Staying in Touch (Stunt Records)
Sinne Eeg & Thomas Fonnesbæk
Released July 9, 2021
New York City Record Best Vocal Releases of 2021
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_njNJWI6JJYeEiQrUg6YFH7rdqZ5NrNoh4
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/4Gl8Sg5Ik5MoNbaUo24fbL?si=UCPmaZUBQNCDEdqZSli7Yg
About:
This is not your typical jazz album and these artists are no ordinary people. Only one singer and one bassist could make this extraordinary album shine the way it does. But as soon as you hear the first notes, you might begin to wonder why listeners are so rarely presented with a vocal/bass duo of this caliber. In this music, there’s room to breathe fresh air and drink in the refreshing creativity and spontaneity of both celebrated headliners.
Not many recordings in the history of jazz consist of this unique musical instrumentation. Some will be familiar with the collaborations of Sheila Jordan and bassists Steve Swallow, Harvie Swartz, and Cameron Brown – as well as Jordan’s work with Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen on SHEILA in 1978. When Sinne Eeg and Thomas Fonnesbæk joined that very short list with their first album in 2015, reviewers in Denmark and around the world went digging deep into their thesauruses for glowing superlatives, and EEG-FONNESBÆK ended up taking home the Danish Music Award for Best Vocal Jazz Release that year. This is a little advanced warning to critics and reviewers to dust off their dictionaries and start synching with their synonyms, because the arrival of the duo’s sequel album is upon us, entitled STAYING IN TOUCH.
Fortunately for listeners, the two Danish stars kept their collaboration alive and over the years since 2015 they have achieved an even greater responsiveness to each other, down to the smallest microscopic musical details. When a musical surplus of both the technical and tasteful is as apparent as here, it’s a wonder to behold. With their stripped-down approach to the material, their eminent interplay, and their acute sonic-self-awareness, they bring out the best in each other. The structural limitation established in this specific duo format is a challenge that also allows the duo a special musical freedom. They each possess presence and responsiveness, and their approach to the classic material makes it as fresh and articulate as if the songs were modern originals. It’s a listening experience further elevated by the presence of a string quartet on three tracks.
Sinne says she has always loved singing duo with bassists. “I’ve actually done it since my first CD from 2003, and I always do it at my live concerts. It’s just a sound I really like. Over the years, Thomas and I have worked together, on and off. He’s just an incredible musician and he and I communicate really well together, musically. I like the sound of the bass and the voice, and he is so challenging that I get better every time I sing with him.”
Eeg is a jazz singer who constantly seeks to challenge and better herself. It takes courage to perform an entire evening or fill an entire album with “just” a bassist. She embraces the sound of the acoustic stringed instrument in much the same way as Thomas warmly and openly caters to her voice, and together they create and float without any need for a drummer as a roleplaying timekeeper or a pianist to spell out harmonies. Nothing is missed with these two monster musicians at the tops of their respective games.
The Danish jazz bass tradition is famous for good reason, and remains a calling card of the Kingdom out in the greater jazz world. One of the more notable current stars is Thomas Fonnesbæk, who plays with an uninhibited technical flow, a melodic vein, and an exquisitely beautiful tone. Sinne and Thomas listen intensely to each other, inspiring themselves and the other to take chances – spawning spontaneity, communication, and empathy… the essence of jazz itself.
Track Listing:
1. Spring Waltz (Helle Hansen / Thomas Fonnesbæk) 03:26
2. Too Close for Comfort (George Weiss / Jerry Bock / Larry Holofcener) 04:14
3. Orphans (Helle Hansen / Thomas Fonnesbæk) 05:54
4. Take Five (Lola Brubeck / Paul Desmond) 03:46
5. The Streets of Berlin (Sinne Eeg) 04:49
6. The Long and Winding Road (John Lennon / Paul McCartney) 04:14
7. How Deep is the Ocean? (Irving Berlin) 04:53
8. Just One of Those Things 01:38
9. Round Midnight (Bernie Hanighen / Jon Hendricks / Thelonious Monk) 07:45
10. Those Who Were (Lisa Freeman / Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen) 06:15
11. The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines (Charles Mingus / Joni Mitchell) 02:43
Personnel:
Sinne Eeg:
vocals
Thomas Fonnesbæk: bass
+
Live Strings (3, 5 & 10): Andrea Gyarfas Brahe (violin); Karen Johanne Pedersen (violin)
Deanna Said (viola); Live Johansson (cello); Jesper Riis (string arrangements)
Recorded at MillFactory
Produced by Sinne Eeg and Thomas Fonnesbæk
Executive-Producer: Peter Littauer, Søren Friis
Recorded and Edited by Boe Larsen
Mixed by August Wanngren
Photography by Stephen Freiheit
Artwork by Janne Hiort
Review:
To my shame, I have to admit that this is my first encounter with Danish singer Sinne Eeg. Where her most recent album was with the mighty Danish Radio Big Band apparently, here it’s just fellow Dane, bassist Thomas Fonnesbæk, and her, in a repeat of their 2015 duo encounter.
Eeg is a genuine jazz singer, quite capable of daring shifts and sure-footed in her vocal adventures. Her control and intonation are perfect, her sound varying from the quite wistful on ‘The Long and Winding Road’, taken slowly, to the resolutely upbeat on ‘Too Close For Comfort’, exultant and lively, her vocal marked by a ‘coolly lustrous tonality’ in the words of our own John Fordham. Seemingly unphased by the absence of any chorded support, she jousts with the bassist, alert or poised, leaning back on his time concept on ‘How Deep Is The Ocean’. She can scat but avoids histrionics, only hinting at Sarah Vaughan’s daring, deploying swing when she wants, happy to bed down with the strings [on three tracks] or to romp through a very short version of ‘Just One of Those Things’ or to give ‘Round Midnight’ a subtle reading, before going full tilt at Mingus’ ‘The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines’. Wow!
Fonnesbæk is seen by many locals as the successor to the much-vaunted NHØP and is by no means the junior partner here, deserving and receiving equal billing, his facility, sound, timing and quick wit helping to make this one of the most compelling vocal albums of this or any year, if not the decade.
Peter Vacher (Jazzwise)
