Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen - A Swing of Its Own

Styles: Vocal, Swing, Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 55:03
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 126,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:58) 1. Sound Your Horn
(4:21) 2. Desert Song
(5:12) 3. Call Back
(4:53) 4. The Fall
(5:25) 5. Don't Stay for Breakfast
(4:02) 6. My Best Pair
(5:19) 7. Song to a Bird
(3:54) 8. Make Some Shine
(6:28) 9. A Swing of Its Own
(6:16) 10. Birdie Blues
(4:12) 11. Smile

For singer and songwriter Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen, this album with one of Europe's most exciting Swing bands was an urge as natural as breathing. Recorded for a 2020 live gig, she dives headlong into hand-picked songs from her decades-spanning career. Gathering all the threads of inspiration through my years as a songwriter and jazz singer, this is the way they were always meant to be heard.

A Swing of its Own took Hilde Louise back to the beginning, to a time when she was falling in love with jazz and spinning her mother's old jazz records on a turntable. And yet, nostalgia is notably absent here. Rather, the album brings back to life the sheer energy and irresistible pull of this music which first swept the USA and then the rest of the world. Hilde Louise's career has been a long and winding journey, but now, she feels, she has finally come home. And to those willing to open up this music - your heart is sure to follow her to that place, too. By Editorial Reviews
https://www.amazon.com/Swing-Its-Hilde-Louise-Asbj%C3%B8rnsen/dp/B0C8R5RHCY

A Swing of Its Own

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Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen - Movies & Stories Like This

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:02
Size: 90,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:25) 1. They Don't Make Movies
(5:00) 2. Look to the Stars
(4:05) 3. Carry Around
(4:38) 4. Miscue
(3:43) 5. We Won't Recall
(4:08) 6. Fashion
(3:45) 7. It's Not Spring
(5:03) 8. Funny How Love
(5:11) 9. Undeceivable

On «Movies & Stories like this» jazz singer and songwriter Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen and pianist Anders Aarum present nine original songs about intangible love. The inspiration from Piaf, Brell and Weill is expressed through the atmosphere of the songs, which range from bolero, tango and French waltz to jazz ballads.

Hilde Louise's lyrics spinn around both the minor and the major love affairs. From everyday relationships, the ones that don’t reach the silver screen, but nevertheless come with great drama, to the big love stories, where everything falls to pieces.

Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen has released 11 albums since 2004, and continues to be an important part of the Norwegian jazz scene. Her latest album «Red Lips, Knuckles and Bones» was released on Ozella Music (DE) to great reviews, and was presented at Jazzahead in 2019. She has also nurtured an extensive career in cabaret and musicals on the side. Her latest show and book, «Stardust», is a tribute to female superstars from century past. Stardust got top reviews, is still touring Norway, and will play at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2023.

Anders Aarum is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music in Agder, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Gothenburg Academy of Music and the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. He has released 5 albums with his own compositions, the two last ones on Ozella Music, and worked as a pianist, producer and arranger to a number of prominent jazz names like Knut Riisnæs, Ola Kvernberg, Sonny Simmons, Nora Brockstedt, Sigurd Køhn, Julie Dahle Aagård, Randi Tytingvåg. In addition to his own trio, he regularly plays with Knut Riisnæs Quartet and Oslo Jazz Ensemble, and has been Asbjørnsen's pianist, arranger and producer since 2005.

Hilde Louise on Movies & Stories Like This: I have thought a lot about how love governs our lives. It can lie dormant for periods, but then, suddenly, it jumps up like a panther and takes control of everything. It comes in all shapes, and causes the deepest longing, endless sorrow and divine happiness, makes us hate, lie, steal and turns the most introverted dry stick into a generous and empathic lover. Love never ceases to amaze me. This is not a tribute to beauty love, but a celebration of its mysteries https://www.galileomusic.de/artikel/26003/Asbj%C3%B8rnsen_Hilde_Louise_Movies_and_Stories_Like_This

Movies & Stories Like This

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Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen - Red Lips, Knuckles and Bones

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:53
Size: 108,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:09)  1. Red Lips
(3:49)  2. Never Know You Too Well
(1:08)  3. A Swing of It's Own Intro
(3:05)  4. A Swing of It's Own
(5:00)  5. Water Wall
(3:28)  6. Make Some Shine
(3:34)  7. Don't Fight the Undertow
(4:52)  8. The Man Had a Gun
(4:17)  9. Pink Push Wagon
(4:11) 10. Lazy Afternoon
(3:48) 11. Return to Start
(6:26) 12. Rich

You could be forgiven for thinking I have chosen to review the latest Alison Krauss record if you only listened to the country-tinged opening track Red Lips from Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen’s Red Lips, Knuckles and Bones. This enjoyable album does have one foot firmly in the world of Americana, but the base is still recognisably jazz on the Norwegian vocalist’s eleventh album, continuing in the tradition of Scandinavian singers such as Karin Krog, Laila Dalseth and Nora Brockstedt and younger profiles such as Silje Nergaard and Solveig Slettahjell. Asbjørnsen has a large palette to work from, being a jazz singer with roots in music across all sorts of genres cabaret, country, folk, rock and pop. Here she has largely written her own set of songs, often focusing on the power of femininity in contemporary life. 'When I put my red lips on, I can do just anything… I can start a hurricane; I can make a grown man sing… I could hurt a fly'. They also reflect personal losses suffered in her life over the past few years, specifically the death of close friend and contemporary artist Hariton Pushwagner (who was also something of a sixties and seventies pop icon in Norway). Despite these bereavements there is a feisty refusal to give up on this record, which at times verges upon music theatre in its sense of drama; so the tribute to Pushwagner and others who have departed receive a jaunty tribute on the track Pink Push Wagon: `We're surely running out of time / Fresh proof is tumbling down in line / gone’. With her unique phrasing, Asbjørnsen’s style balances between a crooning, pop, country approach and more traditional jazz. Her band make these stylistic jumps appear seamless, with the touchstone appearing to be swinging sixties jazz, and features her regular collaborators: Jens Fossum (bass), Svein Erik Martinsen (guitar) who also sings a duet with Asbjørnsen on the opening track, Hermund Nygård (drums) and co-producer Anders Aarum. The fine tenor saxophonist Knut Riisnæs' appears on three of the songs as well. A Swing of its Own, a song written for the Oslo Jazz Festival's 30th anniversary, highlights Asbjørnsen’s facility for a catchy tune, and provides an excellent solo turn for Martinsen’s moody guitar. Make Some Shine is light and catchy, with the full band joining in on the chorus; along with Red Lips it would be on Radio 2 in a just world. ~ Matt Groom https://www.prestomusic.com/jazz/articles/2637--recording-of-the-week-hilde-louise-asbjornsen-red-lips-knuckles-and-bones

Red Lips, Knuckles and Bones

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Hilde Louise Asbjornsen - Manesjuk

Size: 90,5 MB
Time: 38:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2012
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Jazz Pop
Art: Front

01. Frampeik (3:01)
02. Vanilje (3:59)
03. Manesjuk (3:34)
04. No E Det Goymt (3:08)
05. Du Held I Meg (4:32)
06. Gjer Det Igjen (4:02)
07. Min Mann (2:53)
08. Alt For Fort (4:12)
09. Alaska (3:39)
10. La Det Bli Natt (5:25)

Jazz and cabaret singer Hilde Louise Asbjornsen was born in Sykkylven, Norway, in 1976. Bringing to mind such cool vocal jazz artists as Billie Holiday and June Christy, she released her debut album, Eleven Nights and Two Early Mornings, in 2004. Birdie Blues followed in 2005. In 2006, Asbjornsen released No Vil Eg Vake Med Deg, a tribute to iconic Swedish vocalist Monica Zetterlund. ~Biography by Matt Collar

Manesjuk

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Hilde Louise Asbjornsen - Sound Your Horn / Never Ever Going Back

Album: Sound Your Horn
Size: 96,4 MB
Time: 41:17
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2008
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Jazz Pop
Label: Sweet Morning Records
Art: Front

01. Let's Stay In (3:21)
02. It Ain't Friday (3:11)
03. Sweet Morning (3:39)
04. All You Are To Me (3:16)
05. Prelude To The Stars (0:40)
06. The Room (4:13)
07. This Winter (3:56)
08. Look To The Stars (4:01)
09. Desert Song (4:00)
10. The Darkest Hour (4:33)
11. This Love (3:16)
12. Sound Your Horn (3:06)

Produced by Anders Aarum, this album is a poetic cocktail of jazz, cabaret and pop-music. Featuring some of the hottest horns in Norway!

It presents a darker, more characteristic side of Hilde Louise. Recorded on tape in a boathouse on the west coast of Norway, featuring an energetic Hilde Louise Orchestra, from the top of the Norwegian jazz league.

Sound Your Horn

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Album: Never Ever Going Back
Size: 109,5 MB
Time: 47:01
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2010
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Jazz Pop
Art: Front

01. Trans Siberia (4:17)
02. Dragon Fly (3:56)
03. Till I Die (4:20)
04. Come Summer (4:07)
05. When You Are Gone (3:41)
06. Wartime (5:16)
07. Big And Black (5:14)
08. Echo (3:42)
09. Yellow Days (3:32)
10. Undeceivable (4:36)
11. Never Ever Going Back (4:15)

Norwegian singer, songwriter and actress Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen released her fifth album ‘Never Ever Going Back’ on her own label Sweet Morning Records in Norway to solid critical acclaim. Admittedly I don’t know Asbjørnsen’s earlier releases, from what I’ve read all jazz, so I can’t say if this is a step upwards or the opposite. What I can say is that I’m digging what I hear.

Jazz is still very much part of her music, not least in her expressive vocal delivery, but adding blues, pop and rock elements she creates an enticing combo with a 1920s cabaret feel in the spirit of Tom Waits (only prettier in every sense) and sharing the playfulness of her Finnish sister in arms Astrid Swan (album opener ‘Trans Siberia’ could’ve been a Swan track).

As said I don’t know her previous albums, but by the looks of it ‘Never Ever Going Back’ is a step in a new direction for Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen. And by the sound of it she doesn’t have to go back… ~Peter Krogholm

Never Ever Going Back

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Hilde Louise Asbjornsen - 'Round About Christmas

Size: 91,0 MB
Time: 38:52
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2013
Styles: Vocal Jazz, Holidays
Art: Front

01. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (3:13)
02. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (3:03)
03. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (3:16)
04. I'd Like You For Christmas (2:14)
05. Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend (2:43)
06. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? (With Noora Noor) (4:56)
07. Santa Claus Came In The Spring (2:24)
08. December (2:55)
09. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (3:11)
10. 'Zat You, Santa Claus (3:10)
11. Christmas Is A Lullaby (With Ane Brun) (3:12)
12. Glade Jul (4:29)

Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen serves a groovy piece of Christmas jazz molded through the hearts and ears of her exquisit little orchestra. A mixture of american classics and rarities, including a caribbean "Rudolph", "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" in New Orleans wrapping and a bluesy "What Are You Doing New Years Eve?" in duet with Noora Noor. Hilde Louise also offers one original tune performed in a duet with Ane Brun.

Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen is a rare and wonderful combination, equal parts musician, poet and storyteller. This enjoyable Scandinavian lady is hailed by Norwegian press as "three parts Monroe and one part Holiday". Hilde Louise's poetry is hypnotic. Her instrumental arrangements are like dark, expencive chocolate - rich, sweet-tasting, and very satisfying, while leaving you wanting more! Hilde Louise Orchestra, a collection of Norway's best known musicians, is led by keyboardist and musical director Anders Aarum. (quote Skoot Larsson)

'Round About Christmas

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