Jazz-rock guitarist Leni Stern has always been fascinated by African music and instruments. But it’s only been in recent years that the fascination blossomed into a love affair with the continent.
Leni Stern will perform at the Outpost with a group of African musicians.
That affair began when Stern was invited to perform at the Festival in the Desert in Mali. She did, and that led to Stern volunteering to play in a Malian band that needed a guitarist.
That, in turn, resulted in her recording with the band. The result was the CD “Sabani,” which was released in August.
The band, Stern said, had gone into the studio because a recording engineer trained under a UNESCO program needed the studio experience.
“Ever since that festival, I’ve become more closely connected to Africa and have forged a musical relationship that has changed my music a lot. But then my music is always changing. It’s all very organic,” Stern said in a phone interview from her home in New York City. “They say the rhythm side of jazz comes from Africa and it met the melodic side from Europe in America.”
On Thursday, Feb. 16, Stern will be in concert at the Outpost Performance Space with a group of African musicians. It’s part of a tour to the western half of the United States. Joining her in concert will be three West African musicians. They are Kofo, a Nigerian master of the talking drum; Mamadou Ba of Senegal on bass, Alioune Faye, also of Senegal, on the djembe, a type of skin-covered drum played bare-handed.
Ba, Stern said, was musical director for Harry Belafonte but is well-versed in all African rhythms.
Like some of jazz, she said the compositions in the concert are improvised.
“I like to call it global music. … It’s an amalgamation of several music traditions that become one,” she said. “It’s totally in the spirit of Elvin Jones and other early jazz drummers who had more African influence than drummers of the 1970s and ’80s.”
Stern invites her concert audiences to participate.
“From my performing a lot in Africa I have seen that audiences play a big part. (Malian musician) Salif Keita says that he wants to get everybody up and keep them dancing,” she said.
Leni Stern
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16
WHERE: Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE
HOW MUCH: $15 at ampconcerts.org, 886-1251 or at Hold My Ticket, 112 Second SW
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16
WHERE: Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE
HOW MUCH: $15 at ampconcerts.org, 886-1251 or at Hold My Ticket, 112 Second SW
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