Malene Mortensen

Malene Mortensen – Can’t Help It (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:31 minutes | 919 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Stunt Records

Singer Malene Mortensen has been around on the Danish scene for a decade-and-a-half gradually getting better known beyond her native land as a singer with a memorable pure-toned voice displaying a good deal of range and one who can combine Great American Songbook material with more recent repertoire in a contemporary modern-jazz style without being remotely cheesy.

But she can be a little bit too middle of the road sometimes, despite her strong technical and interpretative skills. Here with a strong empathetic core band featuring Christian McBride pianist Christian Sands, bassist Burniss Earl Travis II and, again another Christian McBride connection, Terreon ‘Tank’ Gulley on drums, the album gradually moves away from the Great American Songbook at the beginning via ‘Honeysuckle Rose,’ ‘Alone Together,’ and Bacharach/David song ‘Alfie’ to some of her own co-written songs before returning with a flourish to standards fare and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘My Favorite Things.’ Recorded in New York in March 2014 Can’t Help It could do with more of an edge and a few more risks here and there to really shift Mortensen out of her comfort zone however tasteful and polished an artist she continues to be.

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Malene Mortensen – A New Kind of Love (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:12 minutes | 796 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MaMo Music

Outside of the Danish Jazz world, you may not know the name of songstress Malene Mortensen, or that she’s been away. Malene Mortensen is a Danish jazz singer who has recorded 11 albums with some of the biggest names in modern jazz like Chris Potter, Mike Stern, Christian Sands, George Whitty and Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

Now the Jazz diva returns with producer Carsten Skov on a funky electronic single titled – Irony, crafted to magnetise you to the dance floor.

With audio references from Raye, Chaka Khan, Anderson.Paak, Esperanza Spalding and Gretchen Parlato, the jazz roots are crystal clear, and a Roy Ayers-esque vibraphone solo adds a playful layer this groove-driven release.
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