Singer Knut Kiesewetter has garnered his fair share of fame and fortune; over more than three decades Knut successfully sang his way through everything from pop to German Lieder, blues, and trad jazz on through to bebop, continually topping European polls as best jazz singer. Knut’s “dream band” of one American and six European all-stars graces the cuts on S!W!&L!. Knut chose the songs as much for their stories as for the hip melodies. There’s the Golson classic Whisper Not with iconic jazz singer Jon Hendrick’s lyrics and a smoldering tenor solo, the romance of Blood Sweat and Tears’ Sometimes in Winter, the rock of Roll On The Left Side with its hip organ solo, and Nat Adderley’s Work Song featuring alto saxophonist Leo Wright of Dizzy Gillespie fame. Knut’s at his funky best on his Morning and Evening Blues, and he delivers a sensitive portrait of the Beatles’ Fool on the Hill. Knut treats Nina Simone’s lyrics on I Wish I Knew with the appropriate gospel tinge, and the classic standard Body and Soul lights up with the great Ack Van Rooyen’s bright, warm trumpet. Knut Kiesewetter grew up on the edge of the Baltic Sea, but sounds as if he would be more at home on Chicago’s South side or singing at Harlem’s Apollo Theater!
