#Obama blue slide park full

His 2010 Grammy for вЂњDedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman,вЂќ the plaques and tributes from the magazines DownBeat and Jazz Journal, the microphone from the club Blue Note Milano and a photo of him with the Obamas at the White House are all on a shelf high above the kitchen sink. The glasses are considerably more accessible than Mr. вЂњThey conjure up memories, conversations IвЂ™ve had with people in bars,вЂќ he said, picking up one such souvenir from Israel. EllingвЂ™s own nice evenings is the crammed closet shelf that holds beer glasses from Amsterdam, Munich, Oslo, Helsinki and myriad other cities around the world. вЂњHe looks so friendly, like heвЂ™s having a nice evening.вЂќ EllingвЂ™s albums a mixed-media piece by Tierney Malone, a Houston artist, that evokes an album cover and includes a reference to an Elling composition and a Steve Schapiro photograph of Frank Sinatra that is not in broad circulation. Particular favorites include sculptures by James Powditch, an Australian artist who often works with found objects and construction materials collages by the Chicago artist John Fraser, who did the cover art on one of Mr. вЂњWe wanted to have room for at least some of the things that inspire us and have stories behind them,вЂќ Mr. Elling put it, having them вЂњhostedвЂќ by family friends, the couple are surrounded by as many canvases and photographs as the apartment can accommodate. While resigned to leaving many pieces in storage or, as Mr. Wall space was, perhaps, an even bigger consideration than floor space the Ellings are collectors of contemporary art.

And because my wife is gorgeous and charming and my daughter is brilliant, they found out about this building down the street, where we now have a place.вЂќ вЂњMeanwhile, we were hanging out on the stoop of a neighborвЂ™s place,вЂќ he said. When the Ellings arrived in New York, they lived for a year in a tiny studio on West End Avenue and 105th before heading a few dozen blocks south to a one-bedroom rental in a building that hadnвЂ™t been renovated in decades. Elling, who performed at the first state dinner of the Obama presidency. вЂњHe told me, вЂYou need to unplug it and plug it in again.вЂ™ It was a challenge moving out of something with that much acreage and into a typical New York-size apartment,вЂќ said Mr. Obama himself handed over the keys, gave the couple a plant as a housewarming gift and admitted that the oven wasnвЂ™t all it should be and that another appliance was a bit temperamental. As soon as I realized it was theirs, I said, вЂIвЂ™m doing that!вЂ™В вЂќ вЂњI hadnвЂ™t put one and one together, but he and Michelle were within a block of where we were living, and it was a lovely apartment. Obama during his campaign for the state senate in the 1990s. Elling, who, coincidentally, had performed at several benefits for Mr. Senate, Jennifer was pregnant, and we needed an apartment with laundry facilities in the unit,вЂќ said Mr. вЂњJust at the time Barack was elected to the U.S. The Ellings knew they could never afford the kind of space they had in the apartment they still own in Hyde Park, a 2,300-square-foot condominium they bought in 2005 from a couple who were moving, Barack and Michelle Obama. Of course, moving to Manhattan involved a period of adjustment. She said, вЂWeвЂ™re going to live here, because youвЂ™re going to be on the road so much, and itвЂ™s got to be comfortable.вЂ™В вЂќ

His wife, a dancer turned artist, quickly got out a map and stuck a pin in the center of the Upper West Side, he said. (His default mode of address is вЂњman,вЂќ even when addressing friends of 9-year-old Luiza, and вЂњcatвЂќ seems to be his highest form of praise, especially when paired with вЂњcool.вЂќ) вЂњThe musicians in Chicago gave me my vocation, but New York calls to a jazz musician, for sure. Elling, a onetime divinity student whose connection to jazz sometimes seems of another era.

#Obama blue slide park full

вЂњIвЂ™m a jazz musician, and I really wanted to not miss an opportunity to have the full connection to jazz,вЂќ said Mr.