Pianist and conductor Niels Jørgen Steen – a Danish jazz institution – is now immortalized on ‘Swinging In Paradise’, a new album from Storyville Records featuring vocalist Bobo Moreno and the ever so swinging Monday Night Big Band.
In the Danish jazz world, Niels Jørgen Steen is the personification of an institution. As pianist, bandleader and arranger he has worked with all the giants like Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Shavers and Lockjaw. He has been a stand-in for Count Basie on a tour of Italy and has fathered his own bands like Saxmaniacs and the A-Team, but his big baby these days is Monday Night Big Band, now over 20 years old and beautifully immortalized on this live album.
“If we play Singin’ in the Rain”, says Steen, “the audience already knows the tune, so we can ‘play with it´ and take the listener out of their comfort zone, but we always bring it home to the melody. Sure, the arrangements can be difficult, but the musicians love playing something good. It gives a special sense of fulfillment.”
While the line-up has changed over the years, some have been in MNBB since the beginning. These include Roger Berg, Peter Marott, Vincent Nilsson and Jan Harbeck, all of whom smile as they reminisce about how this unique, continuously morphing entity of collegiality, competition, enthusiasm, stress and satisfaction was the catalyst for their careers. It’s the magical, fat sound of a real big band, of a real Danish institution that swings its ass off. Brace yourself…
1. Lover Come Back To Me 05:31
2. All The Things You Are 08:38
3. Cold Cold Heart 03:22
4. It Might As Well Be Spring 06:20
5. Blue 16 05:36
6. Lil Darling 06:11
7. It's All Right With Me 05:31
8. Cry Me A River 04:03
9. Every Day I Have The Blues 04:33
10. The Nearness Of You 05:08
11. The Rhythm 05:36
12. Some Other Time 06:21
13. Shake Rattle And Roll 03:01
Johan Bylling Lang, Jens Søndergaard - as, Tomas Franck, Jan Harbeck - ts, Katrine Suwalski - bars, Carsten Larsen, Andre Bak, Rolf Thofte, Peter Marott – tp, Vincent Nilsson, Rolf Mandiz, Petter Hängsel, Niels Gerhardt – tb, Ida Hvid – b, Morten Højring – g, Marie Louise Schmidt – p, Roger Berg – dr, Niels Jørgen Steen – dir & arr and Bobo Moreno - vo
