Kurt Elling and SuperBlue prime their second disc with ‘Guilty Pleasures’ EP

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist and Chicago native Kurt Eiling emerged with a new supergroup, consisting of guitarist Charlie Hunter and special guest drummer Nate Smith, both regarded as world-leading players in their own right. 

The group, dubbed SuperBlue, proceed to record its first disc, which was met with critical acclaim in 2021. Limited tour dates followed, and now SuperBlue has produced a six-track EP, titled “Guilty Pleasures,” ahead of its second album release this fall. 

Bursting with Elling’s “trademark charisma, energy and showmanship,” “Guilty Pleasures” offers high-octane covers of blues-funk-rock standards such as Al Jarreau’s “Boogie Down,” AC/DC’s “Dirty Deals Done Dirt Cheap,” the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ “Wrap It Up” and Eddie Money’s “Baby Hold On,” along with an original by Nate Smith.

Released by Edition Records in February, “Guilty Pleasures” was recorded last summer and fall at Palisade Studios in Chicago and was produced by Elling, Hunter and Smith. Elling and company will tour behind th EP this spring, but before he embarks on those dates, he will appear with the 65th anniversary celebration of the Monterey Jazz Festival, in a Symphony Center Presents Jazz concert April 14. Joining Elling for that concert will be pianist Christian Sands, vocalist Veronica Swift, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn.