Billboard - Leni Stern Gathers A Folk Jazz-Tinted 'Recollection'

Billboard
October 31, 1998 Jazz - Blues Notes column by Steve Graybow

Leni Stern Gathers A Folk Jazz-Tinted 'Recollection'

Journeywoman: Two years ago, guitarist Leni Stern decided to form her own record label. "With all the media available, the computers, the online record stores, it's opened up a lot of opportunities for independent artists and labels," explains the ebullient Stern. "As an artist, it is nice to see the product through from the beginning to end. I have a say in the music, the packaging, and the way my music is marketed. Simply, I have control."

The first release on Lent Stern Recordings (LSR) was 1997's "Black Guitar." It was a first for Stern in more ways than one, in that it was also her first album to feature predominantly vocal, folk-influenced songs. "I think every guitarist likes to sit down and sing with their instrument," she explains. "It is also a way to get closer to your listener. It's more of a direct conversation because you are expressing something, addressing the subject of your songs in a very direct way."

"Recollection" Stern's latest outing (due Tuesday [27] from LSR) is a compilation of tracks culled from her past 13 years as a recording artist. Several instruments that originally appeared on the Lipstick and Enja labels are featured along new material recorded specifically for the project. True to her indie aesthetic, Stern fills the package with her own extensive liner notes, providing remarkably candid insight into the often fragile, emotionally charged stories behind her music. "I always liked to sing the blues," explains Stern. "I'm German, and Germans have an incredible fondness for the blues. But since my life experience is so different from that of [blues man] Lightnin' Hopkins, I sing blues that reflect my own life and generation." Those reflections include meditations on Stern's childhood in Germany, where she grew up just miles from the remains of the Dachau concentration camp, and instrumentals that reflect her battle with breast cancer a number of years ago. Stern's voice perfectly compliments her guitar; both are equally clear-toned, honest and direct.  "Somebody recently called my music 'folk jazz' and I liked that," Stern relates. "I always thought that folk music got its name because it was music for the folks, for the people. I think jazz used to be that, but we've gotten away from that. Hopefully, what I'm doing [with my music and with the label] is a move away from the kind of huge mega-stardom that jazz really doesn't lend itself to." Among Stern's collaborators are Paul Motion, Bill Frisell, and vocalist/songwriter Larry John McNally. Saxophonist Dave Binney, a member of Stern's current band, solos with a probing lyricism on several new tracks, adding further depth to the guitarist's playing and song craft. "I struggled with the idea of a compilation album for sometime," Stern explains, with a hint of lingering reluctance. "But after listening back to the material, I realized that it was in many ways a tribute to not only where I've been in my life, but more importantly to great musicians I've befriended and played with."

Ultimately "Recollection" chronicles both an artistic and a personal journey, allowing the listener to share in Stern's joy of self-expression and musical interaction. "I hope that having my own label and control over my musical direction will bring me even closer to my listeners," she says. "I encourage the fans to E-mail their comments and feedback. I want my audience to be as much a part of the music as possible." Stern will be on tour throughout the remainder of the year, in addition to her almost-weekly gig at New York's 55 Bar. Look for her to host a jazz guitar panel at this year's Jazz-Times convention.

Washington Post - Kindness of Stangers

Though Leni Stern's previous recordings have been pointing toward a stylistic leap, from award-winning fusion jazz guitarist to contemporary singer-songwriter, "Kindness of Strangers" still comes as something of a revelation. As accomplished as it is accessible, Stern's latest CD suggests that she's finally found her true voice in the studio - writing, arranging and performing original material.

Beginning with the dreamy ballad "I Call You," Stern creates a series of evocative soundscapes that compliment her fragile but soulful voice and subtly integrate her guitar skills. Her keen pop instincts are readily apparent throughout the album, to the extent that some of the tunes, including "Rescue My Heart" and the title track, wouldn't sound out of place on a Paul Simon album. Yet the combination of Stern's wistful voice, smart lyrics and orchestral designs are distinctive enough to make comparisons pointless. While fans of Stern's more subdued guitar work won't be disappointed with the gentle lyricism she conjures on the touchy "You Won't Forget Me" and other tracks, the emphasis here is on textured arrangements, not six-string artistry. By the time Stern finishes unveiling the Cd's most ambitious and moving piece, "Vedo Il Tuo Viso (I See Your Face)," a nearly 20-minute orchestral suite commemorating a terrorist attack in Italy, her multifaceted talent is shining in ways it never has before.

Guitar Player - Kindness of Strangers

Guitar Player
June 2001 by Adam Levy

Orchestral Maneuvers/Leni Stern Plays with Symphonic Textures Leni stern's latest album, Kindness of Strangers, features the guitarist/songstress in a setting she hasn't explored on any of her previous albums. Her evocative songs and crystalline, jazz-meets-blues guitar lines are still the main attraction, but, this time out, she has surrounded herself with orchestral textures. Her interest in this new approach began in 1998, when she was commissioned to write and perform a piece for guitar and orchestra. While working on this project, stern became enchanted by the richness and depth of the symphonic sounds, and decided to include the commissioned song, "Vedo Il Tuo Viso ( I See Your Face)," on Kindness.

With the lush, 19-minute piece serving as the album's cornerstone, Stern decided to use orchestral textures throughout the album to shade, color, and highlight her already resplendent songs and guitar playing. To keep her recording budget from going overboard, Stern opted to use sampled orchestral sounds instead of live players. But because she and coproducer/coorchestrator George Whittey took pains to make sure the counterfeit cellos and oboes behave like their acoustic counterparts, the album never sounds less than luscious. Stern's voice and guitar tracks - and her rhythm section's animated bass and drum tracks - all meld perfectly with the orchestrated samples, and the album maintains a live-in-thestudio vibe, even though it was crafted in two different studios over a two-month period. Using a fusion of big-studio and home-studio environments, and high-tech and low-tech tools, Stern and Whitty crafted Stern's most ambitious album to date - and managed to have a little fun in the process.

Billboard - Finally the Rain has Come

Billboard
June 8, 2002

FLAG WAVING: Guitarist/vocalist Leni Stern brings forth another genre-hopping exercise with the June 18 release of Finally the Rain Has Come on her own eponymous, Ryko distributed label.
The new album, Stern’s 12th, is the fourth on which the Munich-born performer, who got her start in the jazz business, has sung her own compositions.
Stern says of her move into the vocal realm, " I had sung when I was in Germany, but I didn’t know what to sing. I didn’t want to sing standards, and I didn’t want to perform other people’s songs. I was a composer, and I didn’t know how to write my own lyrics…I just very organically started writing lyrics."
The collection includes some striking songs, including "Empty Hands" and "Bury Me Standing," but the high point of the album is "Where Is God," a powerfully affecting song the New York-based musician wrote in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks there.
"I was pretty incapacitated," she recalls. "We couldn’t play. Every time the amplifier would make a little sound, we would jump two feet in the air. I was speechless for a long time…The whole mind-set was so troublesome. I started to write about it."
Backed by bassist Paul Socolow and drummer Keith Carlock, both members of her working band, Stern gets valuable assists from some well known friends on the album. Saxophonist Michael Brecker is featured on "Where is God," and guitarists Bill Frisell and John Mclaughlin make guest appearances. Stern says of Frisell, who was her guitar teacher and a member of her first band, "It was Bill who told me that I should record my first record. He made me feel like I would insult him if I didn’t record it." She met Mclaughlin early in her career ("He was very gracious-after every concert, he talks to all the little guitar players," she recalls) and reconnected with him when she was studying in India recently. Stern and her group begin a U.S. tour June 21 at the Living Room in New York.

The Washington Post - review of Finally the Rain Has Come

Leni Stern's Welcome 'Rain' Thursday, August 15, 2002

Anyone who has heard "Finally the Rain Has Come," Leni Stern's new CD, was aware of the challenge facing the singer-guitarist at Blues Alley on Tuesday night. The music on "Rain," much of it richly atmospheric, is laced with cameos by such top-tier jazz artists as John McLaughlin, Bill Frisell and Michael Brecker. Conjuring a similar sound onstage, in a stripped-down quartet setting, is no easy task.

Stern and her core band worked small wonders, though, by emphasizing the album's entrancing melodies and the always sincere aspects of her songwriting. Stern's warm embrace of pop, jazz and world-beat influences was also well served by her band mates -- fiddler Jenny Scheinman, bassist Paul Socolow and drummer Keith Carlock.

Beginning with "By the Stars Above," modal passages were adorned with exotic tones and surprisingly colorful textures. At one point, Socolow even played bottleneck-style with the drink he had brought onstage, and during the reprises of the album's raga-like title cut and the Gypsy-inspired "Bury Me Standing," the band covered a lot of territory without ever sounding out of its element. Carlock deftly underpinned the moods with everything from droning pulses to chattering syncopations, and Scheinman's fiddle provided stirring counterpoint to Stern's mostly fingerpicked Stratocaster.

While Stern's soprano isn't imposing, it is an emotionally powerful instrument in the right setting. A case in point is "Where Is God," a song inspired by the events of Sept. 11. It's the standout track on "Rain," and in concert Stern infused the ballad with a compelling mixture of tenderness and outrage.

- Mike Joyce