A Voice to be Savored on Sinne Eeg's "Dreams"

Sinne Eeg Dreams  Artist Share AS0153

At forty years of age, the Danish singer Sinne Eeg is among that rare breed vocalists that can take anything they sing and make it their own. She has a voice to be savored. A force to be reckoned with in her native Scandinavia, her work is little known here in the US. The most recent recording Dreams is just her second release here despite nine outings as a leader. What immediately grabs you about her voice is the natural effortlessness with which she sings. Eeg has a warm supple tone, a wide range, exquisite control and an inherent sense of swing and phrasing that is impeccable. She cites Betty Carter, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughn as influences, and one can certainly find some traces of their styles in her voice, but make no mistake, she is clearly on her own path and it is a refreshing one at that.

Her first US release was a duo album Eeg-Fonnesbaek from 2015 that she did with accomplished Danish double-bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek. The album’s darkly sparse treatment of some of the classics from the Great American Songbook, with Eeg’s gloriously fluid and tonally transcendent voice playing off Fonnesbaek’s warm, bellowing bass was deservedly well received.

Dreams, which just came out in December, took a different tact. It was recorded in Brooklyn, NY in January of 2017. It utilizes the multiple voices of  a very talented backing quartet.  The musicians are some of jazz’s crème de la crème, with the stellar rhythm section of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Baron, the always tasty Larry Koonse on guitar and her longtime collaborator fellow Dane, Jacob Christoffersen holding down the piano chair. If Eeg was hoping to expand her audience on this side of the pond or for that matter around the world, then Dreams should certainly go a long way to achieving that goal.

Of the ten featured songs on the album, two are by Cole Porter, one by Rodgers and Hart and one by Gene De Paul, the remaining six are all Eeg originals and quite compelling.  The opener “The Bitter End” is a slow-cooked, funky blues that features Colley’s bass and Christoffersen’s piano, with Eeg’s expressive voice shining through with authenticity and feeling.

The perky “Head Over High Heels,” written by Eeg and Mads Mathias, has a musical theater, dance-like quality to it.  Eeg’s considerable scat abilities are on display as she and Colley parry in a complementary dialogue that is both slippery and simpatico.

Eeg’s “Love Song” is a torchy ballad that is gorgeously sung with a melancholic expressiveness and also features a gossamer guitar solo by Larry Koonse.

Listening to Eeg and drummer Joey Baron on the imaginative intro to the well-worn Porter standard “What is This Thing Called Love,” is to hear the song with new ears. The walking bass of Colley and the swinging piano of Christoffersen enter the fray with just enough juice to re-energize this classic. Baron’s traps are buoyant and Eeg’s vocals are facile and flawless.

On Richard Rodgers “Falling in Love with Love,” the singer, bassist and guitarist play like a well-oiled trio of seasoned instrumentalists.  Eeg’s vocal scatting is glass-like, so integrated with the music as to be seamless- sliding in and out of the group interplay with ease- you almost forget she’s singing until she returns to the lyrics. Koonse picks another masterful solo.

On the title song “Dreams,” Eeg goes totally wordless, instead using impressionistic vocalization. The song has a nebulous feel to it and Christoffersen’s piano has a  Jarrett influence to it, lightly skipping over the melody, with the rhythm section gently pushing the music along.

As if being such an accomplished vocalist isn’t enough, Eeg’s “Aleppo,” a song she wrote inspired by seeing images of the child victim who was tragically washed up on the seashore while trying to flee the Syrian conflict, is a moving political statement and a testament to this woman’s compositional skills. The evocative music is reverently somber, and her lyrics are sung with an emotional pathos that is quite moving. She proves herself to be a formidable story-teller, a forgotten talent few modern singers seem to have cultivated.  The slow beating bass line, the muted strings on Koonse’s guitar and the delicately sparse Christofferssen piano accompaniment are perfect complements to Eeg’s sincere plaintive verse. “At least we cry for the victims of war and let those children cry no more.”

There is a contemporary pop feel to Eeg’s “Time to Go,” probably my least favorite song on the album.

The arrangement of Gene De Paul’s “I’ll Remember April” is satiny and sleek. Eeg’s voice modulates with a calm assurance, like the steely nerve of an accomplished tightrope walker who works without a net. Her intonations are clear, unstrained and sinewy. Eeg has an abundance of “chops” but what is thoroughly refreshing is her astute awareness of when and how to use them. There is never even a hint of over the top showmanship that seems to be de rigueur with today’s female divas who revel is showing off their range or raspiness. Instead we find nuance, spacing and silky smooth transitions.

The finale is a sparse upbeat duo version of Porter’s “Anything Goes” featuring Sinne’s lilting voice and her accomplished pianist Christoffersen. The two musically dance with each other and around the melody in a comfortable rendering that accentuates the Porter wit.

If Dreams doesn’t make this Danish wonder woman, Sinne Eeg, into a familiar name in the world of jazz music than people are simply not listening.

Pianist/Composer Marc Copland rises to new heights on "Zenith"

Marc Copland's Zenith Inner Voice Jazz IVJ101

The definition of zenith is “the highest point reached in the sky by any celestial object.”  Over the years I have always enjoyed Mr. Copland's work. I identify deeply with his musical sensibilities. The pianist has consistently tried to reach his own personal musical zenith, whether it be as a leader or as a much sought after sideman. With his latest recording Zenith he may have accomplished just that.

From the opening bars of "Sun at Zenith” you are transported into a world of thoughtful rumination. Mr. Copland has a wonderfully sensitive touch on his keyboard and here he is joined by his working trio of equally emotive musicians, his long tenured associate Drew Gress on acoustic bass and his frequent collaborator Joey Baron on drums. The trio finds another partner in this evocative music making journey in the form of the trumpeter Ralph Alessi, a musician whose subtle brilliance shines beautifully on this recording. Together these gentlemen make magic happen.

All compositions, except "Mystery Song" and "Air We've Never Breathed," are by Mr. Copland whose style has a floating, weightless feel to it, the perfect platform to allow Mr. Alessi’s delicate trumpet work to soar in the open, both within the band’s elastic rhythms and above them. “Sun at the Zenith “is a testament to the group's one speak-four musicians melding their distinct sounds into one cogent and unified statement of beauty.

Listen to the pliant bass work of Gress on the opening of “Mystery Song,” a Duke Ellington composition hardly recognizable under Copland’s modern arrangement, specifically tailored to be a true collaborative effort for these particular musicians. Mr. Baron’s syncopated drum work is the epitome of subtle force and probing drive. Copland’s piano is rhythmically elegant as it weaves lines of unexpected beauty over the composition’s core rhythmic drive. The effect is intoxicating in the way the group just pulls you along into its sway.

Marc Copeland photo credit unknown

Alessi is a unique voice on the trumpet, a voice that sings in an almost angelic way. Even when he reaches to the outer limits of the trumpet’s higher register it is restrained and purposeful with no tendency toward brashness. 

The “Air We’ve Never Breathed” is a three-part suite that is like a series of tonal conversations that was created by Mr. Copland along with his other band mates. The first features an interchange between Gress’ plucky bass and Alessi’s muted trumpet, subtitled “The Bass Knows.” This proceeds to Copland stirringly creating a series of repeated motifs on piano titled “Up and Over.” Gress and Baron percolate in their own rhythmic soup over which Copland and Alessi have their own distinct conversation. The music vacillates between subdued and animated with each musician lending their individual talents in a show of unified purpose. Baron suddenly transforms the music with a stunning display of precision cymbal work on the final piece titled “Lips.” The relentless cymbal time used as a background for a gorgeous interplay between Copland’s melancholic piano and Alessi’s sorrowful trumpet.

“Waterfalls” is a wonderful vehicle for the pulsating bass work of Gress. No other bass player, with the exception of Christian McBride, sounds quite as robust at keeping such difficult and complex time with unerring consistency as Drew Gress. Anchored by his frenetic heartbeat, the group veers into a driving cascade of sound that finds Alessi at his most intense, pulled along by the gentle prodding of Copland, the unassuming director of the whole production. Baron splashes into the current with his liquid-like cymbal work.

The more traditional “Best Bet” is a composition that features Copland at his most lyrical. The gentle, breezy feel is accentuated by Alessi’s solo work that takes to the air like a bird in flight. Copland’s dancing elegance creates an air of calm beauty that is reminiscent of some of Bill Evan’s ruminative ballad work. His cascading arpeggios fall lightly like lingering raindrops falling on a thirsty leaf. Alessi’s poignantly squeezed notes perfectly counterbalance Copland’s tender sound.

The last cut on this fine album, titled “Hurricane,” has a circular feel to it with Copland’s repeating lines and Gress’ big round bass pulsating throughout.  Baron’s rambunctious drums create the whirlwind background as Alessi’s horn hovers like a scream in the wind. Copland’s piano is at its most percussive with the bombastic Baron filling in between the notes with relentless cymbal crashes, tumultuous toms and pops on his snare. A hurricane of sound that leave the listener anxiously waiting for the impending calm.

Zenith is an initial release from Mr. Copland's recently formed label, Inner Voice Jazz. If this first recording is any indication of what is to come, this label will be a sure source for superbly creative recordings in the future.

Here is a video of some of Mr. Copland's previous work:

Exploring Influences: John Abercrombie's "Within a Song"

Within A Song ECM 2254

I first saw the guitarist John Abercrombie many years ago as with the super group Dreams.  Even then he gravitated toward playing with people who challenged the norm, people like drummer Billy Cobham, the trumpet and saxophone duo,  the Brecker Brothers and bassist Will Lee,  As a fledgling guitar player myself , I took a keen interest in his development, a guitar player’s guitar player. His debut album as a leader came in 1974, with his presciently titled fusion album Timeless,  this time with keyboard wizard Jan Hammer and drumming phenon Jack DeJohnette. Clearly Abercrombie was developing as a master musician who was following his own muse.

Timeless ECM 

His then avant-garde work with his group Circle, with drummer DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland, was on the forefront of progressive jazz in the nineteen seventies. All along the way, this restless soul continued his quest to challenge convention, collaborating with the very best of his generation, often times with musicians slightly outside the mainstream including  the multi-reedist John Surman, the pianist Richie Bierach, the eclectic trumpeter Kenny Wheller and fellow guitarist Ralph Towner. Abercrombie’s musical adventure has crossed into a myriad of musical styles with the one common thread running through all of them being the unique sound of John’s guitar.

Musically you might never know what to expect next from John, but even blindfolded, as the drummer Billy Drummond recently said in Downbeat, you will always know who is playing from the first note because of John’s signature sound.

Abercrombie’s latest ECM recording, Within A Song, features a series of songs that have been influential to guitarist’s development. For this outing John has again surrounded himself with some of the  finest musicians currently working today, Joe Lovano on tenor saxophone, Drew Gress on double bass and Joey Baron on drums. 

The opening, “Where Are You,“ first came to the guitarist’s attention when he heard Sonny Rollin’s seminal album The Bridge from 1962.  Guitarists often find their voice in listening to the work of other instrumentalists, not necessarily always other guitarists, but clearly hearing Jim Hall’s guitar became an epiphany of sorts to the young Abercrombie.  John and tenorist Lovano take on the roles of Hall and Rollins from the original album, approaching the tune with the same moving sensitivity. Abercrombie pays homage to Hall’s lush, liquid sound here. Delicate comps follow Lovano’s lead. Lovano’s tenor is rich and warm with almost Getzian inflections. Joe is a master of precise intonation, even when playing cascades of notes adagietto. Drummer Baron’s shimmering cymbal work sets a dreamy scene evocative of Ben Riley’s work on the original. The song lingers in your memory long after it ends.

“Easy Reader” is an slow Abercrombie waltz and according to the notes is somehow influenced by the picture “Easy Rider.”  With Lovano and Abrercrombie stating a series of descending lines followed by a series of rapidly ascending lines in tandem, the song has a formal almost classical sensibility. The guitarist is given ample room to develop his rambling harmonic explorations with bassist Drew Gress reading his twists and turns telepathically. Lovano’s tenor soars softly with Abercrombie’s muted guitar comping and countering in a contrapuntal conversation.  Baron’s rolling toms accentuate his flawless cymbal work toward the coda.

The title song of the album is a take off of another song from Rollin’s The Bridge , “Without a Song.” On this album it is penned by Abercrombie as “Within a Song/Without a Song,” it is the most swinging song of the album. Gress’s plucky bass is buoyant and vascular, keeping the pulse invigorating. Baron keeps the most impeccable of time on his ride cymbal spicing the music with occasional timely rolls and well placed bombs. The song features a marvelous dual front line of Abercrombie and Lovano first stating the melody line in precise tandem and then in a stuttered call and response. Lovano is pure elegance on his horn. With an unflappable sense of time, Lovano navigates the chicane with a grace that is marvelously inventive. Abercrombie’s guitar meanders around the melody searching, probing the harmonic edges without going too far astray. After almost seven minutes the group touches on the last few bars of the original song, bringing it all back to place where it came from..

For many of us, the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue was an inescapable influence. Abercrombie chooses a deeply ruminative take on “Flamenco Sketches” from that album. He seems at his finest when he is left some room to be able to explore the depths of a song, uncovering new possibilities in succinct flurries, like short detours from a road well traveled. All the while the atmosphere of the song is retained and in some ways enhanced by the military-like drum cadence. The deep plucky bass of Gress is a tip of the hat to Paul Chambers fine work on the original. Lovano’s saxophone is amazingly versatile with a collection of flutters, moans, slurs and squeals all perfectly controlled and purposefully employed. The group excels at this marvelous homage to the original.

“Nick of Time” is a jagged melody of John’s that is a reminiscent of the exploratory jazz of the sixties and seventies, when musicians were into testing the boundaries of the musical form. The musicians all navigate through the maze in with like-minded determination, maintaining a tonal quality and suppleness that is not obviously reliant on the melodic form but nonetheless creates a coherent musical statement.

“Blues Connotation” is from the Ornette Coleman songbook. Originally recorded by the alto saxophonist on his This Is Our Music. This free form jaunt loosely plays with the blues form in a playful and open way. Lovano’s slightly screechy sound plays into the Coleman legacy. John’s guitar solo is suitably wandering. Joey Baron’s drum solo is light, loose and jagged in keeping with the unfettered Billy Higgins approach to Ornette’s music.

The most moving song on the album is from John Coltrane’s 1964 release Crescent, titled “Wise One”. Abercrombie makes a beautiful entrance with his signature, tightly sequenced guitar voicing. Mr. Lovano’s exquisitely plaintive sound, while Coltrane-esque, is clearly of one of his own making, yearning and bordering on religious in its reverence. John’s comp work is the most Hall-like on the album. His solo is a tour de force of sensitivity and inventiveness as he demonstrates his unique sense of harmony. Baron’s rolling toms are subtly omnipresent and his dynamics are always tasteful. Gress’s is subtly grounding but never overpowering. Lovano returns to solo in his own inimitably tasteful way, cascading notes in cadenzas of seemingly endless ideas. Multi tonal ideas that follow their own unpredictable path but always leading to a logical conclusion.

For anyone growing up in John’s era, pianist Bill Evans was an inevitable influence. Here John choose’s  the minor blues “Interplay” from the 1962 Evans/Hall collaboration of the same name. Bassist Drew Gress gets to do a beautiful walking blues line that sets the tone.  Lovano and Abercrombie show that they are no stranger to tasty improvisations over blues changes no matter how abstract the blues form is buried in the song..

The closing song was a favorite of Abercrombie’s from his days of watching the Art Farmer-Jim Hall Quartet titled “Sometime Ago.” Abercrombie starts with an obliquely rambling introductory solo before going into the memorable melody head on. Lovano brings his own sense of warmth to the song with a floating, poignantly played solo. He has a wonderful way of entering a song with smooth but forceful presence that commands you attention. When Abercrombie returns he climbs the tune with an ascending solo line that dances around the melody. Baron accents the guitarist’s turns with prescient changes of his own as the tune winds down we are treated to a beautifully controlled microtonal embellishment by the master saxophonist to end this poignant but uplifting piece.

With some of tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano’s most emotional playing to date and ensemble work of the highest order,  John Abercrombie’s Within A Song is a strong addition to the guitarist’s discography, once again validating John’s ability to continue to create timely music of extraordinary beauty. 

George Mraz and Friends at the Bohemian National Hall

Friday evening 7:30 pm February 26, 2010
Presented by The Dvorak American Heritage Association (DAHA)
at Bohemian National Hall 73rd St, NYC
George Mraz, Acoustic bass; Rich Perry , Tenor Saxophone and Joey Baron, Drums
Photos generously provided by R. Andrew Lepley

A little snow can paralyze the City, but I was pleasantly surprised that despite a white blanket the George Mraz show, scheduled at the Bohemian National Hall on 73rd St, went on as scheduled last Friday evening.

The Dvorak American Heritage Association presented this evening of music at the recently renovated Bohemian National Hall,a splendid memorial of sorts to the Czech classical composer Antonin Dvorak.

One might ask what ties this Czech composer, Antonin Dvorak, to the world of jazz? Dvorak had a residency in New York City for a scant three years from 1892 to 1895 as the director of the National Conservatory of Music. It was here that he wrote his famous Symphony #9 or New World Symphony, as it was known, where he incorporated themes of Negro spirituals and Native American music in what some believe to be his masterpiece. During this time, he briefly taught students Will Marion Cook and Rubin Goldmark. It was Cook who would in turn teach Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington and Goldmark who would briefly teach the iconic songwriter George Gershwin. These seemingly disparate influences show the true universality of music as a language that fords all barriers whether those barriers be ethnic, racial or socioeconomic.

On this snow bound evening the bassist George Mraz played one combined set of all original music. Mr. Mraz is a true treasure, having a technical virtuosity that makes him a first call player for many of the great names in jazz. Mr. Mraz’s ease of artistry, his joyful countenance and his smiling, self-effacing demeanor can be misleading. He is a serious musician with serious chops and can swing effortlessly from a four across the bar walking line to a beautifully emotive arco solo as the mood suits him. His tone is both warm and precise.

He was joined by the ever ebullient Joey Baron on drums and the subdued but rich tenor sound of Rich Perry on saxophone.

The trio played a total of ten songs with one short intermission. The set started with the sultry “Wisteria” and moved to a slow, melancholic ballad titled “For B.C.”, which Mr. Mraz said was a dedication to Bradley Cunningham, the former owner of Bradley’s a downtown piano bar at University Place and a late night musician’s hangout. The trio continued with the whimsical “Sponge Magic”,where Perry and Mraz played a duet before George played some of his arco magic, bowing beautifully on his custom Charton bass. Mraz never failed to find electricity in Baron’s antics, with Joey producing a myriad of textured sounds using brushes, sticks, cymbals, rims and when appropriate bare hands. The two of them had a connection that was both telepathic and demonstratively joyful, a highlight of the evening. “Pepper”, a composition dedicated to the late saxophonist Pepper Adams, allowed Perry some room to feature his lyrically rich, mellifluous sound that flows like warmed butter over hot toast.

Typical of Mraz’s penchant to shy away from the spotlight, he almost abandoned the idea of doing a solo bass piece, but with a little prompting from the audience he settled on a short Monrovian folk ballad. He mesmerized the audience and his fellow musicians with the depth of the feelings he could elicit with his sensitive pizzicato technique.

The set continued with the song “Unison” where Mraz played a fluid walking solo. The composition seemingly ended three times before the musicians finally decided to finish in unison. The set continued with a piece Mraz wrote for his daughter “Blues for Sarka” where Baron and Mraz showed an exceptional affinity. A bossa titled “Autumn Kisses” featured a Getzian sounding Perry on perhaps his finest work of the night. The final song of the evening was a composition born from Mraz’s days with guitarist John Abercrombie, titled “Strange” ,with its somewhat dark overtones, Mraz’s skillful use of sliding notes deftly accentuated the feel of the song.

It was a wonderful evening of Czech pride, as Mraz and company performed in the splendor of the Dvorak inspired Bohemian Hall. The bassist George Mraz made clear that he is not only a great jazz bassist but also a Czech national treasure.

An album of this original music has been recorded and will be released in the near future.