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).

Lars Danielsson Tarantella live at JazzBaltica 2010 - UPDATE!

Lars Danielsson (b/vcl)
Leszek Mozdzer (p)
Mathias Eick (tp)
John Parricelli (g)
Magnus Öström (dr)
Cæcile Norby (voc) (8-11)
recorded live at Große Konzertscheune Salzau, July 3, 2010

1. Both Sides Now
2. Pegasus
3. Tarantella (Lars Danielsson)
4. Fellow (Lars Danielsson)
5. Pasodoble (Lars Danielsson)
6. Fiojo (Leszek Mozdzer)
7. Suffering (Lars Danielsson)
8. Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
9. Dead Princess (Maurice Ravel)
10. Wholly Earth (Abbey Lincoln)
11. Asta

Over the past few years Swedish bassist, cellist, composer, and arranger Lars Danielsson has matured into one of the most important voices in European jazz. On his duo album Pasodoble he and his Polish peer, pianist Leszek Możdżer, executed a beautiful and breathtaking manifesto of melody and harmony that mediated between classic and jazz.
These previous concepts form the basis of Danielsson’s new CD, Tarantella. For instance, some of the duo pieces and passages on Tarantella, such as “Melody on Wood” and “Fiojo”, are built directly upon passages from Pasodoble, and on listening, it’s no wonder that Danielsson calls Możdżer “the perfect pianist for me”. It is simply amazing how Danielsson consistently refines his work, how he continues to open up new areas of sound and place them in new contexts and combinations. “I have taken the character of my music as the starting point, and have looked for the people who will best fit to it.” He found Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick, British guitarist John Parricelli, and the American drummer Eric Harland.
This assembled international line-up is ideal for pieces that, with their controlled sense of arching suspense, seem so classically oriented on the one hand, and on the other hand are wide-open for improvisation and intimate musical dialogue. Those who know Mathias Eick can confirm that his lyrical trumpet playing, saturated with its bold sense of space, is a perfect accompaniment. More surprising is how John Parricelli, who is best known for his fusion-sound, and who has worked with the likes of Colin Towns and Django Bates, obtains such delicately shaded sounds on the guitar. And it’s even more amazing as to how the young drummer Eric Harland has traded in the hard-edged, energy-loaded US school of drumming in favour of a more laid-back, melodically innovative percussion style.