Dreams (ArtistShare)
Sinne Eeg
Released September 8, 2017
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kGby8j68ZqZrP_KRzMrB5UWgxysQiXOH8
Spotify:
About:
For years I have made an effort to express myself with absolute creative freedom. I have plunged deep into my own creative world, steeped in a dark Nordic tone with melodic color. Growing up in Denmark, I’ve followed this artistic perspective in hope to gain insight into my own creative vision. With my longtime collaborator, Jacob Christoffersen, I’ve discovered new territory. Now I have the chance to fully realize my vision with three incredible musicians, Joey Baron, Scott Colley, and Larry Koonse. Their creative contribution will help me to bring my musical domain to life.
I’ve enjoyed some amazing opportunities in my home country. Last year I had the chance to sing for the three daughters of Denmark’s Queen Ingrid, Her Majesty Queen Margrete, Her Royal Highness Princess Benedikte, and Her Majesty Quenn Anne-Marie. In 2014, I received a Danish Music Award (Denmark’s Grammy) for my album, Face the Music. Now, I am looking forward to sharing what inspires me the most, what influences me, and how I will be bringing my creative world to you. As the project progresses, you will be able to follow my entire creative process from start to finish through videos, audio clips, photos, downloads and more.
Track Listing:
1. The Bitter End 4:42
2. Head Over High Heels 4:59
3. Dreams 5:55
4. What Is This Thing Called Love 4:59
5. Time To Go 4:31
6. Aleppo 4:49
7. Love Song 3:38
8. Falling In Love With Love 5:20
9. Anything Goes 3:25
Personnel:
Sinne Eeg: vocals
Jacob Christoffersen: piano
Larry Koonse: guitar
Joey Baron: drums
Scott Colley: bass
Jenny Nilsson, Lasse Nilsson, Warny Mandrup: additional vocals
Recorded January 12th and 13th, 2017, at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY, by Mike Marciano
Vocals produced by Boe Larsen, at Millfactory Studios, Copenhagen
Mixed and Mastered by Lasse Nilsson
Photography by Stephen Freiheit
Artwork by Michael Groenlund, MGart
Produced by Sinne Eeg
Review:
“Sinne Eeg’s popularity both within and outside of her native Denmark has been on the rise the last 10 years. She won the Danish equivalent of the Grammy four times for Best Vocal Jazz Album and has a strong following in Asia and Europe. She’s also toured the U.S. extensively but remains less well known here—this is about to change with Dreams.
The new album is heavily weighted toward Eeg’s originals, each one a tight, modern jazz composition that speaks not only to Eeg’s broad knowledge of American jazz but also to her global appeal as a singer. For instance, on opening track “The Bitter End”, a drawn-out, full-throated blues, Eeg shows off R&B chops any pop singer would covet; on “Aleppo”, her awareness-raising ode to the Syrian refugees, she uses open space and subdued instrumentation to infuse the jazz ballad with heartbreak and mournfulness; and on the title track, she positions her smooth vocalese against crisp instrumental lines at a bright tempo, engaging neatly and cleanly with a band of pianist Jacob Christoffersen, guitarist Larry Koonse, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Baron.
By contrast, Eeg adopts a straight ahead approach to standards. Her effortless solos on tunes like Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love”, Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart’s “Falling In Love With Love” and Gene DePaul-Patricia Johnston-Don Raye’s “I’ll Remember April” demonstrate a deep understanding of traditional vocal jazz; the swing, the trilled phrases, the restrained vibrato and the time-tested scat syllables all speak to Eeg’s mastery of the art form. What’s intriguing is that this traditional singer coexists so peaceably with the modern singer/songwriter. This ability to move in and out of different jazz vocabularies—rare even among U.S. vocalists—serves to set Eeg apart from other international jazz singers. After nine albums as a leader in Scandinavia, Eeg was invited to record Dreams on the U.S.-based fundraising label ArtistShare, thus joining the ranks of such world-renowned musicians as Maria Schneider, Danilo Pérez and Jane Ira Bloom. Good company.
Suzanne Lorge (NYC Jazz Record)
