NENEH CHERRY
& THE THING

The Cherry Thing

smalltownsupersound.com

Most artists never quite reach the free-jazz-meets-pop stage of their careers—but then, most don’t have the pedigree of Neneh Cherry. Born in Sweden, this stepdaughter of jazz trumpeter Don Cherry came up in London’s post-punk scene doing stints with groups like the Slits before emerging as a singing, rapping pop star in the late ’80s. Since her 1988 smash “Buffalo Stance,” her output has grown increasingly eclectic. Here she goes way, way out, joining up with Stockholm jazz trio the Thing. The set opens with “Cashback,” Cherry’s rant about feeling like a commodity. While she cages her anger and sings with confidence and soul, Mats Gustafsson plays a rageful, sputtering saxophone, matching Paal Nilssen-Love’s seething drums. The instruments prove just as appropriately cacophonous on “Dirt,” originally by punk godfathers the Stooges. Gustaffson starts calmly on another cannily chosen cover, Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream,” following Ingebrigt Håker Flaten’s ’50s bassline—but he won’t be held down for long. As Cherry repeats, “Keep those dreams burning forever,” the sax man makes like a reentering space shuttle, burning with a skronky intensity that defines The Cherry Thing.