Kick Off Your Shoes

With the emphasis on ’new’ american vocal jazz, Louise Bøttern conciously avoids the most heard american standards and offers her own modern interpretation of agreeable and melodious jazz songs with both strong lyrics and demanding melodies.

’Autumn Nocturne’ is accompanied solely by bassist Kaspar Vadsholt (DR Big Band), solidly supporting Louise Bøttern’s text interpretation and gives the singer an open tone space for letting the beautiful melody lines flow. The voice is mature, true to the style and has a wide range with a full, almost insisting tone.

The titel song is from the romantic movie ’The Art Of Love’ from 1965. Louise Bøttern says about the arrangement: ”I’ve long wanted to do a ’jazzed up’ version of this tune. The inspiration came from Dave Brubeck; playing around with a constant change in rhythm between straight and waltz – so I used this idea for a modern arrangement of ’Kick off your shoes’.”

Louise Bøttern pulls the strings on her debut album; with own arrangements and chosing the repertoire and sound herself. She produced and financed the album on her own, with help of crowdfunding for the pressing of cd’s.
”I’m really pleased that I took my time in the creative process of making this music, which matured the ideas with me. I put a lot of thought into the choosing of songs, the style I love singing and the overall sound of the album. I’ve long been in love with the jazz cabaret tradition which composers such as Dave Frishberg and Blossom Dearie (’Long Daddy Green’) are a part of with their quirky and dry wit.”

The album dwells on a vocal style of singers/ lyricists adding lyrics to existing instrumental pieces. One of the great contributers is Jon Hendricks (Lambert, Hendricks & Ross) who wrote the lyrics for Thelonious Monk’s ’Ask me now’ (’How I wish’). ’Just when we’re falling in love’ is an early bigband hit – again with lyrics added later, and here the vocalist along with tenor player Jan Harbeck performs the demanding original live solo from 1961 by Eddie ’Lockjaw’ Davis.

Louise Bøttern grew up in a musical family close to Randers and knew early on that she wanted to sing. Out of the thrill for the blues grew the fascination for the jazz vocalists, enticing with the freedom in vocal interpretation. Among the inspirations are Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Horn and Peggy Lee. This interest lead her to The Royal Concervatory in The Hague (NL), studying in the jazz department – where great attention is put on musical skills and knowledge of the jazz tradition. She graduated in 2004 and is currently living in Copenhagen.

”Catrine Frølund has been my pianist ever since the day we met by chance at a yoga class for musicians and started talking. It was soon clear to me that she was the right ’wing woman’ for my blooming project. We react intuitively to each others musical ideas and I love the ’ping-pong playing’ happening between us. The other musicians have been chosen especially for this project. ”I think Mikkel Find’s classic playing complements Kaspar Vadsholt’s full sound and strong attack really well. Jan Harbeck’s solo playing adds character and charm to the songs. The group has been amazing at creating atmosphere and adding ideas to the music. Now we’re very much looking forward to getting the music out and meeting the audience.”

”This is the kind of imaginative recording that’s needed today. Just so we won’t forget that jazz vocalists are a different breed, not an after thought of a commercial vocalist that decide they can sing jazz too. This is a compilation of classic jazz wrapped in a cool, urban New York style.

From the Gershwins' "The Man I Love" to Thelonious Monks' "How I Wish" ("Ask Me Now") Ms. Bøttern handles the well thought out interpretations with flowing ease. The unexpected treatment in these two tunes puts a smile on your face.

If Cy Colemans' "Kick Off Your Shoes" sounds familiar, it's a tune from "The Art of Love", one of those romantic films from the 60's. The obscure "Long Daddy Green" is written by the clever writers Blossom Dearie and Dave Frishberg and are always difficult to pull off with their dry wit but here, Louise is very capable of handling the story. "

Autumn Nocturne" has that personal touch. A demanding melody that can detract from an emotional lyric but sung with her personal ease, Ms. Bøttern proves again her ability to allow the music to flow for a completely enjoyable listening experience.

I could go on and on but explore this for yourself. This cd is both nostalgic bringing to mind music from the 60's and yet modern with arrangements performed by a very supportive talented group of musicians. I'm delighted to hear jazz vocalists carry on the tradition of meaningful lyrics with strong melodies. They will continue to inspire the next generation to pursue this course.”

- Deborah Brown, jazz vocalist

Vokaludgivelsen ”KICK OFF YOUR SHOES” har afsæt i 1960’ernes jazz
- en tid hvor populærmusikken er jazz og hvermandseje, en tid før jazz blev en nichegenre.

”Dette er dén type fantasifulde indspilninger, der er brug for i dag. Så vi ikke glemmer, at jazz vokalister er en anden race, ikke en eftertanke af en kommerciel vokalist, som beslutter at de også kan synge jazz. Det er en kompilation af klassisk jazz pakket ind i en cool, urban New Yorker-stil.” – Deborah Brown, jazz vokalist

Med vægten lagt på den ’nyere’ amerikanske vokaljazz, går Louise Bøttern bevidst udenom de mest hørte amerikanske standards, og byder i stedet på egne moderne fortolkninger af 60’ernes imødekommende og melodiøse jazzsange, som har både stærke tekster og krævende melodier. ’Autumn Nocturne’ er akkompagneret alene af bassist Kaspar Vadsholt (DR Big Band), som solidt understøtter Louise Bøtterns fokus på tekstfortolkning og giver sangerinden et åbent klangrum til at lade de smukke melodiske linier flyde. Stemmen er voksen, stilsikker og spænder vidt med en fyldig, nærmest insisterende klang.

Titelnummeret er fra den romantiske film ’The Art Of Love’ fra 1965. Louise Bøttern siger om arrangementet: ”Jeg har længe haft lyst til at synge det nummer, men ville ’jazze’ det op. Jeg blev inspireret af Dave Brubeck, som legede med et konstant rytmeskift mellem lige og valsetakt, og brugte idéen til et moderne arrangement af ’Kick off your shoes’.”

Louise Bøttern har selv fat i tøjlerne på sit debutalbum; med egne arrangementer, selvvalgt repertoire og lydunivers. Hun har selv produceret og financieret projektet, kun hjulpet af en crowdfunding til tryk af cd’er. ”Jeg er virkelig glad for, at jeg tog mig god tid til den kreative process med musikken som har gjort, at ideérne er modnet med mig. Jeg har gjort mig mange tanker omkring repertoiret, hvilken stil jeg holder af at synge og hvilken sound jeg gerne vil give pladen. Jeg har længe været forelsket i 60’ernes jazzcabaret tradition som eks. Dave Frishberg og Blossom Dearie (’Long Daddy Green’) er del af, med deres finurlighed og tørre humor.”

Pladen fokuserer også på en vokalstil fra den tid, hvor sangere/ lyrikere føjer tekst til eksisterende instrumentalnumre. En af de store bidragsydere hertil er Jon Hendricks (Lambert, Hendricks & Ross) og på dette album med tekst til Thelonious Monks ’Ask me now’ (’How I wish’). ’Just when we’re falling in love’ er et tidligt bigbandhit - også med senere tilføjet tekst, og her fremfører sangerinden og saxofonist Jan Harbeck den krævende originale livesolo fra 1961 af Eddie ’Lockjaw’ Davis.

Louise Bøttern voksede op i en musikalsk familie ved Randers og vidste tidligt at det er sang hun ville. Fra begejstringen for blues i ungdommen voksede facinationen for jazzsangerinderne, der lokkede med deres vokale fortolkningsfrihed. Blandt inspiratorerne var Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Horn og Peggy Lee. Den interesse førte hende til Det Kgl. Konservatorium i Haag (NL), under den genre-specialiserede afdeling for jazzmusikere – en afdeling som lægger stor vægt på det musiske håndværk og kendskab til jazztraditionens rødder. Hun er uddannet i 2004 og har i dag sin musikalske base i København.

”Catrine Frølund har været min faste pianist faktisk lige siden den dag vi mødte hinanden til yoga for musikere, og faldt i snak. Det gik hurtigt op for mig, at hun var den helt rigtige ’wing woman’ til mit spirende projekt. Vi reagerer meget intuitivt på hinandens musikalske idéer og jeg elsker det ping-pongspil der sker imellem os.” De andre musikere er valgt specielt til dette projekt. ”Jeg synes, at Mikkel Finds fine klassiske spil supplerer Kaspar Vadsholts fyldige klang og stærke anslag virkelig godt. Jan Harbecks solospil tilføjer numrene en fantastisk karaktér og charme. Holdet har været super til at skabe stemning i musikken og komme med input til numrene. Så nu glæder vi os bare til at komme ud og møde publikum med musikken.”