Leni Stern African Trio
8 pm., Thursday February 07 | $10.
[MALI JAZZ] Mali is in the news again, and as usual, for the wrong reasons. The troubled nation has been the wellspring of some of the planet’s greatest music (including the blues) for centuries. A veteran of two dozen albums over three decades and former bandmate of jazz legends Paul Motian and Bill Frisell, the German-born, New York-based jazz-blues guitarist and ngoni (Malian banjo predecessor) player Stern recorded her lively new album, Smoke No Fire, in Bamako just as the country was descending into its latest spasm of chaos. Her long study of the music (including a stint in the great Malian singer Salif Keïta’s band) and connections with Malian griots and musicians enabled her to write and sing English and Bambara lyrics based on folk songs’ original meanings. But forget the singing and rapping: It’s Stern and her band’s bubbly, sometimes fiery instrumental prowess that makes this latest Malian export worth hearing.
Where: Camellia Lounge
Phone: 221-2130
Address: 510 NW 11th Ave.
Where: Camellia Lounge
Phone: 221-2130
Address: 510 NW 11th Ave.
