Niels Joren Steen & Monday Night Big Band feat. Bobo Moreno - Swinging in Paradise

Cat. no: 1014350
Format: CD
Barcode: 717101435029
Release Date: 25 Mar 2022
Genre: Jazz

Pianist and conductor Niels Jørgen Steen - a Danish jazz institution - is now immortalised on 'Swinging In Paradise', 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 Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. 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...

Tracks: Lover Come Back To Me / All The Things You Are / Cold Cold Heart / It Might as Well Be Spring / Blue 16 / Lil Darling / It's All Right With Me / Cry Me a River / Every Day I Have the Blues / The Nearness of You / The Rhythm / Some Other Time / Shake Rattle And Roll

More From This Artist: Bobo Moreno Niels Joren Steen & Monday Night Big Band