| Katrine is one of the best Danish voices for jazz and her new album covers a broad range, from jazz standards to Pat Metheny and a duet with Caecilie Nordby.
We fall in love with singers easily. The voice is obviously a strong part of sexual attraction and when we hear a beautiful one singing of love, it's a short step to fantasising about the voice's owner.
Deep female voices are usually considered sexy, and Danish singer Katrine Madsen has a contralto that could have been dipped in chocolate, then warmed, so it melts across the words. She even uses her far-from-seamless shift from chest voice to head voice as another weapon in her sultry arsenal, almost creating a dialogue with herself, so, listening, one suddenly finds oneself involved in a menage a trois.
Yet there is also a self-consciousness about Madsen that can make her sound awkward in her interpretation of standards, and the original title track should have remained a dream rather a reality. The expert accompaniment includes the sinuous guitar of Ulf Wakenius. -John Shand |