CD Review: Sinne Eeg & The Danish Radio Big Band – We've Just Begun

(By Ann Alex)

Sinne Eeg is a bona fide jazz singer in her native Denmark and has also performed throughout Europe and the USA. This, her ninth album, shows her to be a talented singer with a darkish alluring voice and an inherent sense of swing. Her self-titled, 2003 debut album, preceded more critically acclaimed work in 2007 and 2008.

Eeg’s style and tone reminds me of our own Ruth Lambert, which shows how lucky we are to have such good women singers on our doorstep. Four standards, a tune from a Danish film, and five tracks where Ms Eeg is the composer and/or lyricist offer an appealing and varied approach.

We are straight in with the title track, a fast snappy love song, a tenor solo, and a neat duet of call and response between piano and voice. The other originals are, Like A Song, a slower jazz waltz with a prominent bass contribution; Those Ordinary Things, a touching love song about how the lover misses the ordinary things when her partner has left her; Samba em Comum has both Portuguese and English lyrics, fine guitar and lively clonky-sounding percussion. The CD is skilfully rounded off with an uplifting gospel-tinged song of hope and optimism, To a New Day, which includes a skilled trumpet solo.

Two of the standards are new to me. We have Talking To Myself - a snappy song with walking bass accompaniment - Detour Ahead, with a virtuosic flute solo from Nicolai Schultz and Comes Love, a real swinger with scat. I have problems with  My Favorite Things. I don't know how it entered the jazz repertoire with those irritating words, something to do with Coltrane I guess. Thank goodness that Ms Eeg's performance with the band just about saves the song, with a spirited rendering of the part about the dog biting, a fast bass line and a drum solo. The Danish film tune is Hvorfor Er Lykken Sa Lunefuld, a slinky swing on the theme of the brevity of joy, sung in Danish.

The band themselves do a more than competent job with many short solos from the horns. Several of the tracks begin with bass and light drum accompaniment, with the band joining the mix on the second chorus. The bass playing is, not only interesting, but also exceptional.

I must confess to a prejudice towards this album in view of my Danish ancestry (Danish great grandfather) so I have taken delight in listing the names of the band, trying to convince myself that I speak the language, which I don't.

Ann Alex

The CD was available to the world from February 21. See www.sinnemusic.com

Sinne Eeg (vocals/composer/arranger); Nikolai Bogelund (conductor) Dave Vreuls, Thomas Kjaergaard, Mads la Cour, Gerard Presencer,  Lars Vissing (trumpets); Peter Dahlgren, Vincent Nilsson, Kevin Christensen, Annette Saxe, Jakob Munck  (trombones); Peter Fuglsang, Nicolai Schultz, Hans Ulrik, Anders Banke, Frederick Menzies, Anders Gaardmand, Jan Harbeck (saxes); Henrik Gunde (piano); Per Gade (guitar); Kaspar Vadsholt (bass); Seren Frost (drums).

Guest Musicians on 1 track: Rune Harder Olesen, Luis Conte (percussion); Sille Gronberg, Birgitte Soojin, Ninna Milner-Juel, Maja Hanghoj, Alice Carreri (backing vocals).