''Close Your Eyes'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Kurt Elling, released in 1995. At the

38th Grammy Awards The 38th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1996, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Alanis Morissette was the main recipient, being awarded four trophies, in ...

Elling was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for ''Close Your Eyes''.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album four stars, and said "Chicago vocalist Elling pushes the envelope, challenging listeners and his musicians with beat poetry, ranting, and his Mark Murphy-ish singing. There's quite a bit of dramatist/actor in Elling, although the romantic in him is also pretty prevalent...There's clearly more in store for Elling as he matures, but this is as auspicious a vocal jazz debut as the world has heard.a worthy statement from Elling, who shows yet again that vocal jazz can be more than just easy listening"

Track listing

# " Close Your Eyes" (

Bernice Petkere Bernice Petkere (August 11, 1901 – January 7, 2000) was an American songwriter. She was dubbed the "Queen of Tin Pan Alley" by Irving Berlin. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, she began performing in vaudeville as a child. "St ...

) - 6:06 # "Dolores Dream" ( Wayne Shorter, Kurt Elling) - 6:32 # "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" (Tommy Wolf, Fran Landesman) - 6:17 # "(Hide the) Salomé" (Elling, Laurence Hobgood) - 6:59 # "Married Blues" (Hobgood, Eric Hochberg, Paul Wertico,

Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider h ...

) - 1:29 # "Storyteller Experiencing Total Confusion" (Edward Petersen, Elling, Jim Heynen) - 6:15 # "Never Say Goodbye" (Elling, Hobgood) - 5:30 # "Those Clouds Are Heavy, You Dig?" (

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

, Paul Desmond, Elling) - 3:07 # "

Wait till You See Her "Wait till You See Her" (or, sung by a female, "Wait till You See Him") is a popular song. The music was written by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart. The song was published in 1942 and introduced in the musical play, ''By Jupiter'' ...

" (

Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most ...

Lorenz Hart Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include " Blue Moon", " The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", "Bewitched, Both ...

) - 3:57 # "Hurricane" (

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

, Elling) - 4:50 # "Now It Is Time That Gods Came Walking Out" (Hobgood, Hochberg, Wertico,

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

) - 2:03 # "Never Never Land" (

Jule Styne Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became s ...

, Betty Comden, Adolph Green) - 5:00 # "Remembering Veronica" (Elling, Hobgood) - 4:16

Personnel

* Kurt Elling - vocals, arrangements *

Laurence Hobgood Laurence Hobgood (born 1959) is a contemporary jazz piano virtuoso, composer, arranger, producer, lyricist and educator. Perhaps best known for his twenty-year collaboration with vocalist Kurt Elling, Hobgood has had a varied and dynamic career. ...

- piano (on all tracks except 8),

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(tracks 7, 12, 13), arrangements *Eric Hochberg - double bass (exc. 3, 6-9) *Rob Amster - double bass (6, 8), electric bass (7, 12) * Paul Wertico -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(exc. 3, 8, 9), percussion (12) * Von Freeman - tenor saxophone (4) *Edward Petersen - tenor saxophone (6, 10) *David Onderdonk - acoustic and electric guitar (7) ;Production *Laurence Hobgood - producer *Kurt Elling, Paul Wertico - co-producers *Lorenzo De' Medici - executive producer *Roger Heiss - recording and mixing engineer *Ed Bialach - assistant engineer *Brigid Pearson - design *Jimmy Katz, Bette Marshall - photography

References

{{Authority control Blue Note Records albums Kurt Elling albums 1995 debut albums