Description

There’s a reason that Jeni Fleming and Phil Aaberg were the first two performers in the hugely popular show “11^th and Grant” on Montana PBS. They’ve both toured extensively throughout Montana, and when Jeni called Grammy and Emmy nominee Phil to do a series of concerts, they found some time in their schedules to learn repertoire and arrange a bunch of songs for voice and piano.

“Another Town” is the result. Recorded and mixed at Phil’s studios in Chester and Helena, and at The Shed in Bozeman, “Another Town” draws on both artists’ experience in pop and rock, including songs from Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel (with whom Phil toured), Gnarls Barkley, and The Band. Some of the recordings are at the extreme end of rock power and emotion, with one of the exceptions being a heart-breaking version of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More”, which Phil originally recorded with Willy Nelson and Darol Anger.

Although her experience with Pinky and the Floyds and other groups showed her rock prowess, Jeni is best known for her tours and recordings with The Jeni Fleming Trio. On “Another Town”, she did an arrangement of Def Leppard’s “Photograph” that sounds for all the world like a “jazz standard”, but the rest of the album breaks new ground in the singer/pianist duo catalog.