Possessing a smoky, somewhat soulful voice,
Katrine Madsen is likely to be a new name to jazz fans in North America, though she evidently has been active on the European jazz scene for an extended period. This session starts off with two missteps, a dreary interpretation of
the Beatles' "I'll Keep You Satisfied" (though guitarist
Ulf Wakenius' fluid licks are enjoyable) and the drippy pop original "Supernatural Love" (sung as a duet with
Caecile Norby). Things start improving when she switches gears in an intimate setting of "Come a Little Closer" with pianist Henrik Gunde Pedersen and trumpeter
Peter Asplund providing her sole accompaniment, then bringing in the rhythm section as she segues into "Lost in His Arms." But the unevenness returns with a dull, funky treatment of
the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" and a monotonous "All or Nothing at All" that is plagued by an uninspired arrangement. While bassist
Jesper Bodilsen's chart of "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise" is intense, it abandons too much of its core melody, becoming a generic solo vehicle for
Wakenius. It's quickly apparent that
Katrine Madsen is interested in a wide variety of music, but her choice of material and occasionally odd charts may be too spread out for jazz fans to sit through the entire disc. ~ Ken Dryden