A 2010 Grammy Award winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album (Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman), Kurt Elling has spent the last 11 consecutive years at the top of the DownBeat Critics poll and the last 4 consecutive years topping the JazzTimes Readers' poll. "Since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic, or interesting as Kurt Elling," declared the Washington Post. "With his soaring vocal flights, his edgy lyrics and sense of being on a musical mission, he has come to embody the creative spirit in jazz." Elling makes his first appearance at The Shedd on tour in support of his newest recording, due to be released in February 2011, featuring compositions by Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, Earth Wind and Fire, and Stevie Wonder.