Interesting new cd featuring Nels

[jff]

We can always count on Downtown Music Gallery's weekly newsletter to hip us to new Nels releases. This one sounds like a real gem. I can vouch that Jenny Scheinman is an amazing violinist.

 

 

JENNY SCHEINMAN MISCHIEF & MAYHEM With NELS CLINE/TODD SICKAFOOSE/JIM

BLACK - Presents Mischief & Mayhem (JS 01; USA) "Mischief & Mayhem

features Jenny Scheinman on violin & compositions, Nels Cline on

guitars, Todd Sickafoose on bass and Jim Black on drums. You would

wrong to think that this quartet was just an all-star band that Jenny

Scheinman put together to sell some CDs or get gigs. It is much more.

Since moving here from the Bay Area almost a decade ago, Ms.

Scheinman has had released a half dozen discs released, each one

showing a different side to her craft, playing & songwriting and each

one quite wonderful. I was a bit apprehensive (as some jazz snobs

are) when she released a disc as a singer/songwriter but even that

one turned out terrific. Ms. Scheinman has also collaborated with a

diverse cast like Bill Frisell, Bruce Cockburn, Norah Jones and Scott

Amendola, picking up odd bits on inspiration wherever she goes. I've

caught Mischief & Mayhem three times already (at Joe's Pub, Village

Vanguard & Le Pousson Rouge in Feb of 2012) and thought they were

great and always getting better. When Mischief & Mayhem played at the

Vanguard last year, the quartet sounded so good that Jenny went in

the studio for two days to capture their magic.

 

Jenny picked each member of this fine quartet for good reason,

hence they sound like a band that has been around the block a few

times. Since all of the members of this quartet are also members of

different roots/rock bands: Nels Cline (in Wilco), Todd Sickafoose

(for Ani DiFranco) and Jim Black (AlasNoAxis), as well as having some

serious jazz experience, the (marketing) lines between these

different genres have been blurred so that certain terminology in

useless. The opening song, "A Ride with Polly Jean" (for PJ Harvey)

features a variation on a line from "Within You Without You" by the

Beatles. This piece is exquisite, it makes that wisp of fresh air

feel so good on this first 60+ degree day in the late Winter of 2012.

Jenny plays an acoustic violin with a pick-up, her tone warm and

radiant. Nels tugs at our hearts with his angelic device-made swirls.

The interplay between Jenny's violin and Nels' guitars is

consistently spirited, giving both musicians chances to stretch out,

connect and play intricate lines with and around one another. Each of

the each songs on this disc are winners, each has a melody worth

dying for. The ubiquitous Jim Black is also the band's secret weapon

since he approaches each song with different strategies and colors.

Mr. Sickafoose is also the perfect man for the job, never overplaying

and providing the right amount of support throughout. There are a few

tracks like "Devil's Ink" where the quartet rocks hard but never go

overboard too deep. On a piece called "The Audit" it sounds as if

Jenny's violin is weeping, most poignant and completely sublime. One

of my favorites songs is the cutely titled "Ali Farka Touche" which

has an especially infectious melody and great groove. Those of you

who are fans of Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, Jenny and bands like Wilco,

you should really dig this gem as it shines brightly throughout"-

Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

CD $12

[thingfishp]

I'm sold. Check this out. To my ears it sounds like the love child of King Crimson and John Scofield.

 

http://youtu.be/1HkIb2vTNe8