Solveig Slettahjell Arven

Slettahjell's constant companion - appearing on every recording except Domestic Songs (2008) and, more often than not, on tour as well - Qvenild has long proven an ideal fit for the singer's foundational premise: taking music from a wealth of sources - Disney show tunes; jazz standards by Cole Porter, Lee Morgan and Nina Simone; contemporary fare from singer/songwriters Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits and John Hiatt; and, increasingly, original material - and playing it slow…really, really slow. But suggestions of kitsch or shtick have long been laid to rest, with Slettahjell's voice proving capable of twisting and turning the music with rare intuition; undeniably capable of broader melisma, power and range, but applying them so sparingly - so judiciously - as to create some surprisingly dramatic turns with the subtlest of gestures…

This fourth release by Norwegian vocalist Solveig Slettahjell and the Slow Motion Quintet offers another magical experience. On Good Rain, these creative and busy musicians expand the musical language that they began to explore on their previous release, Pixiedust (2005). In addition to Slettahjell, the group includes trumpeter Sjur Miljeteig, formerly of the jazz-pop-electronica outfit Jaga Jazzist and one of the leaders of the art-rock group Friko; keyboardist Morten Qvenild, who leads In The Country and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra; bassist Mats Eilertsen; and drummer Per Oddvar Johansen. The quintet flirts with pop and art-rock and even trip-hop, aiming to position the jazz vocalist as an artist again within a popular form, but avoiding banalities and without giving up its intelligent elitist aroma.

Solveig Slettahjell’s 2007 album is an invitation. An invitation to come closer, to linger, to let mind and soul catch up. The name of the album, Domestic Songs has a literal dimension. The CD was created in her living room, at her very own piano. The result - a kind of 21st century chamber music - continues in the tradition of the previous Slow Motion Quintet albums, which received an overwhelming response from audience and reviewers alike.
Solveig Slettahjell has really come home. The gospel piano on "Match Perfect" reminds Solveig of singing in her father’s church as a young girl. The brass band arrangements on "One of These Days" and the lullaby "Oh Sweetly" sung here as a duet with her brother Olav suggest further connections…

Cool Norway seems to be the most efficient hothouse for new talents in Europe in recent years. Vocalist Solveig Slettahjell is by no means a new talent, but only now is her third solo disc, with her Slow Motion Quintet, being distributed outside of Norway. Slettahjell was a student of renowned Norwegian vocalist Sidsel Endresen, with whom she collaborated recently in Jon Balke's Batagraf ensemble (Statements, ECM, 2005). She recorded with the experimental all-female vocal quartet Kvitretten, with jazz singers Eldbjørg Raknes, Kristin Asbjörnsen and Tone Åse, and teaches jazz singing at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Norwegian jazz vocalist Solveig Slettahjell is a musical thinker who in tandem with her group, the Slow Motion Quintet, has developed a highly personal approach to her art. Not only does she open up a song and explore it from within, she is able to invest it with a meaning and gravitas that even the songwriters themselves probably never knew existed. It's a precious gift that only the great singers possess. […] Riveting. ~Stuart Nicholson, The Observer, 12 November 2006

This fourth release by Norwegian vocalist Solveig Slettahjell and the Slow Motion Quintet offers another magical experience. On Good Rain, these creative and busy musicians expand the musical language that they began to explore on their previous release, Pixiedust (Curling Legs, 2005). In addition to Slettahjell, the group includes trumpeter Sjur Miljeteig, formerly of the jazz-pop-electronica outfit Jaga Jazzist and one of the leaders of the art-rock group Friko; keyboardist Morten Qvenild, who leads In The Country and Susanna and the Magical Orchestra; bassist Mats Eilertsen; and drummer Per Oddvar Johansen. The quintet flirts with pop and art-rock and even trip-hop, aiming to position the jazz vocalist as an artist again within a popular form, but avoiding banalities and without giving up its intelligent elitist aroma.