"With a haunting alto of suggestiveness and controlled force, Elisabeth Lohninger ...combines intimations of sensuality with poetic observation, artistic sensibility with the compression of meaning within the songs. With subtlety and grace, [she] has developed her own persona as a singer, unlike that of any other..." (©Bill Donaldson, Jazz Improv Magazine)

Most creative while biking through the canyons of Manhattan, jazz vocalist Elisabeth Lohninger gets her greatest revelations when hitting New York traffic, which is also true for her lastest one, namely that the essence of her music is - really - rhythm. That is why the native Austrian, who has lived in this city for 10 years, hired a team of groovers and shakers to realize her latest project. On her new CD "Beneath Your Surface" - mostly originals penned by the vocalist - she plays with odd metres, afro-cuban grooves and a satisfying portion of funk, supported by Walter Fischbacher, piano, Steve Doyle, bass and Hari Ganglberger, drums.

There are not many jazz singers who sing primarily their own compositions. On her new CD, "Beneath Your Surface", Elisabeth Lohninger (who was born in Austria and has been living in New York for the last ten years)performs in English, French, and German and manages to swing or cast a spell in all of them.
One song on the album that she didn't write is Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and this is done in Lohninger's own sensitive arrangement. Incidentally, her English is flawlessly enunciated without a trace of an accent. "Frag mich nicht, ob ich dich lieve" ("Don't Ask Me Whether I Love You") is done as a longue-in-cheek tango. Her own originals are intelligent and musically complex. "I Remember" is a ballad about the transience of love, while "Lost in You" is a jazz waltz and "Sleep Slowly" is sort of a romantic lullaby.
"Home" has driving rhythms as does the title track. Lohninger's band (Walter Fischbacher on piano, Steve Doyle on bass, and Hari Ganglberger on drums) is up to the demands of her music and the CD is filled with fine solos, though none outdo Lohninger's own multi-octave voice. This is a singer who is a true original, building up a distinctive body of work and performing her songs with sensitivity and abandon."

   ©Barry Bassis, Town & Village, New York