Crossing The Field

With the release of the singer/songwriter-driven Jenny Scheinman (Koch, 2008), violinist Jenny Scheinman entered new territory as a vocalist. Crossing the Field, released the same day in digital download-only form (a hard CD version will be released September 9, 2008, also by Koch), expands on the forward motion of 12 Songs (Cryptogramophone, 2005) with an even larger ensemble and a unified concept. A sweeping, 13-piece suite—with the inclusion of a string orchestra—it's her most ambitious project to date, and demonstrates a logical evolution of an artist for whom there are few, if any, musical boundaries.

With co-soloists including longtime collaborators Bill Frisell (guitar), Ron Miles (cornet) and Doug Wieselman (clarinets), Scheinman also recruits pianist Jason Moran for the session. A player whose own discography is a matter of taste and controversy, the encyclopedic knowledge that informs Moran's distinctly modernistic bent has resulted in some outstanding guest work this year, most notably as the newest member of woodwind multi-instrumentalist Charles Lloyd's quartet on the outstanding Rabo de Nube (ECM, 2008). Here he's no less impressive, his opening solo on the backbeat-driven "Hard Sole Shoe" an early album highlight of idiosyncratic, blues-drenched virtuosity that moves in and out of its simple, two-chord form with élan and near-perfect intuition. Continue reading at ALLABOUTJAZZ.COM.