The Danish jazz singer Caecilie Norby is like a fine bottle of red wine in a collection that gets better and better with age. It's amazing how she continues to outdo herself, year after year and album after album. The music critics have unanimously taken her latest album to heart with rarely expressed appraisal. Jyllandsposten wrote, "So melodically complete, that you have to double check the cover notes to ensure we're not talking about a version of a forgotten classic." The B.'I'. newspaper confirmed that, "Caecilie is a queen of world-class carat", and complemented the announcement with live stars. The superlatives nearly stepped on each other's toes, but it is truly a remarkable album. The now 42 year old Caecilie Norby is a phenomenal musical artist. She has felt, lived and breathed music. Born and raised in a musical home, (her mother an opera singer and father a composer) she began performing in her early years. ln the beginning to mid-eighties she was the frontfigure in the jazz, funk and fusion groups Street Beat and Frontline. The first time she performed for a large audience was in 1986, where she was one of the two vocal leads in the pop-rock group One Two. With a certain west coast inspired funky-pop-rock style, the group scored some solid radio hits, selling 250,000 copies with theirtvvo albums (in Danish), One Two (1986) and Hvide Logne (White Lies) in (1989).
After the English album, Getting Better (1993), One Two threw the towel into the ring. Shortly after, Caecilie Norby bloomed as a fully bred jazz singer with a debut album of such insightful finish it truly demanded respect Caecilie Norby (Blue Note, 1995). International jazz bigwigs such as the trumpeter Randy Brecker, the pianist Chick Corea, the tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza and drummer Billy Hart, lined upto perform on the record. lt was to be the first Danish album on the highly acclaimed American jazz record label, Blue Note, and before anyone had caught their breath, Caecilie Norby was Denmark's most popular jazz singer - the only one ofwhich was truly selling albums beyond Denmark's borders.
And so it has been ever since. Her personal blend of pop and jazz on My Corner of the Sky (Blue Note, 1996) pleased more than 70,000 record buyers, which is nearly unheard of for a jazz album. Promoters lined up to book Caecilie - who toured with the material for three weeks in Japan, three weeks in the U.S. and a continued 4 months in Europe during the summer of 1997. The list of musicians included the legendary Michael and Randy Brecker, pianist Dave Kikoski, the L.A. drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and the Swedish bass player Lars Danielsson.
On the next album, Queen of Bad Excuses (Blue Note, 2000), Caecilie broke away from the style used on the two preceding albums by writing all the songs herself, some of which were co-written by her regular bass player Lars Danielsson, who also co-arranged and co-produced and with whom she has partnered ever since. The album was released in Europe, Australia, Japan and South Africa and was remarkably well received. Again Caecilie recorded with anotherjazz legend, the guitarist John Scofield - who was present throughout the album.
After the fourth Blue Note album, the richly orchestrated and Nordic inspired First Conversation (Blue Note, 2002),
Caecilie finally released the live album her vast fan base had been hoping for, for years. Caecilie has after all, given more than 2,000 concerts around the world, so the stage has practically become her second home. The stage was set again with a live audience in the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London and Sunside Jazz Club in Paris. The two metropolises entitled the album London/Paris (Copenhagen Records, 2004) which was released on the newly established label, Copenhagen Records. The release was followed by a tour which brought Caecilie Norby and the American jazz singer Dianne Reeves together in two highly acclaimed concerts in Germany and Denmark.
Now, in 2008, Caecilie has picked up where she left off with Queen of Bad Excuses by again taking on the full production of her latest album Slow Fruit (Enja Records, 2007) - assisted by Lars Danielsson's helping hand. She's accompanied by musicians, who throughout the years, have become her regular band: Ulf Wakenius (guitar), Lars Danielsson (bass), Xavier Desandre Navarre (percussion), and Morten
Lund (drums). Again the trumpeter Randy Brecker appears on three tracks, and in the song "Big Time", Caecilie partners in a duet with Curtis Stigers.
In other words, Caecilie has, as always, worked with a truly competent team of musicians. So it is no coincidence that Slow Fruit has been so well received by both critics and audiences alike.
"I Had A Ball" is Caecilie Norbys latest compilation, recorded Live with Big Band, featuring her greatest songs and more. The album also includes the track "Comes Love" where Caecilie and Kurt Elling join in a duet. The CD was released in Denmark on Nov. 12th 2007.
On top of an amazing recording career, Caecilie Norby has toured both domestically and abroad with big bands and symphony orchestras. A random list includes: Tokyo Symphonic Orchestra, NRK Symfoni Orkester, Göteborg Symfonikerne, Finland's UMO Big Band, as well as numerous big bands in Scandinavia, Holland and Belgium.
With her own band, she's toured the U.S., throughout Europe and Japan. ln the middle of a long career as a professional singer Caecilie Norby is, quite extraordinarily, still on top of her game. Through time, she has been the recipient of an abundance of awards and accolades. The 11 Grammy nominations weigh heavily and speak on their own, however, Caecilie isn't paying particular attention to them. In her world the only thing that counts is the music. And so it's been since she was born.