MOJO MANCINI
NY Magazine - George Kalogerakis

Like Sasquatch, the five crack musicians who call themselves Mojo Mancini have seldom been captured on film.

That would smack of careerism, anathema for an ensemble whose members - Rick DePofi (reeds), Conrad Korsch (bass), John Leventhal (guitar), Brian Mitchell (keyboards, vocals), and Shawn Pelton (percussion) - regard Mojo mainly as a haven from not-so-shabby day jobs that include first-rank session work, long term gigs with Saturday Night Live, and winning the odd Grammy (Leventhal has three for his producing and writing efforts with Shawn Colvin).

With five years' worth of infrequent but well-attended word-of-mouth gigs at venues like the Slipper Room, Mojo supplies the kind of fun these guys don't always have as musicians. Their eclectic set lists typically accommodate the works of Johnny Cash, Leonard Berstein, Muddy Waters, Stephen Sondheim, Fats Waller, James Brown, and Tchaikovsky, all of which have been, as Leventhal puts it, "ripped apart harmonically, melodically, lyrically." But "no cheap irony," thank you very much: They love these songs. As, clearly, do Rosanne Cash, Marc Cohn, Freedy Johnston, Teddy Thompson and Joan Osborne, all of whom have taken turns singing at Mojo Shows.