent to live in a state institution. There he meets Kjell Bjarne, a gentle giant and female-obsessed virgin in his 40s. After two years, the men are released and provided with a state-funded apartment and stipend with the hope they will be able to live on their own.

The Questions includes interpretations of songs by some of music’s most influential composers including Bob Dylan and Leonard Bernstein. Also included are arrangements of instrumental compositions with Elling’s original lyrics – A Secret in Three Views (adapted from Jaco Pastorius’ Three Views of a Secret), Carla Bley’s Endless Lawns (originally titled Lawns), and Joey Calderazzo’s The Enchantress (originally called The Lonely Swan). The album rounds off with Hoagy Carmichael’s classic Skylark.