The violinist Jenny Scheinman writes sensible, orderly music. Its phrases resolve, it doesn’t mess with abstruse harmony, it returns to its themes. It’s usually grounded in old variations of jazz, blues and folk song known in the bones of the average North American.
Ms. Scheinman doesn’t fully take over a band, even her own; she’s not a battling player. But given some room, she makes an arresting, plainspoken sound. She can draw out a few notes, adding just a little vibrato or none at all, or saw tensely on double-stops: a sleepy, laggardly throb, or an agitated drilling. She improvises against the efficacy of her own writing, and the friction in the music renders it special.
The excellent quartet she’s leading at the Village Vanguard this week gives her the room she needs. Even in the first set of the first night, on Tuesday, she was better able to put forth her coordinated strengths as a composer-improviser-bandleader, drawing from eight years of albums, including her newest, 'Crossing the Field' (Koch).
Ms. Scheinman doesn’t fully take over a band, even her own; she’s not a battling player. But given some room, she makes an arresting, plainspoken sound. She can draw out a few notes, adding just a little vibrato or none at all, or saw tensely on double-stops: a sleepy, laggardly throb, or an agitated drilling. She improvises against the efficacy of her own writing, and the friction in the music renders it special.
The excellent quartet she’s leading at the Village Vanguard this week gives her the room she needs. Even in the first set of the first night, on Tuesday, she was better able to put forth her coordinated strengths as a composer-improviser-bandleader, drawing from eight years of albums, including her newest, 'Crossing the Field' (Koch).
