LENI STERN - 4
June 16, 2020
Label: Leni Stern Recordings, 2020
Personnel - Leni Stern: vocals, guitar, ngoni; Leo Genovese: keys; Mamadou Ba: electric bass; Alioune Faye: percussion + guest Mike Stern: guitar.
For a few years now, German-born, New York-based guitarist/vocalist/composer Leni Stern has been exploring unparalleled world-jazz territories imbued with West African influences. On her new outing, 4, Stern’s trio with Senegalese musicians - bassist Mamadou Ba and percussionist Alioune Faye - is augmented with the addition of Argentine keyboardist Leo Genovese. In this manner, the group earns ampler harmonic and rhythmic magnitudes as well as a deeper improvisational perspective.
“Lambar” is a Malian rhythm that, in the case at hand, is adapted and hyped up with wafting electric bass articulations, n’goni and synth sounds. However, I was far more attracted to “Amadeus”, a gorgeous ambient-pop ballad with some bluesy piano details that would make Tom Waits happy. Both the voice and the piano are very melodically driven and there’s a soulful guitar solo that builds a special aura. Also balladic in nature, the breezy “Chartwell” exposes a three time feel that is extended to the inventive “Japalema”, a Genovese composition that intertwines melodies based on the Japanese pentatonic scale, the spirit of the blues and rich rhythms. Ba’s funkified bass lines are heard in the first half minute, but then the song takes us into places other than what had been suggested at a first glance. The experimental effusions from Genovese become the song’s irresistible attraction.
Featuring Leni’s husband - the iconic guitarist Mike Stern - as a guest soloist, “Habib” dives deep in the groove and African rhythm, detaching from the more tempered nature of “Miu”, which, carrying an appealing, sunny feel, appears as a tuneful confluence of styles with inspired Nigerian rhythms. Both “Amadeus” and “Miu” were written for and titled after Leni’s cats.
These eight songs, very picturesque in their in-depth eclecticism and peculiar instrumentation, provide a different listening experience.