Not Enough: Leni Stern and "Gnate Yone"

Today's random tune is by Leni Stern, a German electric guitarist, singer and ngoni player. Born in Munich, she took an early interest in music. She formed her own acting company as a teen, performing radical productions, but eventually chose music over acting as a profession and went to the United States to attend the Berklee College of Music to study film scoring. She moved to New York City in 1981 and formed a band of her own in 1983 that included Paul Motian and Bill Frisell. She has received numerous awards and honors, including Gibson's Guitar Female Jazz Guitarist of the Year five consecutive times. She has released fifteen solo albums. Her cover of Laura Nyro's Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp was featured on the Laura Nyro tribute album Time and Love: The Music of Laura Nyro. Her most recent work has explored guitar and vocal with indigenous sounds of accomplished West African musicians such as Bassekou Kouyate, Salif Keita, Toumani Diabaté, Baaba Maal and others. She is featured in the documentary Last Song Before the War about the Festival au Désert in Mali. Her voice has been described as "like Marlene Dietrich borrowing Billie Holiday's phrasing." This song, Gnate Yone (How Many Times) can be found on her 2013 album Jelell.