Nordkraft Big Band, Remy Le Boeuf, and Danielle Wertz: Silent Course
Gateway Music

If ever a collaboration was destined to happen, it's the one involving vocalist Danielle Wertz and saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf. Their chemistry was clear the moment their stars aligned at a 2023 Denver release show for her album Other Side and was further cemented when she joined his Assembly of Shadows outfit for a Jazz Gallery performance in New York and contributed to the group's 2024 album Heartland Radio. Things moved to a higher level when Le Boeuf, newly ensconced as Chief Conductor of the Denmark-based Nordkraft Big Band, invited her to participate in the group's next project, one vocal-based and thus naturally geared to her talents.

The result flatters all concerned with a triumphant collection of glorious ensemble and vocal performances and arrangements by Le Boeuf that bring out the best in all concerned. To be clear, Wertz's contributions extend beyond singing, as pivotal as her vocals are: complementing tunes credited to Le Boeuf, one by him alone and another co-written with Sara Pirkle, and two covers, Wertz is credited with three songs and a fourth with Jake Shaprio (two, “Rest Your Head” and “Turn In,” reprised from Other Side). Lyrically, the album encompasses a broad range, from introspective questioning to reflections on time's passing and a world in turmoil, with songs tailored to reinforce the subject matter.

The album's distinguished by many things, the exceptional calibre of the singing and writing, for starters, but mention must be made of the deft stylistic integration that's achieved. Elements of jazz, art song, and folk converge in the eight pieces, with the balance tipping slightly in one direction on a given track. While there are moments where the eighteen-member outfit (including Le Boeuf as conductor and alto saxophonist) does play with the muscularity of a large unit, Nordkraft Big Band as often calibrates its playing to support Wertz and allow her tremulous voice to work its magic. She's one of those singers who lifts a song with seemingly effortless poise, pitch-perfect command, a lustrous tone, and supple delivery. The band itself draws on a wealth of experience, having issued nine albums before Silent Course since its 2010 founding.

Buoyed by Luka Dgebuadze's piano intro, Wertz enhances her “Rest Your Head" with sensuous vocal artistry, and the sound of her emoting intensely alongside the purr of Le Boeuf's alto speaks to the connection the two share. Credit Wertz with selecting a deeper Joni cut for the project than one more frequently covered such as “A Case of You” or “Both Sides Now.” “I Had a King” is as mesmerizing in this context as it is on Mitchell's debut set Song to a Seagull, especially when the dramatic medieval tale's wrapped in a resplendent orchestra-styled arrangement. Speaking of drama, witness the theatrical highs and lows a self-questioning Wertz goes through during “Where Do I Go?,” and don't miss either the jazzy turn it takes when Dgebuadze nudges it in a jazz trio direction. The album's other cover, a sterling rendition of Madison Cunningham's “Something To Believe In,” benefits from an intimate ballad-styled reading that suits Wertz's vocal character perfectly.

Arresting in the extreme is the folk-ballad splendour of “Aberdeen,” the arrangement as gorgeous as the singer's vocal. Written by Le Boeuf with poet Pirkle, the title track soars with lyrical grace, Wertz distinguishing the material with a dignified reading and impeccable vocal control and Le Boeuf augmenting her with heartfelt saxophone phrases. A lament for a world despoiled by war, gun violence, and wildfires, “Turn In” could have ended the album on a note of despair, but Wertz and Shaprio instead deliver a soulful message of hope without denying the precariousness of the situation (“So weep because the world is weeping / And hold on tight because the world is turning in”).

June 2025