Barb, Bob and Brel at the Jermyn St Theatre, SW1 December 2002
In the fickle heart of the West End, at the turbulent epicentre of the pre-Christmas push and shove, the English chanteuse Barb Jungr has created a sanctuary for tender passion, wit and soul-searching reflection. Down in the crypt-like space of the Jermyn Street Theatre, Barb, Bob and Brel brings together an unlikely but wholly mesmerising trinity of talents - a world-class female vocalist and two of the great male singer-songwriters of modern times - Bob Dylan and Jacques Brel.

Faced with the question "what exactly do Dylan and Brel have in common?", Jungr leaves her thesis paper blank. She may sound like a scarily intense, spiky sort - thanks to her Czech and German parentage - but, born in Rochdale, her most salient personality traits are earthiness and pluck, denoted by the warmest of smiles. She's marrying Bob'n'Brel because she took a shine to both. It's that simple. With Jungr you quickly realise you're in the presence of someone who feels her way instinctively into the heart of the music she loves; self-aggrandisement isn't her game. She ends up achieving an informal atmosphere in which general affinities between the two are there for the spotting - the intensity, the intelligence, the way irony is used to shield raw emotion. Songs expressing similar moods, most of them dark and lovelorn, are paired off. And, by paring down the original arrangements with her piano accompanist Russell Churney, she persuasively places Dylan within a European cabaret tradition - without claiming him as a permanent fixture.

The warm radiance of her voice makes the material softer, stiller. Those irritated by Dylan's whiney warble will find the diva's unostentatious opulence a real fillip, while diehard fans can hardly take offence to hear such heartfelt tracks as If Not For You (1970) and What Good Am I? (1989) given such heartfelt utterance. Only in her skipping-rope quick version of Tangled Up in Blue does one miss the jangled tones of Dylan himself. I could quibble that I'd rather hear the Brel in the original French than in translation - the flatness of, say, The Song of the Old Lovers compared with La Chanson des vieux amants is a typical by-product of anglicisation. But Jungr's evocative melancholia, alive to the despondency at human transience in Amsterdam, or alert to the plaintive urgency in Ne Me Quitte Pas, provides ample compensations. This is an enchanting evening, a perfect antidote to seasonal shallowness. Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph, December 2003

Joe's Pub, New York, 2003
Barb Jungr, an acclaimed cabaret singer from Manchester, England, who specializes in Bob Dylan and Jacques Brel, has the gift of clarification. The singer, who returned to Joe's Pub on Saturday evening, four months after a well-received engagement at the Flea Theater in SoHo, is an amalgam of stylistic crosscurrents, from folk to jazz to French chanson, which she has scrupulously melded into a forceful personal voice.
Accompanied by a bass player and a pianist who doubled on the accordion, she maintained a steady balance between interpretive explication and a theatrical dramatization that involved boldly expressive body language. Although Ms. Jungr doesn't play down the turmoil and angst of Dylan and Brel, everything she sings is informed by the extroverted drive of a communicator. Especially with Mr. Dylan, she digs beneath the songwriter's chameleon persona to ferret out a song's emotional core, and what she discovers can be revelatory. "I Want You," arranged as spare cabaret waltz, shed its air of defensiveness and became a naked confession of longing. Even more penetrating was "Not Dark Yet," a bleak, fatalistic ballad from Mr. Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" album. The Brel songs, including "La Chanson des Vieux Amants," "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and "Les Marquises" came with sharp new English translations that plucked off any lingering sentimental fluff to uncover a starker vision than is evoked by the somewhat flowery versions in circulation. .
STEPHEN HOLDEN - THE NEW YORK TIMES Jan. 22.03

Joe's Pub, New York, January 2003
Stating with conviction and charm that she ís drawn to songwriters who ‘bear witness,’ she gives the Bob Dylan and Jacques Brel canons readings as deep as or deeper than the original manufacturers’. The thrush, who has quite a reputation in England and on the Continent and wowed ‘em at the Flea Theater a couple months back, effortlessly findsr links between the two so-called legends that manage to deepen appreciation of both. One of the best examples of the cross-pollinating is her combination of Brelís little-known ‘Les Marquises’ and Dylan’s ‘Not Dark Yet.’ She’s fleshy and voluptuous in her flowery gown and beautiful in a way that has nothing to do with conventional definitions.
David Finkle The VILLAGE VOICE Shortlist, January 2003

Barb, Bob and Brel: Jermyn Street Theatre, London
THIS SHOULD be a treat. Though Barb Jungr has long been one of our finest singers, her work has reached new heights in the past few years. She has channelled much of her energy into winning over British audiences. Her album Chanson: The Space in Between was an intriguing journey across the language barrier. For these concerts she will be performing a bold set of reworkings of songs by Bob Dylan and Jacques Brel. Memo to the fans of both: check your preconceptions at the door.
Clive Davies, The Sunday Times, November 2002

Were someone twisting my arm to nominate the most important new act I've seen this year, I'd blurt out Barb Jungr, who just completed a three-week Flea Theater stay. Most of the items she probed are on her "Every Grain of Sand" CD; they sound fine, but only hint at her onstage brilliance.) She's the best kind of actor because she thrives on taking risks -- on knowing the rules and when to break them. A spontaneous, perfect set.'
David Finkel, Backstage, New York, September 2002.

'She’s all right doing Dylan. Jungr, in her sweet and intimate show, is clearly on to something.'
Lee Jeske, The New York Post, September 2002

'Jungr is in such persuasive form that the music sounds richer than ever.'
Clive Davis, The Times, December 2002

'A world class vocalist'
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph, Dec. 2002

'Wider Stateside recognition is in order.'
Robert L. Daniels, Variety, New York, October 2002

BARB JUNGR
Every Grain Of Sand
(Linn Records AKD 187)

'Ever felt guilty about admiring Bob Dylan's songs but never liking his voice? Barb Jungr - Britain's finest interpreter of grown-up cabaret - comes to the rescue on this haunting collection of 15 Dylan numbers.'
Clive Davis, The Sunday Times

'Her instrument is shockingly expressive, with an astonishing palette of colours, and thats before she gets down to the business of interpretation. Singing Dylan’s eloquent short stories she flashes between crooning tenderness on 'If Not For You' to full blooded lament on 'Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right'. She can sound as husky and cracked as Judy Dench and like her, she understands characterisation. Jungr repeatedly reawakens detailed emotion lying dormant in lyrics. I just hope that Dylan himself has a listen and starts writing for her direct'.
David Benedict, The Observer On Sunday March 2002

'Jungr approaches the Dylan songbook with a rare degree of intelligence, relishing each line in the manner of a true chansonnier. The kind of voice that many more should get around to hearing.'
Fred dellar, MOJO

'The Rochdale born singer is nothing if not her own woman - as spirited as they come, brave and true. Catch her in performance - and there’s no more electrifying theatrical performer than Jungr when she’s flying....and 'I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight' has to be just about the sexiest thing on two legs'. Carole Woddis, The Glasgow Herald

'Jungr, a shrewd, articulate and subtle artist of German and Czech parentage, insists that spontaneity has to be in sympathy with the essence of the material. In this week’s shows Dylan’s American folks-bluesy poetry performs a subtle dance with voicings and ensemble sounds from jazz and with Jungr’s own European cabaret history. Jungr is devoted to sympathetically framing Dylan's words'
John Fordham,The Guardian March 2002

'Jungr's collection, 'Every Grain Of Sand' comes as a quiet revelation....her sensual performance casts the songs in a fresh light.'
Clive Davis, The Times March 2002

'There is a faint hint of Lotte Lenya meets Bob Dylan... on this odd, but refreshing and strangely touching album.'
Martin Gayford, The Telegraph April 2002

'Moving and beautifully crafted'
Diva Magazine April 2002

'Never less than arresting. The revelation of Jungr’s performance was in presenting Dylan as a musical figure closer to Kurt Weill and Stephen Sondheim than any contemporary from rock’n’pop. A cabaret artist’s subversiveness marked Dylan out when he burst on to the Greenwich Village fold scene of the early 1960s, and what Jungr suggests is that he could have gone on to have a career on Broadway. When you remember that among those who tried to take possession of 'Blowin'’ In The Wind' was Marlene Dietrich, the idea that a sensual chanteuse such as Jungr might give Dylan the treatment is not so far fetched. Jungr has a big voice with a tremendous expressive range, and she revelled in Dylan’s wit and lyricism. Resist the urge to shout 'Judas'.
Simon O’Hagan, The Independent on Sunday 18 March 2002

Listen to selected tracks
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BARB JUNGR
Chanson – The Space in Between
(Linn Records AKD 129)

'One of the Ten best  jazz albums of the year' (December 2000)
Clive Davies, jazz critic - The Sunday Times

'The renditions are so sensitively handled that only the most fastidious purists would object' (August 2000)
Clive Davis, jazz critic - The Sunday Times

'It takes courage – not to say foolhardiness – to adapt the poetry of French songs for English ears. Barb Jungr's imaginative programme of Brel, Ferré and Prévert – seasoned with the occasional modern pop number – was a welcome success at Edinburgh this year' (September 2000)
Clive Davis, jazz critic - The Sunday Times

Listen to selected tracks
Buy at Linn Records.com
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'The transmission of sincerity through music is one of the most intangible and difficult challenges a singer can undertake. Jungr, it must be said, rises to the occasion magnificently. Her voice shifts gear from song to song and within each song to bring these diverse pieces to life, but the sincerity behind the voice is palpable and constant. Jungr's album is a wonderful thing. Its greatest achievement is to take a collection of songs, mainly love songs, and deliver them living and breathing into the 21st century.

A great love song has a life all of its own – as we grow older and grapple with our own changing concerns, the love song waits in the wings, eternally young. It takes custodians such as Barb Jungr to breathe life back into the love song, to remind us that it never really went away'  
Sandy Starr - Culture Wars

'Barb Jungr, lauded at the Edinburgh Festival and winner of at least one Perrier Award for wowing the critics there, completes unique translations of recognisable French songs… …Her vocals – deep, soaring, open-throated, altogether abandoned in some parts – are quite astonishing for their trickyability to move us from casual listening to causal emotion. I give her five stars; the only thing better is to catch her live…'
CD Reviews - Amazon.com

'Barb’s interpretation of Brel’s Marieke is so beautiful and haunting it’s hard not to fall instantly in love with it'
Michael Hootman - G Scene Magazine

Pizza on the Park
February 2001
Barb Jungr is a true original, which is her strength but also creates a marketing problem. Which performance box do we put her in? Folk singer? Jazz, cabaret or art songstress? She is all of these, but none of them alone. Record shops apparently have the same problem. She tells us her albums have been found in the easy listening, country and western, folk and jazz racks. No wonder you are never quite sure where to see her perform either, let alone what she will perform. One minute she is doing the Purcell Room, the next she is here.

But let us forget categories and just enjoy this expert celebration of chansons, mostly European and frequently by Brel, but also embracing Cole Porter and original songs by herself as well as Simon Wallace, the latter of whom leads a fine trio from the piano, joined by Julie Walkington (double bass) and Kim Burton (accordian and piano).

Jungr has been kicking around for a while now – 'a woman of a certain age, let's not mince words', she admits, and tells us; 'I won't sleep with anyone I could have given birth to' – but her maturity lends weight and experience to her repertoire of adult disappointments and regret. Her smoky voice – which sounds as if it has been marinated in Silk Cut and bourbon – and vibrant personality add up to a scintillating cabaret performer.
Mark Shenton - The Stage

Pizza on the Park
February 2001
As Barb explains, translating 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' as 'If You Go Away' loses something of the real meaning behind the sentiments. Des de Moor's English translation 'Don't Leave Me Now' is much nearer to the original. This and 'La Chanson des Vieux Amants' (The Song of the Old Lovers), 'Marieke', 'Quartier Latin' and 'Sunday Morning St Denis' are all performed with an expressive and emotive passion by Barb Jungr of which no doubt Monsieur Brel would have wholeheartedly approved. Interlaced with her own numbers such as 'Where Are You Now?' and Fran Landesmann's 'Scars' written with Barb's accompanist Simon Wallace, this is a very promising and satisfying set.

What astonished me about Barb Jungr is that she is quite unlike any other singer I can recall. Usually one can make certain comparisons but here it is quite impossible to do that. Visually I was reminded of Jilly Goolden and Margi Clarke and the strong Lancashire accent in her speaking voice for the chat between the numbers had me thinking of Coronation Street. She is quite a chatterer between songs, giving entertaining reminiscences of her childhood in Stockport – but vocally she is unique.

Barb Jungr will return to the South Bank later in the year and no doubt will also be back in the Knightsbridge music room. She is certainly an act worth catching.
Michael Darvell - What's On