Cæcilie Norby has been celebrated by fans, critics and many of the world's greatest musicians. In Europe, where she's still one of the best selling jazz artists, she was one of the very first who contributed to bridge the gap between Jazz and the young traditionally rock oriented audiences.
She has released 4 of her solo albums on the prestigious BLUE NOTE Records, received awards and selling thousands of albums in Europe, US, Japan and South Africa.
2019-20
On January 25, 2019, Cæcilie Norby publishes the 11th album in her own name, titled "Sisters in Jazz". This is an exciting collaboration with female instrumentalists from the European jazz elite, each of which has established themselves as leading equilibrist on their instruments of choice. A long tour across Europe lies in front of the ladies for the rest of 2019 and 2020.
2017-18
In November 2017, Cæcilie premiered with her own grand choral masterpiece "Hybrid Klang", a full-fledged 90 minute composition played and sung by a 40 strong M/F choir and orchestra directed by Andreas Vetö.
Several interesting and original projects saw the dawn of light in 2017 and 2018, including the "Stardust Concerts" with Professor of Astrophysics Anja C Andersen and the theater concert "A tribute to Erik Satie" which included Benjamin Koppel and Marilyn Mazur.
In addition, Cæcilie continued work with Benjamin Koppel creating the "Anna" suite - a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Jews flight to Sweden - this led them to Israel in the company of drummer Brian Blade and bassist Scott Collier.
A wonderful Christmas project also hit the stage in December 2018, where Cæcilie played a number of concerts with three world renowned Swedish jazz stars: the guitarist Ulf Wakenius, the bassist Lars Danielsson and the drummer Magnus Öström.
2015
2015 has taken Cæcilie across Europe; mostly touring with her partner, Lars Danielsson, in their Norby/Danielsson Duo throughout France, the Baltic countries, Sweden, Norway and Germany - as well as continuing the "Nat Hinde" concerts which was first established in 2014.
A whole new soul arrangement was written for Cæcilie and the Danish Radio Big Band for the famous DR Castle Concerts.
In August Lars Danielsson and Cæcilie Norby released the duo album "Just the two of us" on ACT Records.
And in November, Cæcilie was happily invited back to perform with the Finnish UMO Big Band.
2014
Cæcilie started 2014 by producing and hosting 20 hours of music broadcasting at the Danish Radio jazz channel P8. In the early spring she coached several masterclasses and workshops, whereafter she went on tour in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Poland, Romania and Hungary with both the Norby/Danielsson Duo and other projects like the "Silent Ways" and the "Nancy Wilson Tribute".
In July Cæcilie launched her new unique jazz-classical composition for church organ: "Nat Hinde". For this exclusive concert line-up she picked some of the finest European jazz stars including percussionist Marilyn Mazur, trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky and bassist Lars Danielsson; who is a recent receipient of the 2014 German Jazz ECHO Prize. John Frandsen, the incredible classical composer and cantor, also played an important part. The evocative opening took place in the majestical "Vor Frue" cathedral of Copenhagen.
On the 9th of September Cæcilie turned 50 years. She celebrated with 4 sold out concerts which included old and new musical friends, both national and international. These concerts reflected Cæcilie's musical versatility and broad genre span with the exceptionally talented and diverse ensemble of musicians she invited.
A Christmas concert with Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and 3 great choirs made a beautiful ending of the year.
2013
This spring Cæcilie has been busy with different projects like;
- Duo and Symphony concerts with Bassist par excellence Lars Danielsson.
- Touring in Scandinavia and Poland with the "Silent Ways Band" (Leszek Mozdzer, Nguyen Le, Lars Danielsson and Robert Ikiz).
- Concerts with the classical virituosous chamber orchestra "The Diamond Ensemble".
- Recording soundtrack to a theater play with percussionist Marilyn Mazur a.o.
- Duo concerts with piano master Carsten Dahl.
- Participating in the cross over performance "Art Clash".
- Concert hall tour with Bohuslän Big Band and swedish jazz vocalist Rigmor Gustafsson.
Cæcilie Norbys 9th solo album "Silent Ways" (ACT Records) is released in Scandinavia the 22nd of April and in other countries the 29th of May. The line up of musicians on the album will be touring in Europe all summer and autumn.
In September Cæcilie will pay a tribute to her all time favorite American jazz/pop singer Nancy Wilson. And in November Cæcilie will once again hook up with Grammy Award Nominee arranger Peter Jensen to interpret the music of Burt Bacharach with one of the best Big Bands in Europe: Aarhus Jazz Orchestra.
In December Lars Danielsson and Cæcilie Norby is invited to write new music for Swedish Norbotten Big Band.
2012
In April and May Cæcilie Norby was composing the music score for the major Scandinavian theater project "BASTARDS" in Iceland together with Lars Danielsson. "BASTARDS" is a brand new script written for the Scandinavian coorporation of 3 large theaters by the Oscar winning author Richard Lagravenese.
In September Cæcilie recorded her 9th solo album "Silent Ways" with outstanding musicians from the european jazz elite such as: Leszek Mozdzer (PL), Nguyen Le (FR), Lars Danielsson (SE) and Ikiz Mehmet (TYR/SE).
With the approval of David Bowie and his musical advisers Cæcilie Norby realized a musical dream in October: Arranging a "David Bowie Symphony" for the Danish Radio Big Band and the Royal Danish Symphony Orchestra together with arranger Peter Jensen, a 2011 Danish Music Awards Nominee.
Among other projects during the autumn Cæcilie was headlining a tour with the reknown Aarhus Jazz Orchestra to honor fine danish jazz composers.
2010
Besides touring in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, Cæcilie Norby signed a worldwide exclusive contract with ACT. She debutes on the new record label with the release of "Arabesque" which includes such Scandinavian jazz greats as Bugge Wesseltoft and Lars Danielsson.
The Scandinavian release of "Arabesque" was October 2010, and January 2011 in the rest of Europe.
This is also the year where Cæcilie Norby receives the highly esteemed "IFPI Honorary Award" for enriching danish music through more than 25 years. The jury selecting Norby was members from both IFPI (the Record Labels Association), JazzDenmark, World Music of Denmark and the Folk Music Association. Cæcilie is now among a select few, extraordinary, artists to receive the award.
2007-09
"I Had A Ball" is Cæcilie Norby's latest album. It was released on Copenhagen Records and recorded Live with Klüvers Big Band, featuring her greatest songs and more. The album also include the track "Comes Love" where Cæcilie and the American vocal star Kurt Elling join in a duet.
Cæcilie's performances has included work with the Eremitage Sct. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra; concerts in Moscow and at the Warsaw Jazz Festivals with her own group; a sold-out tour in Germany with her own band; working with the Wroclaw Symphony Orchestra (Poland); the Danish Radio Big Band (Denmark) and Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Sweden) among others.
Cæcilie joined forces with leading Jazzsinger in Norway; Silje Nergaard and Sweden's Rigmor Gustafsson in an album-recorded project with the Danish Radio Big Band called "Jazz Divas of Scandinavia" released on EMI Records.
Touring aside, Cæcilie Norby is working on a project based on the repertoire of music legend Johnny Cash collaborating with renowned Scandinavian musicians.
2005-06
The next studio album from Cæcilie was "Slow Fruit" which 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" has truly been a well received album and collected highly appraised reviews.
2003-04
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.
2002
Cæcilie's 4th Blue Note album "First Conversation" was a fast selling record. It was 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 in Denmark alone and collected a tremendous amount of fine reviews.
1999-2000
Her third album "Queen Of Bad Excuses" was released September 1999.
This time she wrote 95% of the music and the lyrics herself; a "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 exceeded 50,000 copies.
Norby also received the significant "Wilhelm Hansen Music Prize" in 2000.
1996-97
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.
The "Simon Spies Soloist Prize" was another noteworthy moment in '97.
1995
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. 60,000 copies)
1994
Cæcilie begun performing as a soloist which, both early on and throughout her career, has seen her collaborating with numerous renowned European and American musicians, bands and orchestras - such as:
Musicians
Dianne Reeves, Curtis Stigers, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Randy and Michael Brecker.
Bassplayers:
Ray Brown, Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Lars Danielsson, Heyn van der Geyn, Mads Vinding.
Drummers:
Billy Hart, Al Foster, Terri Lyne Carrington and Alex Riel.
Pianists:
Bobo Steenson, Lars Jansson, Carsten Dahl, Joey Calderazzo, Dave Kikoski and many many more.
Big Bands & Orchestras:
Tolvan BigBand, The Danish Radio Big Band, Klüvers BB, Bohuslen BB and The Umo Big Band.
1985-93
In 1985 Cæcilie Norby, Nina Forsberg, and Søren Bentzen launched the highly popular Pop/Rock group "One Two". The group existed until 1993 and recorded 3 albums; "One Two", "Hvide Løgne" and "Getting Better" which sold approx. 250,000 copies in Denmark alone. In '86 Norby received the award "New Artist of the Year" with the "OneTwo" band.
1986 also saw Cæcilie representing Denmark in an international jazz orchestra setting at the very first "Knokke Festival" (Kneistival) in Belgium. It was also in 1986 Norby won the "Best Recording Album in Japan" for her first solo release "Cæcilie Norby".
In 1990 Cæcilie's father wrote the work "Concerto for two sopranos" for Zealand Symphonic Orchestra. The two sopranos were Cæcilie herself and her mother, and the work contained both classical and rhythmic and improvising elements. Cæcilie has also performed with her mother and Thomas Clausen with a mixture of Opera, Musical and Jazz titled: "Ballads, Blues and Lieder".
1982-85
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 the former Danish music magazine "MM", a readers poll bestowed prizes on the orchestra for "Jazz-Act of the Year", "Live-Act of the Year", "Most Promising Act", "Album of the Year" and Cæcilie was elected "Soloist of the Year".
Bio
Awards
2019
Frederiksberg Artist of the Year
2010
IFPI's Honorary Award
2000
Wilhelm Hansen Music Prize
1997
Simon Spies Soloist Prize
1986
Best Recording Album in Japan
- for the "Cæcilie Norby" album
New Artist of the Year
- with OneTwo band
1985
Ben Webster Prize
- with Frontline band
Since '95 Cæcilie has been nominated for prizes at the
Danish Music Awards - 14 times
Accolades
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
Artwork
Painting is another of Cæcilie's creative outlets. A passion she enjoys as often as time allows.
One of her paintings was also used as cover art on the album "Slow Fruit".
