Jenny Scheinman's: All Species Parade: Appreciating Our Relationship to Nature

Jenny Scheinman: All Species Parade: Royal Potato Family

The master violinist/composer/arranger Jenny Scheinman has released her latest musical gem, All Species Parade, on October 11, 2024 out on Royal Potato Family. For Scheinman fans, its been a long five years since the violinist and her then co-leader  drummer Allison Miller,  released their successful Parlour Game in 2019. But by all accounts the wait has been worth it. The album is a twelve composition, polymorphous, two-cd effort that gets its inspiration from Scheinman's return to her Pacific Northwest's roots in her Humboldt County, California home in 2012 after leaving a prolific career in the New York City area. Scheinman is the product of a folk-inspired, nature-immersive upbringing that has made an indelible tattoo into her musical psyche. Her sound has found its way into collaborations with such diverse artists as Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Ani Di Franco, Joni Mitchell ,Lou Reed and the metal band Metallica. 

As a youth in what is still called the "Lost Coast," hundreds of miles north of San Francisco, and in the western most location in the United States, Scheinman studied violin and piano. She attended Oberlin Conservatory and graduated from U.C. in Berklee and Santa Clara. As a young artist who moved to NYC, she found herself joining guitar wizard Bill Frisell on a fourteen show run at the Village Vanguard in 2002. Frisell has since become a frequent collaborator. 

On this release, All Species Parade, Scheinman is joined by a stellar cast of like- minded musicians who together help make her vision into a reality. The group includes guitarist Frisell, the pianist Carmen Staaf, the intuitive roots inspired rhythm section of bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen and guest artists guitarist's Julian Lage on three songs and Nels Cline on two others. 

Scheinman's vision for this album was inspired by "...a charged relationship to nature, a feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves, powerful, fragile and constantly changing..." 

Jenny Scheiman and Bill Frisell (photo credit unknown)

The music is eclectic, fluid and spans across genres. The opener, "Ornette Goes Home" is a bouncy, playful, mixture of down home fiddling and free jazz. Scheinman's violin is vibrant, somewhat off-center and swings as Staaf's piano melds brilliantly with her in emphatic communication. Frisell's intuitive guitar work is on point as Scherr and Wollesen create a liquid rhythmic background that swells with organic feel and vibe. Pure joy.

If your a fan of cinematic music then look no further than the "Every Bear That Ever There Was" a song that reminds me of Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk" from the movie Hatari of 1962. Scheinman's violin spells out the melody in a Stuff Smith inspired take, as the piano, bass and drums spell out the cadenced, processional direction. You can't help but feel that as your listening to this one, you might look down and see some bear prints staining your hardwood floor.

"Juroujiji" is a part of a three song suite along with "The Sea Also Rises" and the title composition " All Species Parade." "Jurounjiji", a song dedicated to the  Northern California based native American Wiyot tribe, opens with a plaintive piano line by Staaf and features some gorgeously intuitive acoustic guitar work by Julian Lage over some shimmering cymbal work by Wollesen and pulsing bass by Scherr. Scheinman's sorrowful violin accentuates the somberness of the music as Lage's guitar explorations float in the ether.

"The Sea Also Rises" is at less than two minutes, the shortest of the compositions. It features Staaf's piano meanderings as Wollesen's percussive accents. 

"All the Species Parade" creates a slow, soulful groove that has you bopping your head to the beat with Frisell's twangy guitar sending out electrical waves of accent into the atmosphere. Scheinman's violin strings are plucked and bowed creating a tension and release that encourages your body to respond in like. The sounds weave together in a fusion of colors, feelings and emotions.

"Shutdown Stomp" is a cross between a hoedown and a gypsy jazz jam with Lage's acoustic guitar again entering as a foil to Scheiman's violin and Staaf's honky-tonk piano work. 

"House of Flowers" is a pastoral piece that features Scheinman's evocative violin, Staaf's ostinato piano work, and Nel Cline's delicate electrical guitar explorations. There is an Americana feel to this one. Music that wraps you in a blanket of welcoming sound. Scheinman's violin is most fluid here with a sinewy attack that is most engaging as it interacts with Cline's ethereal electric offerings.

Where there are waves there will always be surf and on the Lost Coast's Cape Medocino so there is surf rock. On "Cape" the group create a surf music groove that rocks out. Wollesen's drums open this one up with a relentless drive as Scheinman's violin, Frisell and Cline's electric guitars, Staaf's piano and organ,  and Scherr's bottom keep this one from letting up.

The north coast is known for its sun bathing sea lions on the rock formations that pock along the Pacific North West shoreline. "With the Sea Lions" Scheinman is paying homage to these majestic creatures in their home habitat. She creates a cosmic composition without adding herself to the mix. Frisell provides his magical, otherworldly guitar wizardry that offers an  peaceful, cloudlike atmosphere that represents how much beauty and tranquility these creatures bring to us who can just stop, observe, respect and enjoy. Wollesen's sympathetic cymbal work is a treat and Staaf's piano accompaniment is majestic and yet subtle. 

The album ends with gorgeous "Nocturne for 2020" which is an elegiac reflection on the turmoil and stress that we as a nation and a planet had to live through during Covid. Scheinman's violin brilliantly expresses sorrow and lamentation with select lines that eek with empathy. Lage's sensitive finger picking and guitar solo is at its best. The music has a distinctive Flamenco inspired feel to it. There is a exquisite support from the entire crew of Staaf, Frisell, Scherr and Wollesen. 

The Rhythm Future Quartet brings Gypsy Jazz to Steve's Live Music in Sandy Springs, GA

Jason Anick, Olli Soikkeli, Ivan Pena and Greg Loughman at Steve’s Live Music

This past Sunday evening I made my way to yet another greater Atlanta music venue. This time it was Steve’s Live Music in Sandy Springs, GA. Where owner and music impresario Steve Grossman has been offering an eclectic blend of live music and a vegetarian menu to those in the know for the last four years. Unfortunately, Steve told me the venue will be closing in the next several weeks due to the ever rising costs of renting the space. Too bad, it’s a comfortable laid back showcase for live music and it will be sorely missed.  This particular evening the future of gypsy jazz came to entertain a full house of avid fans at Steve’s in the form of the Rhythm Future Quartet.  

The Rhythm Future Quartet is a Boston based group of four young, abundantly talented musicians who have taken up the mantle from giants of the genre like Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli and their famous “Hot Club of Paris” music. These young upstarts- the oldest is reportedly 32- have rocketed the music into the future by incorporating multiple influences from gypsy jazz to Balkan folk, Spanish Flamenco to Country swing, teaming it with their own virtuosity and playing it all with a joyful abandon that is downright infectious.

The quartet is made up of Jason Anick on violin, Olli Soikkeli on lead guitar, Max O’Rourke on rhythm guitar and Greg Loughman on acoustic bass.  On this evening O’Rourke was on another gig and the able Ivan Pena took the rhythm guitar chair. Together these guys make music that range from jump in your seat bounce to shedding a tear in your beer poignant.

On this particular night we had the fortune of attending the second of two sold out shows. The fortune comes because in order to play this kind of music at the rapid fire pace these guys do it’s always nice to have a warm up se. Warm they were as they burst into the music with an original composition by bassist Greg Loughman titled “Iberian Sunrise.”  The magical interchange between Anick’s fetching violin and Soikkeli’s fleet fingered guitar was a treat to behold. 

On the classic Jimmy Rosenberg title “Made for Wesley,” Anick’s moving virtuosity was on display as he made his violin sing creating a fusillade of notes that he bowed with amazing facility, alternating between rapid fire bursts and poignantly sustained bows. When it was Soikkeli’ turn to solo, the Finnish wunderkind gave a similarly stunning display of facility, machine-gunning a flurry of notes that were amazingly clean and equally inventive. There is both comradery and brotherly competition between Anick and Soikkeli as they push each other to more and more challenging excursions of improvisational daring, like two gunslingers waiting to test who has the fastest draw. All the while the Pena and Loughman kept impeccable time at ever increasingly challenging speeds.

The next tune was composed by guitarist Soikkeli for one of his mentors, guitarist Paulus Schafer, titled “For Paulus.”  At the opening, this slow sauntering gypsy jazz treat had the crowd bouncing to the infectiously strummed rhythm that is until it broke into a double time with Anick propelling the tune in his best imitation of the great Stephane Grappelli whom obviously has been a great influenced.

The more traditional fare was temporarily suspended as Anick spoke of being a Beatles fan and reworking one of their tunes. Loughman introduced the famous lead in bass line to the Beatles “Come Together” as the group gave the classic pop song their own twist. The song had me remembering such violin centric rock groups of the as Fairport Convention, The Flock and ELO.  Soikkeli did a burning acoustic solo on guitar that had it been on distorted electric would have been a ripper.

Anick’s exotic sounding “Vessala” is a Balkan folk music inspired tune evoking a scene with a traditional lace garbed folk dancer spinning to the music’s sinewy twists and turns. When Anick and Loughman both bowed their instruments the sound took on a distinctively chamber music feel.

On the beautiful “Soul ce Soir,” Soikkeli demonstrated a challenging technique of muting the strings with his forefinger as he picked them with his thumb producing a muted sound that was quite unique. Pena’s unerring strumming and Loughman’s bass kept the loping rhythm in perfect play. Anick’s melancholic Grappelli-like sound spanned the spectrum between sweet and sorrowful.

The group did a unique take on the Gershwin standard “Summertime” using the lead-in to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” to start and end the song. The clever pairing added a little suspense and humor to the classic standard that they used as blues-based improvisational vehicle. The audience loved it.

The group continued with several other songs including one that had Anick playing raw fiddle like it could be part of a country hoe down. The old standard “The Best Things in Life Are Free” was played in a way that could have easily conjured up memories of the great Joe Venuti in style.

The crowd at Steve’s came to hear the next generation of gypsy jazz and they were not disappointed. The audience gave the band a standing ovation and the band returned for one encore performance of guitarist Olli Soikkeli’s composition “Bushwick Stomp,” the first song he wrote when he came to America from his native Finland. The tune is a barn burner and has recently reached more than one million views on You Tube, fascinating viewers with its fluid swing, the technical facility and the finely honed synchronicity that these young artists display

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The Rhythm Future Quartet is now on tour promoting their new album Travels which highlights their hectic schedule. According to a post on bassist Greg Loughman’s Facebook page the group performed in twenty-one states last year and if their popularity is any indication they should easily break that mark this year. One thing for sure if you have a chance to check out these Gypsy Jazz bandits don’t pass it up.

The Rebirth of the Violin in Jazz: Majid Khaliq's "Basilisk"

Majid Khaliq’s   “The Basilisk”

Recorded at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY.

Starting formal lessons at age five, violinist Majid Khaliq has been a serious student of his instrument. With his father’s Ray Nance recordings as early influences, the young player finished Julliard in 2002. During that period he spent some serious time honing his skills in and around New York.  He continued his advanced musical education and in 2010 completed his master’s in jazz performance at the Aaron Copland School of Music at New York’s Queen’s College. He is presently a member of the faculty of the Waldorf School of Garden City. 

Mr. Khaliq possesses a rare sound on his instrument that bridges tradition while probing past fusion into new territory for the instrument.  He is a hybrid between the traditionalists like the aforementioned Nance, Joe Venuti, Stephane Grappelli and Stuff Smith. Pioneers who could make their instruments swing or make them sigh with exquisite emotional pathos. Despite being too young to be directly affected by fusion, he has absorbed influences of fusion pioneers like Jean-Luc Ponty, Michal Urbaniak and Jerry Goodman as well as his mentor John Blake Jr.  If that wasn’t enough of a wellspring to tap into, he has also been affected by the Hip-Hop influences of his own generation. The result is a completely unique amalgam of truly modern jazz violin.

 

 

The title track “Basilik” comes from Majid’s love of Chinese astrology, where his sign is the snake. “Basilik” is the king of the snakes in  Medieval European folklore. With an infectious urban back beat played by the dynamic Johnathan Blake on drums, the song snakes through its twists and turns, with Khaliq at times seemingly mimicing the scratching sound of a hip-hop turntable artist with his unique bowing techniques.

Charles Porter’s crisp trumpet lines are a welcome sound. His intuitive interplay with Khaliq’s violin on their synchronous duets is wonderfully complimentary on the title track as well as on the driving “Expectation”. Eric Lewis’s energetic piano solo on the aforementioned song bobs and weaves along. Blake’s drum solo is at times militaristic and at times bombastic. Khaliq’s violin is never predictable with its off-kilter sound always sending you in unexpected directions.

The waltz-like “O Hime” is a fetching composition that borrows elements of the classical style.  Khaliq, Porter and pianist Jeb Patton together weave their sounds into a delicate tapestry of gossamer elegance.  The young violinist has the ability to make his instrument sing with voice-like earnestness. Patton’s solo is itself expressionistic and heartfelt.

“Mansa Khan Musa” again finds Porter on the front line with Khaliq, this time with muted bell. The two have a rare affinity for playing together. Khaliq’a lines are always interesting, interspersing different stylistic choices by changing bowing techniques and string attacks in most unusual ways.

“Inner Glimpse” is a McCoy Tyner up-tempo composition that really cooks. Patton plays with particular inspiration as bassist Ivan Taylor and drummer Blake keep the drive pumping. Khaliq shows off a bit of his fusion chops here and Porter and Blake  both put in nice solo efforts.

“Spirals” is another Khaliq original that in an interview he called “…a post-apocalyptic view of  modern jazz, which circles deep into the depths of despair.”  The tune vacillates between an ominous cacophony and a Stuff Smith inspired blues swing, where all front line members get a chance to let out their stuff 9 no pun intended). The guitarist Andrea Vocatura contributes a nice solo.

“The Truth” is an original composition from trumpeter Charles Porter. Khaliq demonstrates his ability to elicit great emotional depth from this soulful song.

The finale is the Burke/Van Husen standard “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” which Khaliq plays with a true gypsy heart, doubling on his strings to great effect. Pianist Patton plays a beautiful solo of his own that is at first delicately wandering and then jaggedly purposeful. Khaliq ends in a magnificent embellishment that is Grappelli-like in all its grandeur. Very nice indeed!

Musicians: Majid Khaliq (violin); Charles Porter (trumpet), Jeb Patton (piano) tracks 3,5-8; Eric Lewis (piano) racks 1, 2 & 4; Ivan Taylor (bass);Johnathan Blake (drums); Andrea Vocatura (guitar) track 6 & 7 (not listed on album)  .