Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jenna Mammina & Rolf Sturm: Begin to Dance

Jenna Mammina & Rolf Sturm: Begin to Dance

By C. Michael Bailey
March 19, 2017
View read count

Jenna Mammina & Rolf Sturm: Begin to Dance

Neither Jenna Mammina nor Rolf Sturm, together or solo, are strangers to these pages. Mammina released Under the Influence (MGR) in 2000 and Strum offered us his superb Young (Water Street Music) in 2016. The two of them showed up with Spark (Water Street Music) in 2015. Sturm is a nylon-string guitar specialist perfectly suited to provide foil to the coquettish and intelligent vocals of Mammina. Their Spark was well received and featured old and new music presented in new and often genre-jolting ways.

On Begin to Dance, the pair pick up where they left off with Spark, this time peppering jazz standards like "It's Only Love" and "All My Tomorrows" with BJ Thomas' "Hooked on a Feeling" mashed up with Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun." Sturm's guitar playing brings whatever is necessary to the songs to support Mammina's every whim. He is equally capable of providing the bare-bones chording for the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' it to the Streets" and the pleasant filigree he offers in Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me." But it is the jazz tunes where the two excel. The pair hits their collective stride on "L-O-V-E" with Sturm turning in an exceptional hot-club solo. Mammina and Sturm make a great duo who program their performances with great thought and a true sense of humor.

Track Listing

Hooked on a Feeling/Black Hole Sun; It’s Only Love; Begin to Dance; Dancing on the Ceiling; I Want You To Want Me; We Hesitate; Takin’ it to the Streets; All My Tomorrows; A Place That I Call Home; L-O-V-E; Hello, It’s Me; Strollin’; Bluer Than Blue; Crazy Fingers; Give Me Love.

Personnel

Jenna Mammina

vocals

Jenna Mammina: vocals; Rolf Sturm: guitar.

Album information

Title: Begin to Dance | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Water Street Music

PREVIOUS / NEXT

In Praise of Shadows
< Previous

Dave Douglas and the Art of Festival...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.