CD 9185-2	Caecilie Norby "slow fruit" Caecilie Norby - vocals Lars Danielsson - bass, piano, accordion, keyboards & programming Hans Ulrik - baritone sax Morten Lund - drums Ulf Wakenius - guitar Göran Kroon - vibraphone, cymbals Xavier Desandre Navarra - percussion DR Danish Radio Concert Orchestra u. a. Special guests: Randy Brecker - trumpet Curtis Stigers - vocal

She can do it all: Fusion, Rock and Jazz. At the tender age of 42 she already has a stupendous career, and she has contributed to breaking down the rigid division into genres, in addition she has attracted notice by awakening an interest in Jazz in the young, traditionally rock oriented audience.

Background
Cæcilie Norby was born on September 9th 1964 in Frederiksberg, Denmark, into a musical family: Her father, Erik Norby, is a renowned score composer, and her mother, Solveig Lumholt, an operasinger. She went to the singing school "Sankt Annæ Gymnasium", and then followed a year at a folk high school with theatre and music as her main subjects.
In 1982 she was one of the founders of the band Street Beat, where she was a vocalist for the next 2 years. From 1983 she was part of the Jazz/Funk group Frontline, which released 2 very successful albums "Frontline" and "Frontlife", and was awarded the prestigious Ben Webster prize.
In 1985 she launched on a long cooperation with the singer Nina Forsberg in the highly popular Pop/Rock group One Two. The group existed right up to 1993 and recorded 3 albums; "One Two", "Hvide Løgne" and "Getting Better" which sold approx. 250.000 copies in Denmark alone.
Cæcilie has throughout the years performed as soloist with numerous renowned

European and American musicians:
Dianne Reeves, Curtis Stigers, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Randy and Michael Brecker. Niels Henning, Al Foster, Terri Lyne Carrington Bobo Steenson and many many more.

In the spring of 1995 the album "Cæcilie Norby" was released on Blue Note, the legendary Jazz label, with contributions by a number of composers and soloists such as: Randy Brecker, Chick Corea, Don Grolnick, Rick Margitza, Billy Hart and Lars Jansson. The CD was mixed and partly recorded in New York.
The Jazzspecial magazine elected "Cæcilie Norby" one of the five best records, and the five digit sales figures achieved so far both in Japan and Denmark are exceptional for a Jazz album. (sales: approx. 53,000 copies)
Her second Blue Note release "My Corner Of The Sky" includes drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, bassist Lars Danielsson and the Brecker Brothers. After achieving the sales figure of of 70,000 copies Cæcilie was elected one of the ten most popular Jazzsingers throughout the world in 1996.
Cæcilie toured for 3 weeks in Japan with her Scandinavian Quartet in December 1996, 3 weeks in USA and 4 months all over Europe during the summer of 1997.
Her third album "Queen Of Bad Excuses" was released September 1999.
This time she wrote 95% of the music and the lyrics herself. "Selfbiographical fiction." As she calls it. All arrangements, programming and producing were done in cooperation with Lars Danielsson.
The album was released in Europe, Australia, Japan and South Africa. It received overwhelming good reviews both from hardcore jazzreviewers to the broad pop-jazz audience. And once again the sales figures were over 40,000 copies.
Cæcilies 4th Blue Note album "First Conversation" was a fast selling record. It was again created in cooperation with producer Lars Danielsson - who wrote special arrangements for the orchestra, tailored for the improvised sessions recorded in the famous ECM Rainbow Studio in Oslo, Norway.
The album features legendary drummer Jon Christensen and pianist Carsten Dahl to mention a few. To date, "First Conversation" has exceeded 40,000 copies sold and collected a tremendous amount of fine reviews.
The Live album "London/Paris" came to life during the Europe Tour in 2003. Two intimate Jazz Clubs became the backdrop for a successful documentation of the hectic touring life of Cæcilie Norby and band. The album gives a dusty atmospheric sound with Ulf Wakenius (Sweden) on guitar and Xavier Desandre Navarre (France) on percussion. "London/Paris" is a bouquet of the best jazz standards and pop classics transformed to new versions in experimental and playful ways.

A month after "London/Paris" was released, the American jazz diva, Dianne Reeves, invited Cæcilie Norby to guest appear on 5 songs at a TV concert recorded at the Baltica Jazz Festival in Germany. The duet collaboration was repeated at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival the same summer.

"London/Paris" has also received a gold award for 25,000 copies sold in Denmark.

The latest album from Cæcilie is entitled "Slow Fruit" and was released in September 2005. All material on the album is solely written and composed by Cæcilie Norby herself. Lars Danielsson has co-composed 3 of the songs and appeared as both primary pianist and bassist.

A significant note about the album is the high degree of intensity derived from collaborations set in a home environment. Prominent musicians, who have influenced Cæcilie's sound both live and on recordings throughout the years, add to the personal and warm atmosphere heard on this album.

"Slow Fruit" also introduced a new collaboration opportunity by the American saxophone player and singer Curtis Stigers, who join Cæcilie in duet on the track "Big Time".

"Slow Fruit" is truly a well received album collecting highly appraised reviews.


Awards
Cæcilie received the prestigious Ben Webster prize in 1986. 10 years later, in 1996, she received a prize for Best Recording album in Japan. In 1997 Cæcilie received the Simon Spies soloist prize and in 2000 she received the Wilhelm Hansen Music prize. Cæcilie has in addition been Grammy-nominated 10 times throughout her career.

Cæcilie Norby has scored tremendous success and overwhelming reviews with her numerous projects. Cæcilie Norby's voice is lyrical and subtle. Improvisations and scats are done with elegance. Her phrasing can be both down-to-earth and romantic. She can radiate anything from sweet and vulnerable to the crude and powerful.

Some critics have compared Cæcilie Norby to the Swedish Monica Zetterlund and to the American singers Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington and Aretha Franklin.