Leni Stern

Leni Stern was named one of the “50 Most Sensational Female Guitarists of All Time” in Guitar Player magazine’s
50 th anniversary issue in 2017, with the publication aptly dubbing her “a genre-defying adventurer.” Leni’s
example shines beyond just prowess on her instrument. The pursuit of her career across more than four decades
has been in effect a political act – a practice in strength and defiance to be a woman and a bandleader, a female
electric guitarist and a composer, an artist who manages her own career along with producing her own albums
and releasing them via her own label. Moreover, in our current political climate, it is more essential than ever to
celebrate the immigrant experience that brought Leni to the U.S. from Germany and her bandmates from Senegal
and Argentina. Leni’s inspiration has long been the interconnectedness of music, history and our humanity. She
says: “Music is one of the truest, most beautiful expressions of the human spirit, crossing borders, dissolving
tribalism, binding us together – if we let it.”
Leni has been on an evolutionary road over the past decade and a half, as she fused her long-honed
contemporary jazz sound with a deeply felt exploration of West African styles. She has traveled and studied
extensively in Mali and Senegal, performing with the likes of iconic singer-songwriter Salif Keita and other
African notables. The Munich-bred New Yorker’s trans-Atlantic journeys have yielded a fresh, personal idiom,
one where progressive virtuosity blends seamlessly with age-old folk traditions. In summer 2020, Leni released
her 22 nd album – titled 4 – which features the rhythm section of bassist Mamadou Ba and percussionist Alioune
Faye (natives of Dakar), plus Argentina-bred keyboardist Leo Genovese, an up-and-coming jazz star in New
York. This new quartet album showcases the crystalline guitar, irresistible grooves and multilingual songs that
listeners know from Leni’s recent releases, with Genovese’s improvisational fire and hints of South American
lyricism added to the mix. In its four-star review, DownBeat marveled over the “joy” in Leni’s playing, adding: “If
you love the wail of Youssou N’Dour and the jangle of Franco Luambo, but also have a soft spot for música
popular brasileira, this crisply produced, infectiously melodic and rhythmically percolating album is for you.”
As Leni’s muse has led her around the world, the guitarist’s curiosity and empathy have enabled her to

develop collaborative relationships with kindred spirits across cultures. Since the mid-’80s, Leni has worked
with the likes of Paul Motian, Michael Brecker, Baaba Maal, Bill Frisell, Wayne Krantz, Toumani Diabaté and
Esperanza Spalding, among many others. Leni appeared in a 2013 documentary film, Last Song Before the War,
about Mali’s Festival in the Desert, where she first made the connections with the West African musicians who
have had such a profound effect on her life and music. Having teamed with Salif Keita and his band on multiple
occasions in Africa, the singer pulled her onstage Stateside to play a solo during his Celebrate Brooklyn! concert
in 2008. Two years later, she performed at Carnegie Hall with her original African mentors: Bassekou Kouyate
and Ami Sacko. As the Washington Post has said, “Stern doesn’t collaborate with the West Africans so much as
commune with them.” Leni also played the U.S. Cultural Ambassador tour of Nicaragua in 2014, and she was
artist-in-residence at Nepal’s Jazzmandu: The Kathmandu Jazz Festival in 2015. And, of course, she has played
top jazz clubs across the U.S., as well as diverse festivals in Europe. Leni’s live performances and ever-prolific
recording career have earned her Gibson’s Female Jazz Guitarist of the Year award five times.

Awards

5 time Gibson Female Jazz Guitarist of the Year award winner

Gear

Fender Stratocaster - 59' hardtail

Fender Statocaster - Custom Shop Gold

assorted Ngonis built by Whaa, Bamako, Mali