Sinne Eeg – Thomas Fonnesbaek
Danish Jazz singer Sinne Eeg releases her 7th album, a vocal-bass duet with Thomas Fonnesbaek on acoustic and electric bass. Her last album “Face The Music” has won the Jazz Vocal Album of the Year award from the Académie du Jazz in France.
Obviously, you can’t help but compare this new effort with the master Sheila Jordan, who perfected the vocal/bass configuration like nobody else did or has done ever since. Sinne recorded six songs from the Great American Songbook plus one original and one each from Lionel Hampton and Enrico Pieranunzi.
Her distinctive voice with a slight tendency towards the darker side and, if you will, her Scandinavian touch, make this a pretty easy listen. From Ann Ronell‘s “Willow Weep For Me” as the opener through the sympathetic-paced original “Taking It Slow” to Hampton’s “Evil Man Blues”, she delivers in all aspects and genres and convincingly tells the story.
I am not a big fan of scatting as you probably know by now so it is pleasing for me that she leaves this here at minimum space. Her warm voice really shines on the often heard “You Don’t Know What Love Is”. Thomas is a perfect partner here, not only accompanying the singer, but playing vital roles throughout as an equal player here, like on Gershwin’s “Summertime”.
He opens “Body And Soul” with subtle nuances on electric bass and Sinne’s light vibrato comes to the fore on this pretty elegant interpretation of the Edward Heyman/Johnny Green standard. Very nice indeed. Her phrasing of “my romance” during the repeat part of the verse “…it’s hard to conceive it that you turn away my romance” is really impressive.
There is more scatting on “Beautiful Love” and “Come Rain Or Shine” (sic) is done as a dapper blues. “Fellini’s Waltz” (spelled Walts on the cover) is a composition of Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi from his “Fellini Jazz” album which featured Charlie Haden, Paul Motion, Kenny Wheeler, and Chris Potter, and which was treated lyrically by Lorraine Feather, bringing this collection to a nicely vulnerable end.
Sinne tours the US from October 13th to 31st.
