MInneapolis Star Tribune
February 21st, 2004

The week in music: Critics' picks for Feb. 20-26
Published February 20, 2004SP

JAZZ

The best young male jazz singer to emerge since Kurt Elling, Tuey Connell has a curious past. A bluegrass banjo phenom who mostly plays guitar these days, he grew up on a Connecticut vineyard but now lives in Chicago and has a New York-based band. Go figure. A writer for the trade publication Show Business said Connell's effortlessly swinging vocals were "equal parts Johnny Hartman and Kenny Rankin" -- unlikely, yet true. He makes his Minnesota debut with bassist Neal Miner and drummer Joe Strasser. (9 p.m. Mon. & Wed., Rossi's Blue Star Room, 80 S. 9th St., Mpls. $5. 612-312-2880.)

- Tom Surowicz

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