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Jenny Scheinman Duos

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If you’re familiar with the work of Jenny Scheinman, it’s likely you think of her as a jazz violinist. Raised in Petrolia in what she says is the “westernmost house in the United States” (continental anyway), Jenny left home as a teen to find her way in music. She eventually made her way to New York City, where she established herself in the jazz/rock scene, recording and touring with everyone from Norah Jones, Bill Frisell and Nels Cline to Lou Reed and Bono, while recording half a dozen records of her own.

In 2008, she released two albums at once, Crossing the Field, a jazz record with compositions for a septet and string orchestra, and Jenny Scheinman, or as she calls it,“the singing record,” with a mix of original songs and covers of blues, folk and jazz tunes. This year she spent a lot of time on the road singing, opening for Rodney Crowell and Jimmie Dale Gilmore on different tours. She also had her first child, Bellamy Dune Nofsinger, who is now a little over three months old.

In a call from her home in Brooklyn, she explained that writing lyrics is not exactly new for her. “I’ve always written a lot. I was an addicted letter writer for many years. In school I ended up being an English major, so I was into reading and writing. I started writing songs maybe 10 years ago. It was more like a sideline hobby. I never took it that seriously. Then there was this thing that happened in New York where people I knew were writing songs and singing them. And I got a lot of encouragement from some people. Then I was pretty much blackmailed into it by Nora Jones. She was encouraging me to the point of threatening to be my piano player if I put together a band. So I worked on some songs that turned into the eponymous record. It was a long time coming.”

Like most lyricists, Jenny writes about her life, which means some songs are Humboldt stories. “One is about my aunt who disappeared in Humboldt on Thanksgiving four years ago - it’s called ‘The Green’ - it’s a family story that happened in the wild context of Humboldt. Things can disappear into nature. And there’s another one called ‘Newspaper Angels.’ That’s the rainy planet winter song, definitely about Petrolia where people are living rural with five miles to the nearest neighbor. That one’s a bit of a collage about a few different people.”

Both songs are a bit dark. “I guess my art tends to look toward the darker side,” she says. “That’s true in my instrumental music somewhat. But not all of my songs are that way. I have a few more in the works about Humboldt, some that I wrote during the pregnancy, about childhood and in that sense they’re about growing up there.”

At the Arcata show she’ll be joined by Robbie Gjersoe, a guitarist who also plays with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock in The Flatlanders. “He is an incredible guitar player,” says Jenny, “a wonderful musician with a really great feel on acoustic guitar and a good backup singer. He toured with Jimmie Dale Gilmore for a long time; we did a tour together with him. I opened for Jimmie with Robbie and then we were Jimmie’s band.”

But her songs with Robbie are just one part of the Arcata show. She’ll also being doing jazz instrumentals with pianist Myra Melford, a former New Yorker who now teaches music at UC Berkeley. “I think one of my first gigs in New York under my own name was a duo with Myra, ” Jenny recalls. “I’ve written a lot of music for her, both for piano and for harmonium. We did a record together called Shalagaster… but it’s been too long since we’ve gotten to do stuff together.”

Until now, Jenny has kept her jazz work and her singing separate. That’s about to change. “Since I’ve starting singing, people have urged me to mix the two, to make a record that includes both, at least doing a show that includes both. I’ve resisted it because I don’t like to have too much of sort of agenda when I write. The two things have naturally maintained a distance from each other. The Humboldt show is the first time I will ever do both on the same show, the first time I’ve ever done the jazz material and done equal parts of each. Because it’s Humboldt, I somehow feel like the audience will understand.”

I think we will.

CenterArts presents Jenny Scheinman in concert with Myra Melford and Robbie Gjersoe, on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m. in HSU’s Van Duzer Theatre. Tickets are $25, $20 for senior and children, $15 for HSU students, and are available at The Works, at the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or online at centerarts.humboldt.edu.

Bob Doran

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