Praises have been heaped on singer Kurt Elling’s head. The New York Times dubbed him "the standout male jazz vocalist of our time." The United Kingdom’s Jazz Review ventured that he "may be the greatest male jazz singer of all time." He’s been voted Male Vocalist of the Year in the DownBeat Critics’ Poll nine years straight and often tops the JazzTimes readers’ poll.

Elling has an amazing voice — a rich, resonant four-octave baritone — and he knows how to use it, leaping intervals and landing them sure-footed, dancing along the high wire of scat singing, infusing words with emotion and hipster wit. His songbook includes standards, originals and tunes for which he has written his own complex, literate lyrics, in the tradition of vocalese pioneered by Jon Hendricks, Eddie Jefferson and Mark Murphy.

Here’s a video from the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival. Elling’s version of "My Foolish Heart" incorporates a poem by an 8th-century Sufi mystic.

On Friday (Feb. 20), Elling brings his latest project to the Ted Mann Concert Hall as part of the Northrop Jazz Season. "Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings Coltrane/Hartman" is his audacious re-imagining of a jazz masterpiece, "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman," an album of six romantic ballads recorded in 1963 and now considered a desert island disc.

Daring, different, big-sigh romantic
Elling has been touring with this project since September 2008. I heard the second outing, at last year’s Monterey Jazz Festival. He sang the songs from the original album (including "You Are Too Beautiful" and Billy Strayhorn’s "Lush Life") and others from his own songbook: "All or Nothing at All," "What’s New," "Bessie’s Blues."

Tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts put his spin on Coltrane’s role. Elling’s trio — pianist Laurence Hobgood, bassist Clark Sommers, drummer Ulysses Owens — was joined by Ethel, an iconoclastic string quartet (seen here last October at the Southern Theater). It was daring, it was different, and it was big-sigh romantic. Ethel added texture and dimension without turning the program into Kurt-with-strings.

"Dedicated to You" has been consistently well reviewed from California ("in a jazz world that is constantly wrapping itself around tribute concepts, this one is exceptional") to London ("the performance is as flawless as the original collaboration"). If you’re a jazz fan, if you enjoy jazz vocalists, if you love the timeless old recordings, this is for you. Consider it a bonus Valentine’s Day.

"Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings Coltrane/Hartman" featuring Ernie Watts, ETHEL, and the Laurence Hobgood Trio. Friday, Feb. 20, 8 p.m., Ted Mann Concert Hall, University of Minnesota, West Bank. Tickets: $40, $10 U of M students (limited quantity). Box office: 612-624-2345.

Fun facts about Kurt Elling
He graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1989. He and his family live in a Chicago condominium once owned by Barack and Michelle Obama. He hasn’t yet won a Grammy but he has been nominated eight times. Maybe the ninth time will be the charm; "Dedicated to You" was recorded live last month in New York City.

Tune in tonight (Thursday, Feb. 19) to Janis Lane-Ewart’s "The Collective Eye" radio program on KFAI (90.3 FM in Minneapolis, 106.7 FM in St. Paul). Janis and I will interview Kurt starting at 10:30 p.m. Then, in keeping with KFAI’s Black History Month theme, we’ll spin some of his interpretations of songs and melodies by African-American jazz greats including Betty Carter, Dexter Gordon and McCoy Tyner.