With about 20 concerts cancelled during the present corona lockdown, all of a sudden I’ve had time to do some of the things there’s never enough time to do in a crazy busy daily life as an independent musician with wife, kids and a house including four chickens and a new puppy (Billie ❤️????)
Besides spending a lot of precious time with my family I’ve been practicing and composing new solo pieces AND released a new album with ballet class music.
One of the things I’ve also found time to do (beside writing a new blog post for the first time in one and a half year…) is to re-visit some of my earlier releases.
Exactly ONE year ago we released the album “ECHOES” with my band, Søren Bebe Trio.
I’m still really proud of this album which also got some wonderful attention from the press that I’ve gathered here.
As I was digging through my computer I found some never released footage from the session at the great The Village Recording studio that I’ve been sharing over on my Instagram and Facebook pages.
When we compiled the album we had four tunes that didn’t really fit in so I decided to release them as singles. Two of them were released last year but up until now all four of them have only been available on Bandcamp and on my website.
But now I finally found time to release the last two tracks entitled “Be Still” and “Echoes II”. They will be available worldwide on all streaming and download platforms on May 29 and June 19 2020.
Here’s a pre-save links for the first one: https://backl.ink/142450416
I often get asked about what inspired me to write a certain song so I decided with the new time on my hands to write a few words about the songs on “Echoes”.
Here we go:
“Echoes” was at first just a very simple meditative solo piano piece that I decided to try out with the trio in the last minute. I loved how it came out with the band and it made for a nice opening piece that sets the mood for the rest of the album.
“Waltz for Steve” is my homage to Steve Swallow. A big hero of mine. Both for his bass playing, musicianship and compositions. The drummer in my band for almost 13 years!, Anders Mogensen, has played with Mr. Swallow on a number of occasions including three tours. And they recently made an album together called “The Meeting” you can hear it on Spotify or Apple Music . An amazing album that also features guitarist Niclas Knudsen and saxophonist Hans Ulrik.
“Winx” was a song I wrote when my twin girls, Alberte and Andrea, were very young. I remember coming in from my studio having just finished a new song. The girls were watching their favorite cartoon called “Winx Club” and I realized I had stolen one of the lines from the show for my song 🙂
Anyway, I decided to stick with my melody, like Stravinsky said “Good composers borrow, Great ones steal”.. Not that I consider myself a great composer but I love the craft and work on it every day.
“Homeward” is one of Kasper Tagel’s compositions that I love. Kasper is a great composer (and bass player) that I love playing with and his songs adds a new flavor to the record that I love.
“Homeward” was one of three songs that was filmed in the studio. You can watch it here or below.
“Kærlighedstræet” is an old Danish folk song that I first time recorded with the singer Ditte Rønn when we had our duo RØST.
It’s just a simple melody in minor that shifts to major in the middle before it returns to minor again. The accompaniment is almost drone like which gives a lot of freedom to the improvisation.
The RØST version can be heard here:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5qfaMBG37cCZJNWbMsERSv?si=09DPVHg5QWW_bjglKe4WGg
“Jeg er træt og går til ro” is a Danish psalm that I love. It means “I’m tired and going to rest” and is also sometimes used as a funeral psalm.
“Alba” is my homage to the Italian city in Piemonte region that I have visited several times and played concerts through and with my good friend there Italian guitarist Filippo Cosentino
The trio played in Alba a few years ago in an old Catholic Church which was amazing.
I like giving homages to cities and places I have been that has had a special impact or left a special nice memory. Like the song “Trieste” on our “Home” album.
“New Beginning” was a collective improvisation that happened spontaneously in the studio. I loved the vibe and decided to put it one the album.
“Sospiri, Op.70” by Edward Elgar is one of my favorite classical pieces that I arranged for the trio and which became the ending piece on “Echoes”. “Sospiri” (Italian for “Sighs”) is a slow adagio with a mesmerizing melody originally composed for piano and violin. When listening to the original version you wouldn’t think that this was the same person who also composed “Pomp and Circumstance” 🙂