Cut a few days after the First Oslo Jazz Concert in August of 1986, this was an album conceived and recorded on the spur of the moment. Originally, the plan was to do an album featuring
Al Cohn and
Dalseth's husband,
Totti Bergh. After Cohn heard
Dalseth sing at the festival, Bergh was dropped, and it became
Dalseth's album with Cohn's backing. Cohn's solos are masterful, especially his obbligatos, which contrast nicely with
Dalseth's smoky voice. These two masters of their respective instruments, the tenor sax and the voice, gel as they revisit classics from the great American songbook. Together they breathe new life into such oft-recorded standards as "Stella By Starlight," "I'll Remember You," and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." "All the Things You Are" is kicked off in a swinging style, with the quartet taking the first chorus, Cohn the next, and
Dalseth cleaning up the rest.
Dalseth recalls
Sarah Vaughan with her version of "Little Man, You Had a Busy Day." Cohn and
Dalseth share performing honors with
Egil Kapstad, who solos on every tune, sometimes emulating
Bill Evans, other times
Bud Powell, and then
Jimmy Rowles when playing behind
Dalseth. For
Dalseth, the sound, phrasing, and inflection are all there, a considerable feat for a person whose native language is Norwegian. The only glitch on this album is a nonmusical one: "Traveling" in the album title was misspelled by someone on Gemini's layout crew. ~ Dave Nathan