Leni Stern

Leni Stern is a world leader in the jazz tradition of electric guitar playing. For over 20 years she has led critically acclaimed ensembles featuring some of the most notable names in jazz, blues and African music. Stern has also won multiple awards for composition and songwriting. Guitar Player Magazine recently named her one of the 50 Most Sensational Female Guitarists of All-Time in their 50th Anniversary issue.

In recent years Stern decided to follow the path of American jazz and blues back to their roots in West Africa, traveling to Mali, Senegal and Benin to study and perform with the great Salif Keita, Bassekou Kouyate, Toumani Diabete, Ami Sacko, and Baaba Maal. She regularly performed at the Festival Au Desert in Timbuktu and was a featured star in the feature length documentary "The Last Song Before the War" about the historic music festival. Her n'goni (African traditional banjo instrument) playing has been featured on albums by Mike Stern, Lara Bello, Eric Johnson, and many others.

Stern's most recent project is a Trio collaboration with Senegalese artists Alioune Faye and Mamadou Ba. Their latest album "Dakar Suite" is a celebration of the griot tradition that Faye and Ba come from, featuring Faye's percussive family as the driving groove on Stern's poignant and timely original songs which speak of racial justice, environmentalism, love and family.