Leave it to the Danish to deliver the Great American Songbook!
Vocalist SInne Eeg has made a name for herself as one of the most important jazz vocalists in Scandinavia , but if her show at The E Spot Lounge is any indication, she may be their best import since Henry Hudson founded the Dutch West India Company. Her show at the jazz club, in support of her latest album of duets, was a thrilling re-assessment and interpretation of American jazz that made American standards anything but.
Tall and statuesque like Venus Di Milo but with arms, Ms. Eeg eschewed singing from the nightclub’s stage and instead, with adroit bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek, created an intimate mood by delivering her 1 ½ hour set from the floor, right in front of the enraptured audience. As Fonnesbaek delivered slinky and swinging support, Eeg’s voice was clear like Waterford crystal with a rich gospel tinge as she agonized on a hauntingly clear “Willow Weep For Me,” holding the last note until it begged for mercy. A bluesy bouncing bass line mixed melody and rhythm for Eeg’s original “Taking It Slow,” which mixed clear and concise enunciation with rich sensuality while “Love For Sale” teamed the wry wit of Carmen McRae with the range of Sarah Vaughan.
Walking up from stage right (or was it “table right”) was tenor sax legend Roger Neumann who created smoke rings of sound on the slinky and slithery “Comes Love” just before Eeg’s voice sparkled like the stars of a 1001 Arabian nights and Fonnesbaek’s nimble and exotically picked bass line on “Caravan” with the tenor sax swinging like Ellington’s 1941 band. Her reflective read of “Body and Soul” flickered like an evening candle and the bass was strummed like an oud. Her own “My Treasure” was delivered with subtle and yet dramatic yearning, an open and vulnerable yearning that closed like a Verdi aria.
Ms. Eeg then took the audience back to the roots of jazz with a sassy “Evil Girl Blues,” delivered with a twinkle in the eye as Neumann growled like a hungry lion, Fonnesbaek tapped into his inner Mingus and the lady with a vamp wrang out the notes like extra water from the laundry. With a dreamy flute accompaniment, Eeg closed with her own pastoral samba “Love is a Time of Year” making the audience wish there were another set that followed with her own material. This lady is a keeper!
Upcoming shows at The E Spot Lounge include Wendy Liebman 10/37, Steve March-Torme’ 11/09 and Aubrey Logan 11/19