PRESS & CRITICS
Michael Haas, Producer -London ( Haas has produced artists such as Luciano Pavarotti & Plácido Domingo etc )
" Initial impressions indicate a strong, very engaging and creative musician
with excellent arrangements. Congratulations! You are clearly an artist of
enormous talent and intelligence. I am admiring your artistry."
Cadence Magazine, Slim & Michael Coyle ( USA )
" As a composer, lyricist and vocalist we pretty much have to acknowledge that Sophie is a
genuine triple threat. "
Musenblätter, Frank Becker- ( Germany )
"This exceptional Swedish artist is not only a vocal virtuoso in the delivery of
the 17 pieces she composed, set the text, and arranged on this exhilarating album
—she is also an outstanding talent, whose emphatic and thoughtful impression in
the future of contemporary music, jazz, and song comes around very rarely.
Sophie Dunér has attained the most unattainable, namely, to be at eye level with
Kurt Weill, Lennon/McCartney, Gordon Sumner, Ricky Lee Jones and Kate Bush."
All about Jazz Italia, Vincenzo Roggero ( Italy )
"A multifaceted, fascinating singer with an extraordinary vocal technique used in
an expressive way.A witty writer, self-confident composer and sophisticated arranger.
Her flexible voice is well suited either to sing Brechtian songs or Hollywood musicals
and able to get nordic nocturnal moods, agile vocalise and Hendrix-inspired rhythms.
Always with great confidence and extreme dexterity moving from very high registers to
almost guttural sounds, keeping good care of swing and melody. "
Tobias Fischer, Tokafi ( Germany )
"A stunningly multi-talented one-woman-army of singer, composer, painter and inventive arranger,
equally capable of creating slow-dance mantras as well as brusquely avantgardistic vaudeville-style Lieder."
Massimo Ricci, Temporary Fault ( Italy )
"Brecht and Hendrix with strings in a jazz club....thick substance and a distinct personality, which
distance her from the gazillions of clones infecting this genre, are present in several of these pieces.
There’s much to savour in this excellent work, worthy of the utmost attention ."
Jason Dowd, The Expressionist - ( USA )
"Ever so often something unique and fresh comes showing it’s bright new face
and that new something is Sophie Dunér. When I listen to The City of My Dreams,
it reminds me of an era with strong vocal artists, now legends, and powerful bands
in the back. That’s right, it reminds me of 30s and 40s big band with the legendary
sounds of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Johnnie Mathis, but with a modern tone.
Sophie breaks out of the same old, same old and dares to be great in her
album which I feel she pulled off successfully. It puts her apart from the crowd with the
chance to shine. I give the CD 5 out of 6 stars."
Tidningen Kulturen, Guido Zeccola ( Sweden )
"Between Kronos and Krause. Her vocal equilibrities and her capability to
switch between different styles makes her one of the most interesting singers
in our country.The voice rattles , falls to later catch itself in the higher register.
It throws itself into black holes in between stones and rocks and spreads itself
in thin ribbons of waves."
Jazz.com, Bill Barnes ( USA )
"Once in a while, out of the great sea of noise known as independent music,
one encounters a rare and exotic species. Such a discovery is the enigmatic
Swedish singer, composer, poet and painter Sophie Dunér. Prolific, fearless
and quirky.Here she proves she can hold her own in the jazz world as well,
backed by a New York-based minimalist trio.It is the perfect vehicle for
Dunér's quasi-cryptic lyrics and edgy vocal style. "Two Time Losers" teeters
between cabaret and bluesy acoustic jazz, rewarding the ear with a raw, fresh
intensity that well serves the irony of the lyrics. Dunér's deceptively sweet voice
betrays a dark undercurrent. This is East Village coffeehouse poetry-jazz, to be
served with bitter espresso, trails of cigarette smoke and black fishnet stockings.
Sophie, you are just too cool."
Jazz.com, Bill Barnes ( USA )
"This remarkable talent wears many hats, including painter, poet and arranger.
Known primarily for her bold modern classical-oriented vocal numbers backed
by string quartet or orchestra, she is a prime example of this new wave of "culturanauts,"
hurtling over commercial barriers and breaking down conceptual doors. Here Dunér
demonstrates her range and flexibility by taking the reins of an Ellington favorite and
driving it down the road less traveled. Backed by a surprisingly powerful New York-
based acoustic trio, her sultry, controlled delivery and superb phrasing never sound
contrived or forced.her "Caravan" delivers the goods across the frontiers of what is
increasingly becoming a wilderness of uncharted musical territory."
Eelco Schilder, Folkword ( Germany )
"A fabulous singer with strong techniques and the capability to sing out of the heart. A beautiful album
with intriguing compositions".
Magnus Eriksson, Rootsy.nu ( Sweden )
" Feline she switches from the low-key and intimate into virtuoso pirouettes high up in the registers, as swift and
imperceptibly as she slides from semi-smoky cabaret atmospheres into expressive atonalities. With a brilliant vocal
art, it’s also prodigiously beautiful in its searching and exploring aesthetic values."
Sophie on the " Best of the year " list in Rootsy.nu !
Pierre Elie Mamou, Scherzo ( Spain )
" Radiant, the sun shines on this CD by Sophie Dunér. Brilliant enough to measure her despair and in spite of so much
sadness, she continues to surprise herself. Her aesthetics follow the paths of some experiences of the Kronos or by the
Brodsky with Elvis Costello, Sting, Björk, Jacqui Dankworth or Meredith Monk........a creation inspired by material from the
street that sounds in the speed of a carousel".
Cuadernos de Jazz, Eduardo Hojman ( Spain )
Sophie Dunér has a powerful voice: versatile, expressive and bombastic......the irony and the occasional melancholy flaneur of her
lyrics are a lot of Kurt Weill.......The string arrangements play with the friction between rhythms and folk melodies and classicism.....
Lena Margret Junoff, Duke Ellington singer
"Sophie is a fantastic virtuoso , something in between Alice Babs and Sarah Vaughan. If she had
met Duke Ellington with me, he would have engaged her with his orchestra. A fantastic composer
and lyricist. The lyrics are enormous, too much for me to handle. Ellington would have loved her madly.
I agree with all the critics in New York and in Sweden."
Nordische Musik, Peter Bickel
"Who likes it, for him it will be the highest.
Recommended drink: Absinth, not less than 4 liters."
C.I.M.P, Records/ Bob Rusch ( who has produced artists such as Chet Baker & Cecil Taylor )
- CD RELEASE - Redwood,NY 2006
“I was impressed by her form-filling yet ethereal vocal integration
within a jazz combo and also by her original compositions. Sophie
Dunér is both a personal and original singer and a composer of
substance. Her talents are well in evidence on this recording.
She is a mature, seasoned and original voice. In addition, she has
written over half of the tunes for this stunning release, originals as
notable as the standards she chose to accompany them. This is a
memorable vocalist, composer/lyricist, and presentation. "
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vittorio Lo Conte, All about Jazz - Italia
"The answear to C.I.M.P and Bob Rusch, to Blue Note
and Norah Jones is called Sophie Dunér. Here comes
to C.I.M.P a special personality with her own musical
vision beyound the typical genre....Sophie Dunér is a very
original singer and a strong composer that writes lyrics that
are everything but trivial ....."
Michael Coyle, Cadence Magazine
".....her sensibility and smarts are what make her songs—
and they contribute crucially to making this record .
Duner behaves according to the familiar credos of
Modern Art...."
David Kane, Cadence Magazine
"Textually, her occasionally cryptic lyrics explore the
vagaries of male-female relationships with a wryness,
authenticity, and humor that springs from real life
experience—no starry eyed romanticism here.
Rain in Spain is good music, fine singing, and interesting
writing ably performed by four excellent musicians.
Let’s hear more from Sophie and company."
s unusual the label and its recording technique is, as unusual is the Swedish singer Sophie
Peter Bickel, Nordische Musik
"As unusual the label and its recording technique is, as
unusual is the Swedish singer Sophie Dunér, she is much
more than just a ( jazz ) singer. With her incredible width,
the possibilities of her voice and loads of imagination, she
creates her own song universe between jazz, chanson, folk
and fast poetry slam songs and could create an addiction.
And with her love for Duke Ellington, that surely would
sharpen his ears if he had heard her version of ”Caravan”,
”Lush Life” etc"
KH Stockhausen, composer ( about the CD )
"I am surprised about the "American Style" of singing after
having for two years our courses....... "
John Altman ( Titanic, Goldeneye, Björk )
"I like the places you go and the risks you take. Your voice
has a very rich quality, a bit like Norma Winstone and the
repetoire is nicely varied and interesting....."
Ingvar Loco Nordin, SONOLOCO RECORD REVIEWS 2006
"When it comes to Sophie’s achievements they are marvelous.
Her texts are fascinating, head-on, humorous, venomous,
intelligent, funny and with that dark, serious strike that raises
them out of the present,to a common ground without genres
or brands, where the songs live their own life and stand their
ground. Her melodies are almost all of the time plain hit material,
and her singing, not least, is wonderful, brilliant, sexy and melancholy
– and her phrasing is out of this world! "
Derek Taylor - Dusted Magazine 2006
"Sophie Dunér comes up with something personal and persuasive to say.
I hear some of Joan Armatrading in her warm, folksy way of phrasing a
lyric and lacing it with falsetto trills. There’s a little Anita O’Day in there
too, with a sassy insouciance sharpening some of her turns of verse.
Dunér’s songsmithing is suitably idiosyncratic with imagery that leaves
much to the imagination. “Jack the Ripper” finds her dealing in Yma
Sumac-evocative octave leaps. The follow-up “Lonely Woman” copped
from the Horace Silver songbook not Coleman, reminds me of the
mellower side of Patty Waters mixed with Nina Simone."
Other reviews & comments:
"SONOLOCO RECORD REVIEWS - STOCKHOLM, 2005
" Listening to this Gummeson Gallery recording and working with
the music and texts, it dawns upon me with brute force what an excellent,
yes, brilliant, composer Sophie Dunér is, in a complete, genuine sterling
way. Her texts – intelligent, biting, sardonic, parodic, humorous but also
serious and gentle – are at one with her tunes, her arrangements, and
such is the vibrant atmosphere around her creativity that I don’t fear to
say that she is among the top ten writers of contemporary jazz tunes in
the world. Furthermore, her interpretations of her own songs – her
intonation, her phrasing, her absolute stage presence – set her apart
from most of her comparable contemporaries; allows her a very special
place in the limelight – and I can only wish that she will sweep the world
into breathless surrender – because she’s worth it! "
Ingvar Loco Nordin, music critic
SCANDINAVIUM - THE NATIONAL ANTHEM 2005
" You can hear when there´s quality "
Gunnar Larsson, president of the Gothenburg Opera 2005
" This is without doubt one of the better things I´ve heard during
the rescent years!"
Gilad Atzmon, The Orient House Ensemble 2005
" I am very impressed. Never stop writing and singing your own music
- you are already apart of a very creative group called musicians"
Flora Purim, Brazilian Jazz Singer 2004
WITH GILES STANLEY IN LONDON
" It is hard to find singers with intelligent music"
Giles Stanley, BBC management 2004
WITH JOHN HARLE I LONDON
" You remind me of producing Ute Lemper 8 years ago"
John Harle, Michael Nyman band 2004
" Your art and music is like a meeting between Picasso and Grace Jones"
Derek O Brien, BMG records 2004
HOLENSTEIN KULTUR ZENTRUM, GLARUS,CH
" An otstanding voice. Her marvelous way of singing and her incredible
voice reminds us of how much crap music we listen to every day through the radio"
Südostschweiz Presse AG 2001 read full article
CLAMORES JAZZ CLUB, MADRID, SPAIN.
" On stage, a nocturne and majestic voice such as the one of Karin Krogh
or Sidsel Endressen, we have the young promising singer Sophie Dunér."
Luís Martín, ABC Madrid 2000 read full article
WITH THE INTERPLAY COLLECTIVE IN KARLSRUHE, GERMANY.
" I cant forget Sophie Dunér, the Swedish singer. She has an incredibly
expressive voice and she was also convinsing as a composer"
Frieder Von Ammond, Baadische Neuste 1997 read full article
Featuring an intense Spanish vocalk performance by Sophie Dunér.
EL MINOTAURO CD ( BY GULLERMO KLEIN )
"....with an intense vocal Spanish performance by Sophie Dunér. "
David R. Adler, All Music Guide, New York 1997 read full article
AT CAJA MADRID AVANTE GARDE CONCERT
"Jazz has caracterized her carreer and evolution..."
Santy Lopez, La Voz de Galicia read full article
WITH THE ART TRIO AT GETXO JAZZ FESTIVAL
" The strong and expressive force in the voice of Sophie Dunér are a
few things that characterizes the Art Trio...".
Bizcaya Buru Bazaar, Bilbao, Spain 1997
THE INTERPLAY COLLECTIVE CD " DANCE WITH ME "
"Notable is the warm and smooth voice of Sophie Dunér"
Phontastic, Zürich 1997
THE STOCKHOLM JAZZ FESTIVAL
" Sophie Dunér came from Boston and was a success at the Stockholm Jazz Festival "
Orkesterjournalen 1994 read full article
BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC IMPROVISATION CLASS
" You sing the shit out of the hornplayers "
Hal Crook, Berklee College jazz improvisation prof. 1992
LUIS ESCOLAR, COMPOSER OF "LIVIN LA VIDA LOCA"
"You are too good for the big recordlabels"