Making Beautiful Music in a Converted Japanese Farm House :Vocalist Sinne Eeg and Pianist Jacob Christoffersen : SHIKIORI

Sinne Eeg And Jacob Christofferssen: SHIKIORI: Stunt Records

I have been a fan of the Danish vocalist Sinne Eeg since I came across her 2015 Stunt Records album Eeg-Fonnesbaek which was a spectacular duo with the bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek. I later reviewed her equally impressive album Dreams from 2017, which she recorded with Danish pianist Jacob Christoffersen and with an excellent American band consisting of guitarist Larry Koonze, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Barron. You can find that review here. If you haven't yet gotten hip to the talent of this vocalist you need to take a listen to her new album.

Eeg's latest release is titled Shikiori, and is a collaboration with the pianist Jacob Christoffersen, who has worked together with Eeg for over twenty years.  After such a long time working together, it's a wonder that this album, Shikiori, a duo album and the first the two have released with both of their names as co-headliners, took this long to happen. 

The title Shikiori is a poetic Japanese word that loosely means  "weaving of the four seasons."  Eeg and Christoffersen's album seems to successfully weave a tapestry of sounds, styles and sentiments to great effect. Shikiori also happens to be the name of a 140 year Japanese farmhouse that bassist Seigo Matsunaga has restored and converted into a top-notch recording studio and intimate performance venue. It is reportedly a special place amidst rice fields and mountains that allows for peaceful reflection and creative inspiration. Matsunaga has said it was his intention to "...create a place where the heart returns." Apparently, the bassist has been successful in his quest, as other important artists, like the talented Tigran Hamaysan, the amazing Armenian jazz pianist, has used the venue as a tranquil stop on his Japanese tour in 2023.

If it is true that artistic creation does not confine itself to artificially created  boundaries, than Eeg and Christoffersen have done their part to create an album that follows its own muse. They have chosen twelve songs, mostly from diverse sources, upon which to place their own imprimatur, creating their own impressive aural tapestry.

The opener "Losing You," is a composition penned by Eeg with Danish pop star Søren Sko. It is a beautiful bittersweet song of lost love that features Eeg's dynamic and heartfelt vocals accompanied by Christoffersen's sumptuous piano. Critic Dan Bilawsky of AAJ   wrote  the duo presents "...their own brand of quiet-storm soul" on this one and I have to agree.

The album features three compositions by Eeg and Christoffersen that seem to be inspired by the setting of the recording and Japanese folk-song tradition. The first is titled "Hebi," a word that means snake in Japanese. The snake can symbolize growth of wisdom or personal transformation. Christoffersen opens the song with a beautifully subdued piano entrée that creates an ethereal background upon which Eeg can provide her gorgeous wordless vocalizing. The pianist's touch is quite elegant. Sinne's voice is exquisitely pliable and resonant, and she creates a vapor-like essence. You are floating in the cosmos of your mind here.

The Soba flower is the white blossoms of the buckwheat plant. The buckwheat grain is used to make Soba noodles, a traditional Japanese dish, and fittingly "Soba Flower" is another Christoffersen creation for this recording. The composition has a cycling, vamp-like, folk-inspired pianistic theme upon which Eeg sings in Japanese. Quite fetching.

"Soba" is a reprise of the previous "Soba Flower," this time with Eeg wordlessly vocalizing in-synch with Christoffersen's repeating piano lines. The two have a telepathic connection that allows the improvised element of this music to enfold organically. Just beautiful.

The remainder of the album features a commanding performance of the  challenging, but rewarding, Billy Strayhorn's  composition "Lush Life." The song is harmonically challenging and has often stymied singers, most notably Frank Sinatra. Sinatra, who while once attempting to record it, stopped midway through the session, unhappy with his read of the complex arrangement. He would put it off, never revisiting the chance to record the song. Eeg has no such problem. Having a palpable rapport with her pianist, Eeg becomes the consummate storyteller. Her command of the song's pathos is superb. Her voice captures the loneliness and disillusionment that the music evokes. It's hard to believe a then sixteen year old Strayhorn penned this mature beauty.  Sinne's delivery is so matter of fact convincing that it's like she has the listener in the palm of her hand. Worth the price of admission.

The duo does a jaunty take on David Wheat/Bill Loughborough's "Better Than Anything." The album continues with Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim's heartfelt love song "Maria" from the Broadway hit West Side Story. Eeg and Christofferson give this beautiful ballad their own interpretation with warmth, sensitivity and heart. There is no doubt this woman can sing, capturing the emotional soul that the music deserves. Just listen to her as she brilliantly executes the gorgeously inspired coda. 

Other songs on the album include a showtime-like delivery of Gershwin's "But Not For Me." A delightful take on Christoffersen and Hansen' "Seems Like Yesterday" where Eegs' fluid wordless vocalese is on display, and soulful take on  Christoffersen and Freeman's " A Second Chance." 

Two other favorites are Sinne's take on Annie Lennox's "Cold," originally heard on Lennox's Diva from 1992. Eeg's proves that despite her jazz proclivities, she proves that popular music in the hands of a vocalist with talent and creativity can always find inspiration in good material. 

The gorgeous Eeg composition "Don't Be So Blue," was originally recorded on her album of the same name from Red Dot Records released in 2010. It just kills at how much emotion this woman can project. The band on that album included Christoffersen on piano, the talented bassist Morten Ramsbøl, and the drummer Morten Lund. This new album's version maybe missing some of the trio's beautifully textured accompaniment from the 2010 recording, but her voice is just as powerfully evocative and emotive. Christoffersen's piano work is lush and moving and his accompaniment with Eeg is superb. These two make beautiful music. Need I say more, what on earth are you waiting for?

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Live at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall Aug 29, 2025

 

Anytime the master banjoist and eclectic composer Béla Fleck comes to town it is a special occasion. His constant quest to expand his instrument's possibilities has led this musician to collaborate with some of the most diverse of  fellow musicians  that come from the diverse genres including bluegrass, Americana, jazz, fusion, rock, classical and world music. He is truly a man who doesn't see boundaries. It was an especially rewarding happening when Fleck and his fantastic Flecktones graced Portland's elegant Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall this past Friday and wowed the full house with a variety of his genre-bending music. 

This was my first visit to the Schnitzer, a beautiful venue that seats 2776  and that was originally named the Portland Publix Theater when it opened in 1928. It later became the Paramount Theater in 1930. 

It is the last theater that has survived along Broadway, once the home of many more theaters over the years. Over its life, the theater went through years of disrepair and sustained some earthquake damage. In the early 1970s the theater was leased for an extended term to use the venue as a music concert venue. Eventually the exterior of the building received a Landmark status in 1972 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Paramount was purchased by the City of Portland in 1980 in a condemnation proceeding. Arlene Schnitzer and her husband Harold were generous contributors to the subsequent restoration project and in 1984, when it was re-opened, it was named for Arlene. With all this history, the theatre, sometimes fondly known as the "Schnitz",  has been a vital part of Portland's vibrant arts community for nearly one-hundred years!

Howard Levy, Victor Wooten, Béla Fleck and Roy "Future Man" Wooten on stage at the Snitzer on Aug 29, 2025

In keeping with its illustrious history, it was just another jewel in the theater's tiara to have landed Béla, and his virtuosic bandmates, for this performance in Portland. Fleck is the principal leader/composer of the Flecktones. The group was assembled for their first performance on PBS-TV's  The Lonesome Pine Specials in 1988. The original members of Flecktones -Fleck on banjos/composition , Howard Levy on piano and harmonica, Victor Wooten on electric bass and brother Roy "Future Man" Wooten on his electric Synthaxe Drumitar and percussion,-recently reunited for this year's North American tour, which runs through December of this year.

The group opened up with "Frontiers," a rousing Fleck composition from the 1990 album Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. The music featured a twangy opening with Howard Levy on a Jew's harp, creating a drone-like background before his bandmates pick up this lively music. Béla deftly banjo picks his way into a  hoedown-like theme. The quartet add funky breaks and fabulous, albeit brief, solo features. Victor and Roy anchor the throbbing theme like a mind-melded duo, and Howard changes over to his emotive harp that soars in the air like a clarion. The audience respond enthusiastically.

This group were in their element with this Portland audience and it showed in the verve with which they all played. There is palpable interconnectivity amongst these musicians and in turn with the audience and the band, and it makes the experience uplifting and joyful. As Howard Levy said to the audience, "It was good to be back to Portlandia."

The set had a thirty-minute intermission and included eighteen songs that covered such favorites as the afore-mentioned "Frontiers" "Flying Saucer Dudes" and        "Turtle Rock" from Flight of the Cosmic Hippo from 1991, and Fleck's "Juno" a single from his three movement concerto that he collaborated with Chick Corea and which commemorates the birth of his son. He wrote it while stuck on the road when his son was born.

The music, at times, felt like you were hearing a hybrid hoedown that had the injection of pure virtuosic improvisation including elements of jazz, rock, bluegrass. world music and pure exploration.

After the intermission, the band continued with "Big Country" from the Left of Cool album from 1998. This was originally played with Jeff Coffin on soprano saxophone, in a reconfigured band that happened when Levy left for a period. On this version, Levy skillfully takes over what was Coffin's part on the record, this time using his amazing diatonic harmonica skills that defies normal limitations. Just a smashing rendition that lacked for nothing.

Levy opened "True North," from the UFO TOFU album from 1992, with either a fife or penny whistle. This Fleck composition borrows its folk feel from Irish folk music. Its a 3/4 waltz that has a whimsical sense of searching for direction while maintaining awareness of your true north, presumably home. The song uses a  reflective bass solo by Wooten to bring the coda to a resolution of the wandering implied.

Individually, each of the musicians were given a chance to be highlighted at certain features in the concert. There is no lack of virtuosity in each of these talents.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (photo credit unknown)

Béla was largely supportive, building themes with flawless execution and seamless

rhythmic alterations. His facility is clean and quick and his creativity is almost limitless. His banjo was featured on his version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" which was simply exquisite.

Victor Wooten wowed the audience with a feature where he used a "looper" pedal that allowed him to build repeating lines on his electric bass. He played against them, layering one level after another.

Howard Levy is famous for being able to play a single key diatonic harmonica and bend his notes in such a way that it is almost like a chromatic harmonica. He was shown being able to rhythmically accompany himself as he maintained fluid improvisation on the melody while playing both simultaneously. Besides his peerless harmonica playing, Howard is a talented pianist who accompanies brilliantly.

Roy "Future Man" Wooten, had a featuring his SythAxe Drumitar, an instrument he has created and pioneered.  It allows him to be portable, wearing the instrument and using his hands on pads that create drum sounds electronically. He also won over the audience with his melodic voice on Fleck's "Sunset Road" which was originally played without lyrics on the album Bela Fleck and the Flecktones from 1990.

The group played a World Music inspired piece that may have once been derived from an  improvisation on his "Middle Eastern Medley" which Fleck released on a solo album from 1992. It also had elements of Greek Bouzaki music. Fleck's is so deft on his electric banjo that he can sound almost like he is playing an Indian sitar.

The group finished the set with the crowd pleasing "Sinister Minister" also from the 1990 album that featured some creative work by Victor and his fleet fingered bass.

With the audience wanting more, the band returned for an encore playing the signature title piece from Flight of the Cosmic Hippo with Victor's famous lopping bass line. What more could you ask for? Great band, great show! If you have a chance to catch Béla and his group on this tour, which you can check out the details here, don't hesitate to go, you won't be disappointed. If you haven't checked Béla's other group still also on tour BEATrio which I reviewed here, then do not hesitate people. Talent like this is too good to miss.