Leni Stern

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 day of show (plus applicable service charges).

Leni and the crew will be on KUNM's Afternoon Freeform with DJ Scott Denton on Thursday, February 16 at roughly 2:30 pm.

Born in Munich, Germany, Leni Stern [web site | Amazon.com] started playing piano at the age of six and guitar at eleven. At seventeen, she formed her own acting company, and her radical productions sold out houses across Europe. In 1977, she turned her attention to music and left for the United States to study film scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Scoring gave way to her love for guitar and in 1981, Leni moved to New York to play in a variety of rock and jazz bands. In 1983, she formed a group of her own with Paul Motion on drums and Bill Frisell on guitar. As a recording artist, she originally made a name for herself in jazz circles (her first nine albums were instrumental,) then crossed her talents over into the singer-songwriter realm, garnering consistent praise in the process. Critics have said her music incorporates "intelligent lyrics and beautifully drawn vignettes" (Washington Post), "crystalline, jazz-meets-blues guitar lines" (Guitar Player), and "thoughtful structure, evocative moods, attention to groove" (San Francisco Bay Guardian). A "fleet and lyrical guitarist" (The New Yorker). "A gifted singer-songwriter with a wide-ranging sensibility and sophisticated guitar and harmonic chops" (The Boston Globe).  

Five consecutive wins of Gibson’s Female Jazz Guitarist of the Year might make anyone hunker down and focus on going "six for six."  But Leni Stern has always defied expectations, and her diverse career in music is a textbook example of growth under a self-imposed fire. From the expert instrumentalist, a singer-songwriter emerged, with observations to share from her travels throughout the world.   Stern adds: "Why deny the impulse to put words to these experiences?  I couldn't think of a reason."

With the 2005 release of When Evening Falls, Stern evoked recent travels to Kenya, India and New Orleans to deliver a haunting singer-songwriter album.  Mix in her trademark bluesy guitar solos and the jazz-infused "On The Outside" and "Dancin' With the Devil," and a burst of creativity is revealed – ten songs which reflect an artist who has seen the world, experienced life, recorded 13 albums, and continues to grow.

Indeed, with the 2006 release of Love Comes Quietly, Stern showcased her uncanny ability to paint extraordinary images amid familiar and exotic backdrops alike. The album opens with 'Cheyenne', a rumination on Native American culture, and the destruction and disrepair embodied by the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Stern sings to an apparition, "all I'd ask for is water, send us water..." amid the haunting violins of Ernesto Villa-Lobos.

The release of 2007's Alu Maye (Have you heard) boldly juxtaposes Stern's trademark inventive guitar and vocal explorations with the indigenous sounds of accomplished African instrumentalists and singers. The result is at once haunting, exuberant, cinematic, personal and resoundingly assured. Stern has discovered her surest artistic footing in the sahel and savanna of Africa.  

Her latest independent release, Sabani, offers a musical journey into her more authentic acoustic African experience.  For this concert, she'll be fronting a quartet featuring Kofo (from Nigeria on talking drum and vocals), Alioune Faye (from Mali on percussion) and Mamadou Ba (from Senegal on bass).

The evening will start with a live interview by John and Viv from Art of the Song Creativity Radio, followed by a full concert performance.