New Music Releases: The Dining Rooms, Jeremy Pelt, Sinne Eeg & The Danish Radio Big Band

The Dining Rooms - Art Is A Cat

Maybe the best album we've ever heard from Dining Rooms – a set that has the group moving way past just makers of seductive grooves, into wider, fuller territory that definitely puts them at the top shelf level we love from the best at Schema Records! The album balances some of their earlier modes with really strong songs that feature a variety of different singers – including Sean Martin, Beatrice Velasco Moreno, and Georgeanne Kalweit – who each give the record a lot more lyrical power than before, and a strong presence on the vocal tracks that makes instrumental moments feel like well-placed interludes. Titles include "When You Died", "Little Girl", "Art Is A Cat", "Carpet Of Green", "Nella Sua Loca Realta", "Ghosts", "Two Thousand Parts", "No Frame", "Teach Me To Dance", and "Astratto". ~ Dusty Groove

Jeremy Pelt - Art Of Intimacy

The title's no lie, as the set's one of the most intimate albums we've ever heard from trumpeter Jeremy Pelt – a set that features his well-shaped lines in a trio with George Cables on piano and Peter Washington on bass! The drum-less format is really wonderful, and Pelt really takes advantage of the open space to open up his gentler, more introspective side – blowing notes both muted and full, with a sense of balance and grace that takes us back to old school trumpet ballad albums – although none of them ever had the more open, relaxed approach that makes this one so nice! Titles include "Then I'll Be Tired Of You", "Always On My Mind", "Ebony Moonbeams", and "Love Is Simple". ~ Dusty Groove

Sinne Eeg & The Danish Radio Big Band – We’ve Just Begun

Already a bona fide star in her native Denmark, jazz singer Sinne Eeg has in recent years been weaving her spell in performances throughout Europe and the United States, where audiences and critics alike have responded enthusiastically to her dark, alluring voice, rich timbre, impeccable intonation, inherent sense of swing and remarkably natural scatting ability that recalls her own vocal jazz heroes, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Anita O’Day. On We’ve Just Begun, her winning collaboration with the 19-piece Danish Radio Big Band and 9th album overall, Eeg sings with signature soulfulness, sassy spirit and jazzy abandon on a program of three well-chosen standards, a swinging adaptation of a tune from a vintage Danish film, and five affecting originals with Eeg as composer and/or lyricist. Eeg released her self-titled debut in 2003 and gained international attention with her critically acclaimed 2007 album, Waiting for Dawn, and Remembering You in 2008. Her latest, We’ve Just Begun, is her most impressive outing to date.