Things seem to be going well in Chicago as evidenced by this lovely write-up by Neil Tesser from the Chicago Jazz Music Examiner, “A U.S. premiere: Kurt Elling in Chicago, with a little Danish on the side.” Neil says in the piece, ”These days, Klüvers Big Band features a number of arrangements by Nicholas Urie, an American-born wünderkind arranger, who at the age of 26 has released two ambitious and uncompromising albums of original compositions while penning arrangements for a slew of other artists.” If you’d like to see the show in NYC, below is the info from the New York Times.

On a personal note, I am really excited that the band is playing in New York. I don’t get to go to many gigs where my arrangements are being performed (travel economics) and to have this wonderful band that I love working with in town, is just, well, special. I feel like I know everyone in the band already, despite my never having had the opportunity to shake their hands. It will be wonderful putting a face to a line on score paper. Very excited, indeed.

★ Kurt Elling, With the Klüvers Big Band (Tuesday through Oct. 30) On “The Gate,” released on Concord this year, the mercurial jazz singer Kurt Elling seeks out a meditative mood, without forsaking the imperatives of a searcher. Here he draws partly from the album with an estimable big band from Denmark, making its New York debut, and a succession of guests, beginning with the alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón (Tuesday), the tenor saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin (Wednesday) and the tenor and soprano saxophonist Ravi Coltrane (Thursday). At 8:30 and 11 p.m., Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080, birdlandjazz.com; $40 cover, with a $10 minimum. (Chinen)