Passion World, from vocalist Kurt Elling, lives up to its title on both counts. It is indeed his most worldly album to date, as Elling casts his net far and wide, from Brazil to Ireland, Germany to Spain, Scotland to Cuba to Iceland. And it is indeed all about ‘passions’ – the forces that shake our souls. As one of the busiest touring jazz artists, Elling has encountered these passions around the world; he has observed how the same depth of feeling is shaped in different ways by each unique culture through which it is filtered. The result is an album vibrant with diversity and variety, and at the same time a singular celebration of what makes us all human. In terms of its conceptual scope and its breadth of influences, Passion World is the most ambitious project yet from the preeminent male vocalist in jazz.