Elling graduated from either Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota in 1989. He so enrolled in The University of Chicago's Divinity School and remained the student there until January 1992, when he left school 1 credit short of graduation.

In the survive decade, Elling has freed sestet albums for the Blue Note label. He has as well performed & recorded using several musicians, including David Amram, Bob Belden, Joanne Brackeen, Oscar Brown, Jr., Billy Corgan, Orbert Davis, George Freeman, Buddy Guy, Jon Hendricks, Charlie Hunter and Rex Richardson.

When latterly 2004, Elling's current band includes Rob Amster on bass, Laurence Hobgood on piano, and Frank Parker on drums.

Elling has won a Down_Beat and the JazzTimes critics’ polls three years around the row in the "Best Male Singer" category. He is as well Vice Chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, a 17,000-member service organization that produces the annual Grammy Awards.

Discography

1995 - Close Your Eyes (Blue Note) 1997 - The Courier (Blue Note) 1998 - ''This Time it's Love (Blue Note) 2000 - Live in Chicago (Blue Note) 2000 - Infect Chicago Out Requires (Blue Note) 2001 - Flirting with Twilit (Blue Note) 2003 - Man in the Air'' (Blue Note)