Cheers to the emotional world

Corona has prevented some things, but sometimes it has also encouraged new things: During the lockdown, Munich-based singer Stefanie Tornow was looking for opportunities to rehearse her projects and ended up on JamKazam, an internet platform for jam sessions. Beat Baumli - a guitarist trained at the Swiss Jazz School and Berklee College of Music - was also on the site. After the two met during an online session, they soon decided to join forces and their debut album The Night Has A Thousand Eyes before. On this album, her focus is particularly on the Great American Songbookbut also bossa nova classics such as "Berimbau". The Swiss-German duo is not out to reinvent the wheel as far as the sound spectrum is concerned, but to give the 16 songs as personal a touch as possible - with a sound that is calm, relaxed and upbeat at the same time.

While the title track in the 1964 version by John Coltrane was still dense and urgent, in the arrangement by Tornow and Baumli it is cuddly, light-footed and a hymn to the turbulent world of emotions. The original composition Chasin' Wes meanwhile, turns out to be a finger-snapping homage to guitarist Wes Montgomery, who is one of Baumli's role models. And Moon River by Henry Mancini, another cover, is freed of any sentimentality by the duo, which gives the melancholy of the melody more contour.

The album is characterized by the singer's velvety voice and the sensitive guitar playing of her partner. The fact that there is only one single, albeit extremely skillful and stylish piece from her pen on the record may be a small shortcoming. At the same time, however, the work shows that there is still a lot of potential in this collaboration. It will be interesting to see what songs the duo will come up with together in the future.