Jenny Scheinman: Touching Many Strings

R.J. DeLuke

Interviewer since 1999

R.J. DeLuke is an indefatigable jazz fan and arbiter elegantiarum who aspires to ultimate hipness; also an upstate NY freelance writer for various media.

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Published: February 20, 2006

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"But if I have to wander around among labels, doing my folk thing here and my jazz thing somewhere else, that's cool too. I've been tremendously lucky with all that. I'm writing. I'm doing a tour in Europe with a string quartet. I want to write for that. I have a lot of music already that works very well for it. So if I don't write anything new that I really like, we have lots of repertoire. I set up the band, but I think it will be a pretty collaborative thing. I hope everyone will write.

"I was real inspired by the big extravagant CD release party with the 12 Songs plus the 20 strings. That's a lot to ask a record company to go for, especially since I'm not guaranteed to make anybody any money. I would really love to record that band. I might figure out a way to do that and write some music for that.

Scheinman says she's settled into New York and finds things stable now, even if the club scene isn't as good these days. "I was interested in the downtown scene when I moved here. Dave Douglas, Mark Feldman, a bunch of different players. Early Bill Frisell records, that were part of the downtown scene. I'm less aware of what's going on in that scene, among those players now. Maybe it's a little bit fragmented, I'm not sure. It's so big, I don't know how to describe the scene.

She notes, "Brooklyn is taking on a new life. In the last five years, a lot of music has moved to Brooklyn. That's partly economical. Clubs can't afford to stay in Manhattan, so they move to Brooklyn. Also, a lot of musicians can't afford to live in Manhattan, so they move to Brooklyn. There are more musicians out here. Barbes is a wonderful club. Little places in Williamsburg are great.

Jenny likes where she is right now, musically and career-wise. But there are more roads to travel down.

"Yeah. I've been at the end and the beginning of something else. We're at the beginning of the year. I'm at the end of the 12 Songs record. So it's exciting and challenging, she says, "and a little scary.

Selected Discography

Jenny Scheinman, 12 Songs (Cryptogramophone, 2005)
Bill Frisell, Richter 858 (Songlines, 2005)
ROVA Orkestra, Electric Ascension (Atavistic, 2005)
Scott Amendola Band, Believe (Cryptogramophone, 2005)
Jenny Scheinman, Shalagaster (Tzadik, 2004)
Bill Frisell, Unspeakable (Nonesuch, 2004)
Carla Bozulich, I'm Gonna Stop Killing (Independent, 2004)
John Zorn, Voices in the Wilderness (Tzadik, 2003)
Bill Frisell, The Intercontinentals (Nonesuch, 2003)
Scott Amendola Band, Cry (Cryptogramophone, 2003)
Jenny Scheinman, Rabbi's Lover (Tzadik, 2002)
Norah Jones, Come Away With Me (Blue Note, 2002)
Pharoah's Daughter, Exile (Knitting Factory, 2002)
Vinicius Cantuaria, Vinicius (Transparent Music, 2001)
Jenny Scheinman Quartet, Live at Yoshi's (Avant, 2000)
Gabriela, Viento Rojo (Intuition, 2000)
Dubtribe Sound System, Bryant Street (Imperial Dub, 1999)
Hot Club of San Francisco, Live (Hot Club, 1996)