Sinne Eeg and Thomas Fonnesbaek open the album with a
delicious rendition of “Willow Weep For Me,” a song that has been covered by
Sarah Vaughan, Diana Krall and Chad & Jeremy, among others. They begin it
with the bass, and when Sinne comes in, she delightfully teases us with a brief
bit of humming before singing. Her voice is gorgeous and strong and sexy. And
with just the accompaniment of the bass, her voice has an intimate quality. And
although intimate and sexy, she also allows herself to be playful here.
They follow that with the album’s original tune, “Taking
It Slow,” which was written by Thomas Fonnesbaek and Helle Hansen. It begins, “Here we are once again/Fondly sharing stories
of way back when/Recalling all that we were/We both feel forgotten emotions
stir.” And after those lines, it is Thomas Fonnesbaek that offers a bit of
playfulness on bass. And soon Sinne Eeg delves a bit into scat, but with a
voice that is smooth and soars at times. It is when she dips into her lower
registers that you’ll find yourself smiling, perhaps even laughing. There is a
joy here in both her singing and Thomas’ playing, a joy that is contagious.
Even more playful and fun is their rendition of “Evil Man
Blues,” written by Lionel Hampton and Leonard Feather, here the main line
becoming “I’m an evil girl.” There is
something sly in Sinne’s delivery. And when she sings, “I’m an evil girl, a real mean chick/If you don’t believe me, baby, I
could change your mind real quick,” you can bet I believe her. And her
following “Yeah, yeah, yeah” line
soon leads to some scat, which is absolutely wonderful. And Thomas’ bass
matches the playfulness, the two working so well together.
You can never go wrong with Gershwin, and on this CD,
Sinne Eeg and Thomas Fonnesbaek tackle “Summertime.” This is a song that has
been recorded by an incredible amount of artists over the years, including
Billie Holiday, Big Mama Thornton, Janis Joplin, Sam Cooke, Ricky Nelson and
The Zombies, and so, as you can guess, has been done many different ways. The
version by Eeg and Fonnesbaek is one of the quicker-paced offerings of the
tune, with the bass delivering a good groove. This version has a fairly happy
sound, and includes some scat, as well as a nice bass solo. They then deliver a
slow, gorgeous rendition of “Body And Soul,” which for me is one of the album’s
highlights. It’s absolutely wonderful.
Also wonderful is their rendition of “Come Rain Or Come
Shine” (here titled “Come Rain Or Shine”), which begins beautifully with Sinne
Eeg delivering the first line a cappella. And I love the way she holds onto “me” in the line “’Cause I’m going to be true if you let me.” And the tone changes
partway through, gaining more energy. This track also features a good bass
solo. “Come Rain Or Come Shine” was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer.
(By the way, Sinne sings the line as “Come
rain or shine,” not “Come rain or
come shine,” until near the end, that is.)
The album concludes with “Fellini’s
Waltz,” which was written by Enrico Peiranunzi, with lyrics later added by Lorraine Feather. On Lorraine Feather's album Tales Of The Unusual, she titled this song “I Took Your Hand.” Here is a taste of the lyrics: “I was trembling badly, but I took your hand in mine/Though in all my life I never once believed in second sight/Something odd indeed but just as real came over me that night.”
CD Track List
- Willow Weep For Me
- Taking It Slow
- Evil Man Blues
- You Don’t Know What Love Is
- Summertime
- Body And Soul
- Beautiful Love
- Come Rain Or Shine
- Fellini’s Waltz
Eeg – Fonnesbaek
is scheduled to be released on September 15, 2015 on Stunt Records.
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