HR Big Band feat. Cæcilie Norby live in Bad Hersfeld 2010

Photo © ACT / Isak Hoffmeyer

Cæcilie Norby | voc
Örjan Fahlström | cond
HR Big Band:
Frank Wellert, Thomas Vogel, Martin Auer, Axel Schlosser | tp
Günter Bollmann, Peter Feil, Christian Jaksjø | tb
Manfred Honetschläger | bass-tb
Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn, Oliver Leicht | as
Tony Lakatos, Julian Argüelles | ts; Rainer Heute | bs
Martin Scales | g;  Peter Reiter | p; Thomas Heidepriem | b; Jean Paul Höchstädter | dr

recorded live at  Stadthalle Bad Hersfeld, October 10, 2010 & Jazztival Bühl, October 8, 2010

1. Girl Talk (Neal Hefti / Bobby Troup)
Soloist: Tony Lakatos, ts
2. My Man (Cæcilie Norby)
Soloists: Martin Scales, gt; Rainer Heute, bs; Peter Reiter, p
3. Just One Of Those Things (Cole Porter)
Soloist: Jean Paul Höchstädter, dr
4. First Conversation (Cæcilie Norby)
Soloist: Tony Lakatos, ts
5. Man's Got Soul (Curtis Mayfield)
Soloists: Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn, as; Martin Scales, gt
6. Naked In The Dark (Cæcilie Norby)
Soloist: Axel Schlosser, tp
7. Set Them Free (Sting)
Soloist: Peter Feil, tb
8. Life On Mars (David Bowie)
Soloist: Thomas Heidepriem, b
9. I Had A Ball (Jack Lawrence and Stan Freeman)
Soloist: Julian Argüelles, ts
10. The Dead Princess (Maurice Ravel/ Lyrics: Cæcilie Norby)
11. Spinning Wheel (David Clayton-Thomas)
Soloist : Axel Schlosser, tp

Musical pigeonholes have never interested Danish singer Cæcilie Norby: “I have always been in search of catchy melodies – if you want to have a hit in the pop world, you need a strong melody. In jazz the central subject is that which opens a piece and, in classical music, even the grandest orchestral arrangements may become boring and flat if they aren’t carried by a natural melody.” For Norby it is the melody that is the essence of music, and the decisive criteria according to which she evaluates and chooses music which is free of any genre boundaries. It is an approach which mirrors her extraordinary career and is probably also the secret of her success.
As the daughter of classical musicians – her mother, Solveig Lumholt, was an opera singer and her father, Erik Norby, was a composer – it was the discovery of jazz with its bluesy, swinging and cool moments which brought the decision to follow in her parents’ footsteps. A short while later, whilst still a teenager, she got caught up in the maelstrom of rock and pop music with its raw energy and catchy tunes. As a traveller between these different musical worlds she quickly made a name for herself, beginning with her funk jazz band “Frontline” which won all the Danish jazz awards going in the early Eighties.
Her latest project “Arabesque” is her debut for ACT. It is an ambitious, possibly even pioneering project which brings together her career up until now, reflected through the influence of the classical music of her childhood. For the first time, Norby has written song texts for classical pieces, particularly from the Impressionist period (which represents the majority of the 15 tracks on the album).