2025.02.14 | Kurt Elling Celebrates Weather Report with Peter Erskine and The Yellowjackets

Presented in partnership with BluePort Jazz

Kurt Elling Celebrates Weather Report with Special Guest, Peter Erskine, & The Yellowjackets Friday, February 14, 2025 | 8PM Soka Performing Arts Center at Soka University of America

Kurt Elling with Peter Erskine & Yellowjackets

Featured Performers Kurt Elling

singer/songwriter

Joey Calderazzo piano, keyboards

Essiet Okon Essiet bass

Mike Moreno guitar

Peter Erskine drums

Yellowjackets Russell Ferrante

piano, synthesizers

Bob Mintzer

woodwinds, electronic wind instruments

Will Kennedy drums

Dane Alderson bass

This concert is presented in partnership with BluePort Jazz

In partnership with KCRW

ABOUT THE ARTISTS KURT ELLING singer/songwriter

Kurt Elling is a two-time GRAMMY® Award winner who is renowned for a signature, rich sound and an inventive and individualized body of work. With a one-of-a kind brand of contemporary beat lyricism and vocalese-writing ingenuity, the Chicago-based musician has extended the parameters of vocal jazz and enlarged its vocabulary.

The New York Times called Kurt Elling “the standout male jazz vocalist of our time.” The Guardian (UK) pronounced him “a kind of Sinatra with superpowers.” 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”.

Elling’s work with other leading figures in the jazz world has included important collaborations with Branford Marsalis, Danilo Perez, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter and Stefon Harris. He has also performed as a featured soloist with many of the world’s leading large ensembles, including the NY Philharmonic, The BBC Concert Symphony, The Count Basie Orchestra, The WDR Big Band and Orchestra, The Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, and The Village Vanguard Orchestra.

In addition to his work as a lyricist and composer for his own ensembles, Kurt Elling has co-created multidisciplinary 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 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

Kurt Elling with Peter Erskine & Yellowjackets 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.

PETER ERSKINE drums

Peter Erskine has played the drums since the age of four and is known for his versatility and love of working in different musical contexts. He appears on over 700 albums and film scores, and has won two GRAMMY® Awards, plus an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee School of Music (1992).

Fifty albums have been released under his own name or as coleader. He has played with the Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson Big Bands, Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Kenny Wheeler, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Brecker Brothers, The Yellowjackets, Pat Metheny and Gary Burton, John Scofield, et al, and has appeared as a soloist with the London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Frankfurt Radio, Scottish Chamber, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Royal Opera House, BBC Symphony, Oslo and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras.

Peter premièred the double percussion concerto Fractured Lines, composed by Mark-Anthony

Turnage, at the BBC Proms with Andrew Davis conducting, and has collaborated frequently with Sir Simon Rattle. He also premiered the Turnage opera Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House in London.

Turnage has composed a solo concerto for Peter titled Erskine, which received its world premiere in Bonn, Germany in 2013, with a US premiere at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic. Peter has been voted ‘Best Jazz Drummer of the Year’ ten times by the readers

ABOUT THE ARTISTS of Modern Drummer magazine and was elected into the magazine’s Hall of Fame in 2017.

Peter graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and studied at Indiana University under George Gaber.

In 1972 Peter commenced his pro career playing with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Four years later, he joined Maynard Ferguson before working with Jaco Pastorius in Weather Report and moving to Los Angeles.

Peter recorded five albums with the band. He won his first GRAMMY® Award with their album 8.30. During this time in LA, he also worked with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Chick Corea, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Farrell and George Cables. Peter then moved to New York City where he worked for five years with such musicians as Michael Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Eddie Gomez and Eliane Elias in Steps Ahead, John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Marc Johnson in the legendary group Bass Desires, the John Abercrombie Trio plus Bob Mintzer’s Big Band.

Peter’s lived in LA since 1987 but has been travelling around the world all of that time, working with such artists as Diana Krall, Joni Mitchell, Vince Mendoza, Steely Dan, plus European musicians Jan Garbarek, Kenny Wheeler, Palle Danielsson, John Taylor, Kate Bush, Nguyen Lê, Rita Marcotulli, the Norrbotten Big Band in Sweden plus Sadao Watanabe in Japan. He won his second GRAMMY® Award as the drummer of the WDR big band in Köln along with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Vince Mendoza and

others for the Some Skunk Funk album.

Meanwhile, Peter keeps busy in LA with such artists as Alan Pasqua, Bob Sheppard and Bob Mintzer as well as playing in studios. Films where Peter’s drumming can be heard include Memoirs of a Geisha, all three of the Austin Powers movies, The Secret Life of Pets, plus the title music of the Steven Spielberg/ John Williams collaboration, The Adventures of Tintin. He also played the drums on the Academy Awardwinning soundtrack for La La Land, and can be heard on the scores for The Orville, Let Them All Talk, Mank and Babylon.

Peter produces jazz recordings for his record label, Fuzzy Music, with 4 GRAMMY® nominations to its credit. Peter is also an active author with several books to his credit; titles include No Beethoven (Autobiography & Chronicle of Weather Report), Time Awareness for All Musicians, and his latest book (co-authored with Dave Black for Alfred Publishing), The Drummers’ Lifeline. He is also authoring a series of iOS Play-Along apps suitable for all instruments.

Peter is Professor of Practice and Director of Drumset Studies at the Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California.

Peter plays Tama Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks, Remo Drum Heads, Meinl Percussion, and uses Shure Microphones and Zoom digital recording devices.

PETER ERSKINE Peter will be inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall of Fame in November, 2022, during the Society’s annual PASIC conference in Indianapolis.

Elling’s work with other leading figures in the jazz world has included important collaborations with Branford Marsalis, Danilo Perez, Fred Hersch, Charlie Hunter and Stefon Harris. He has also performed as a featured soloist with many of the world’s leading large ensembles, including the NY Philharmonic, The BBC Concert Symphony, The Count Basie Orchestra, The WDR Big Band and Orchestra, The Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, and The Village Vanguard Orchestra.

In addition to his work as a lyricist and composer for his own ensembles, 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 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.

Kurt Elling with Peter Erskine & Yellowjackets YELLOWJACKETS Throughout their storied 43-year history, the Yellowjackets have recorded 26 albums, received 16 GRAMMY® nominations – won 2 – performed countless sold-out tours, and enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim and commercial success.

The Yellowjackets formed in the late 1970s as the backup band for guitarist Robben Ford. They recorded their first album together in 1980. Shortly after that recording, however, Ford decided to part ways and go in a different musical direction. As a result, the modern day Yellowjackets were formed — a trio with Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson. Since then, and with the addition of Bob Mintzer, the Yellowjackets have gained and maintained prominence as one of jazz’s most influential and loved groups.

Over the years the band has undergone numerous lineup changes. Never failing to rise to the inevitable challenges of adjustment, the Yellowjackets - Russell Ferrante, William Kennedy, Bob Mintzer have maintained an extraordinarily

high quality of musicianship that is the rival of many but a surprise to no one who knows and appreciates the band and their music.

The most recent addition to the band adds Australian bass player Dane Alderson in to the mix. With his exceptional rhythmic sensibility and natural disposition toward groove, Dane brings a new energy to the band and adds a youthful approach to the music.

The Yellowjackets album Raising Our Voice was released in Fall 2018 and features special guest vocalist Luciana Souza. Their album Jackets XL with the WDR Big Band was nominated for a Grammy® in 2021.

Their latest album Parallel Motion (2022) also received a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and is a true testament to the longevity and resilience of a band who debuted over 40 years ago. Consistently reinventing themselves through elevated instrumentation in their signature electro-acoustic soundscape, the current lineup showcases a collective at their prime.

BluePort Jazz

Dr. Jim Merod - Jazz Monsters Curator Dr. Jim Merod is a professor of American Literature at Soka University and has a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Merod has been heavily involved in the jazz scene for more than 20 years as a recording and mastering engineer, working with legendary jazz and blues musicians such as Tito Puente, Joe Lovano, Tommy Flanagan, Sarah Vaughan, Eddie Palmieri, Wynton Marsalis, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Tolu, Los Lobos, Ozomatli, and Luciana Souza. Merod helps cultivate the culture of jazz at SUA through BluePort Jazz’s partnership with Soka Performing Arts Center.

Merod’s contribution to the jazz world is not limited to his engineering work. He is also the co-author of legendary composer-saxophonist Benny Golson’s autobiography. Through his founding of BluePort Sound recording studio and BluePort Jazz record label, Merod has established himself as an important figure in the jazz community. His dedication to jazz has helped make Elario’s Jazz Club, in La Jolla, California, one of the premier jazz venues on the west coast.

Aside from his work in the music industry, Merod has also been a teacher, critic, and writer. He attributes his intellectual growth to his influential teachers at Princeton, Middlebury College, and Stanford,

such as R. P. Blackmur, Walter Kaufman, William Arrowsmith, Harold Bloom, David Halliburton, Bliss Carnochan, and his friend and colleague at Cornell, A. R. Ammons.

With his vast experience in both academia and the music industry, Jim Merod has left a remarkable impact on the world of jazz and is highly respected for his contributions to the genre.

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SOKA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TICKETS & INFORMATION HERE

soka.edu/pac tickets@soka.edu 949-480-4278

CONCESSIONS

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Concessions provided

by FPG Events

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SOKA UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA BOARD OF TRUSTEES Soka Performing Arts Center resides on the beautiful campus of Soka University of America.

We thank the SUA Board of Trustees and the SUA Leadership Council for all of their support.

SUA BOARD OF TRUSTEES Stephen S. Dunham, JD | CHAIR Vice President and General Counsel Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University | Baltimore, Maryland Tariq Hasan, PhD | VICE CHAIR Chief Executive Officer, SGI-USA | New York, New York Andrea Bartoli, PhD President, Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue | New York, New York Matilda Buck Benefactor | Los Angeles, California Lawrence E. Carter, Sr, PhD, DD, DH, DRS Dean, Professor of Religion, College Archivist and Curator, Morehouse College | Atlanta, Georgia Andy Firoved CEO, HOTB Software | Irvine, California Jason Goulah, PhD Professor of Bilingual-Bicultural Education and Director, Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education, Director of Programs in Bilingual-Bicultural Education, World Language Education, and Value-Creating Education for Global Citizenship, College of Education, DePaul University | Chicago, Illinois Clothilde V. Hewlett, JD Commissioner of Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, State of California | San Francisco, California

Karen Lewis, PhD Sondheimer Professor of International Finance and Co-Director, Weiss Center for International Financial Research, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Luis Nieves Founder, Chairman Emeritus AUL Corp, Benefactor | Napa, California Isabel Nuñez, PhD, MPhil, JD Professor of Educational Studies, Dean of School of Education, Purdue University Fort Wayne | Fort Wayne, Indiana Gene Marie O’Connell, RN, MS Health Care Consultant, Associate Clinical Professor, University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing | Corte Madera, California Adin Strauss General Director, Soka Gakkai International-USA | Santa Monica, California Yoshiki Tanigawa Benefactor, Soka Gakkai | Tokyo, Japan Gregg S. Wolpert Co-president, The Stahl Organization | New York, New York Edward M. Feasel, PhD President, Soka University of America (ex-officio member) | Aliso Viejo, California

SOKA UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA BOARD OF TRUSTEES Soka Performing Arts Center resides on the beautiful campus of Soka University of America.

We thank the SUA Board of Trustees and the SUA Leadership Council for all of their support.

SUA BOARD OF TRUSTEES Stephen S. Dunham, JD | CHAIR Vice President and General Counsel Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University | Baltimore, Maryland Tariq Hasan, PhD | VICE CHAIR Chief Executive Officer, SGI-USA | New York, New York Andrea Bartoli, PhD President, Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue | New York, New York Matilda Buck Benefactor | Los Angeles, California Lawrence E. Carter, Sr, PhD, DD, DH, DRS Dean, Professor of Religion, College Archivist and Curator, Morehouse College | Atlanta, Georgia Andy Firoved CEO, HOTB Software | Irvine, California Jason Goulah, PhD Professor of Bilingual-Bicultural Education and Director, Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education, Director of Programs in Bilingual-Bicultural Education, World Language Education, and Value-Creating Education for Global Citizenship, College of Education, DePaul University | Chicago, Illinois Clothilde V. Hewlett, JD Commissioner of Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, State of California | San Francisco, California

Karen Lewis, PhD Sondheimer Professor of International Finance and Co-Director, Weiss Center for International Financial Research, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Luis Nieves Founder, Chairman Emeritus AUL Corp, Benefactor | Napa, California Isabel Nuñez, PhD, MPhil, JD Professor of Educational Studies, Dean of School of Education, Purdue University Fort Wayne | Fort Wayne, Indiana Gene Marie O’Connell, RN, MS Health Care Consultant, Associate Clinical Professor, University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing | Corte Madera, California Adin Strauss General Director, Soka Gakkai International-USA | Santa Monica, California Yoshiki Tanigawa Benefactor, Soka Gakkai | Tokyo, Japan Gregg S. Wolpert Co-president, The Stahl Organization | New York, New York Edward M. Feasel, PhD President, Soka University of America (ex-officio member) | Aliso Viejo, California