Doing double duty
Grammy nominee and Kurt Elling sideman Laurence Hobgood follows his own muse at Café Metropol
By Bliss 01/28/2010
Talk about being undersung. Grammy-nominated pianist Laurence Hobgood has been staying in lively step with jazz star Kurt Elling’s daring flights of improvised vocal fancy since the early ’90s, yet, outside the hothouse world of Downbeat-reading jazzbos and critics, his name still begets furrowed brows of perplexity more often than recognition.
Elling is one of only a handful of jazz artists to become widely known names over the past decade, and Hobgood, who has been Elling’s most potent musical weapon since before his 1995 debut “Close Your Eyes” was even recorded, has been with him every step of the way. He has plied the keyboards on and arranged and co-produced each of Elling’s eight albums — all of them Grammy-nominated.
The 50-year-old Hobgood will be serving double duty when he comes to town this week. “Dedicated to You” will be in contention for the Best Jazz Vocal Album award at Sunday’s Grammy Awards ceremony, and Hobgood is himself a nominee, albeit in one of the less sexy categories: Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist, for his arrangement of the standard “Dedicated to You” on the “Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman” album. (He has been nominated once before, for his arrangements for Elling’s 2001 album “Flirting With Twilight.”)
Happily for jazz aficionados, Grammy glamour isn’t all that’s bringing Hobgood to Los Angeles. He’ll also be sharing his daunting improvisational talents onstage; he has three shows booked at Café Metropol over the next two weeks.
Hopefully his setlists will draw substantially from his self-produced “When the Heart Dances.” The CD, which also showcases double bassist Charlie Haden, was greeted by rapturous reviews when it was released by Naim in August. In Hobgood’s hands, the Doris Day classic “Que Sera Sera” becomes a melancholy meditation, while the standards “Stairway to the Stars” and “Daydream” — two of three tracks adorned by Elling’s creamy baritone — take their time exploring and frequently extending the curves of each melodic phrase. Hobgood’s fearsome technical facility is on display throughout, but the album’s quiet emotional core is most accessible on numbers like “New Orleans,” “Why Did I Choose You?” and the solo instrumental “Sanctuary.” Fans of serious jazz piano would do well to mark their calendars and reserve tickets early.
The Laurence Hobgood Trio plays Cafe Metropol, 923 E. Third St., downtown LA, 8-10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, Friday, Feb. 5, and Saturday, Feb. 6; $20 Jan. 29, $15 Feb. 5 & 6. Call (213) 613-1537 for details. www.laurencehobgood.com.
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