This is big band jazz at its best recorded by Danish singer/actress Gitte Haenning in 1969, the lady who became famous above all for her pop songs (especially "Ich Will 'Nen Cowboy Als Mann"). We owe these extraordinary recordings -- back then released under the title Gitte & The Band: My Kind Of World -- to the fact that EMI, the record company Gitte had signed up with back then, wanted to make her compliant with its wishes. In the booklet, Gitte explains what was going on: "I didn't want to renew my contract as a pop singer. I didn't want to see and hear myself in that genre anymore. Although I was amazingly successful, I was just more interested in doing other things. Thankfully, EMI suddenly gave me this chance. It was supposed to be something like a gift to me that was to take my mind off things in order to make me feel positive about the conclusion of the record deal." At that time, Gitte's recording engineer also worked for the first-rate big band of Belgian pianist and arranger Francy Boland and American drummer Kenny Clarke, and so they agreed on this unique cooperation. The recordings include both big band classics and new compositions written by Jimmy Woode, who was bassist in the big band back then and now works with Helge Schneider. This is how Woode describes this exceptional singer in the booklet: "Endowed with an intriguing range, natural ear, and bent for swing, Gitte Haenning has it all! Truly a lady for all seasons." The songs are situated in relaxed mainstream, combining solo gems by the instrumentalists with masterly group arrangements, perfectly fitting for Gitte's voice that at times sounds girlishly innocent, at other times smoky and worldly-wise without ever having any phrasing problems or fluctuations. With her unmistakable vocal timbre, Gitte manages to give new nuances even to the album's only pop melody, John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "A World Without Love."
Personnel:Benny Bailey (trumpet)
Francy Boland (piano)
Kenny Clarke (drums)
Tony Coe (reeds)
Dusko Gojkovic (trumpet)
Johnny Griffin (reeds)
Gitte Haenning (vocals)
Derek Humble (reeds)
Eric van Lier (trombone)
Nat Peck (trombone)
Ake Persson (trumpet)
Ronnie Scott (reeds)
Idrees Sulieman (trumpet)
John Surman (reeds)
Derek Watkins (trumpet)
Jimmy Woode (bass)
Tracklist:
01. My Kind Of World (Woode) 2.59
02. A Sack Full Of Dreams (MacFarland/Savary) 3.41
03. A World Without Love (Lennon/McCartney) 2.07
04. Go To Hell (Morris/Bailea jr.) 3.34
05. Imagination (v.Heussen/Burke) 3.25
06. Please Send Me Someone To Love (Mayfield) 3.10
07. Out Of This World Arlen) 1.22
08. Marriage Is For The Old Folks (Shuman/Carr) 3.35
09. I Love The Life I Live (Dixon) 2.22
10. November Girl (Boland/Woode) 4.37
Alternate frontcover