Bassist powers TJW concert

Chuck Berg
The Topeka Capital-Journal
March 30, 2009
http://www.cjonline.com/news/local/2009-03-31/review_bassist_powers_tjw_concert

It isn’t every day that one runs into a jazz trio led by a bassist. On Sunday afternoon that truism was turned on its head as triple-threat bassist-vocalist-composer Jennifer Leitham powered her L.A.-based trio through a high octane Topeka Jazz Workshop concert at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center.

Leitham is a Topeka favorite. With an enthusiastic fan base built on previous workshop appearances, the bassist signaled with her streetwise opener, "The Trashman Cometh," that she had come to give it her all.

Leaning into her bass like a slugger swinging for the seats to win one for the home team in the bottom of the ninth, Leitham gave her "trashman" a home run swagger that touched all bases.

An obviously effective leader who’s kept her tall-star trio of pianist Josh Nelson and drummer Randy Drake together for more than six years, Leitham’s high voltage approach, even with Henry Mancini’s gauzy "Dreamsville," lit the skies with brilliant displays in which tempo-shifts from four- to six- and then five-to-the-bar charged the air.

At the core of her powers are a rich plummy sound, an astonishing virtuosity, unerring intonation and a deep sense of swing. It’s no wonder her rèsumè includes tenures with such luminaries as Mel Torme, Doc Severinsen, Woody Herman, George Shearing, Peggy Lee and Louis Bellson.

As a soloist, Leitham is in a class by herself. Whether bowing in accompaniment to her own heartfelt vocals, at once suggesting Peggy Lee, Blossom Dearie and Chet Baker ("Detour Ahead"), or tossing off sizzling pizzicato runs and richly resonant double- and triple-stops ("Studio City Stomp"), Leitham thrilled with her audacity and command.

Aiding and abetting were Nelson and Drake. Their solo turns on Leitham’s exotically Middle East-flavored "Turkish Bizarre," for example, danced with feverish intensities made that much more dazzling by the tune’s provocative 7/8 time signature.

Leitham’s trio, to borrow from the argot of rock, is a power group extraordinaire. Although they may not match the Stones in decibels, their rhythmic urgency and capacity to roar (even at ppp) provide more than a measure of "satisfaction."

Leitham’s personal story, her re-genderizing transition from John to Jennifer Leitham, is remarkable. On Sunday afternoon, though, it was the musician (the bassist, vocalist, composer and leader) that held and captivated our attention.

After a show-stopping medley from "West Side Story," Leitham’s trio was saluted with a standing ovation. Closing the curtain was a stirring encore, "Lefty Leaps In," whose title pays homage to Beatle Paul McCartney, whose left-handed bass playing influenced a youthful Leitham to do the same. Brava!

Chuck Berg is a professor at The University of Kansas. He can be reached at cberg@ku.edu.

Bassist Wows Topeka Jazz Workshop

October, 2003

As she leaned over her double bass with a beatific smile, it was clear that Los Angeles-based bassist Jennifer Leitham was in seventh heaven thrumming a set of inspired variations atop Vince Guaraldi's indelible "Cast Your Fate to the Wind."

For those who have followed Leitham's career, it was good to see the prime-time player in such fine form and spirits. Indeed, with a recent and successful change in gender, the bassist formerly known as John Leitham has literally and figuratively found herself.

Acknowledging her new persona, the attractive Leitham, with a wink and a smile, paid tribute to her surgeon, the aptly named Dr. Altar, in a smoldering original, "The Altered Blues." Set against a slowly undulating beguine-like pulse, Leitham's ostinato throbbed with intensity.

Leitham's virtuosic technique and improvisatory elan "sang" throughout Sunday afternoon in the good company of Shelly Berg, one of the hottest pianists on the hyperactive L.A. scene, and Tommy Ruskin, the ebullient drummer from Kansas City.

Leitham's trio navigated a challenging program that rewarded listeners with genuine sounds of surprise. On Les McCann's "Beaux J. Booboo," for example, the trio's funky undertow gave rise to blues-drenched solos that sent the "congregation," assembled at the Downtown Ramada's Grand Ballroom, to ecstatic heights.

Berg's exuberant outing on the McCann classic was particularly impressive. Building his solo from spiraling mixes of darting right-hand lines, dramatically cascading rolls, and two-handed chordal thunder-claps, Berg literally was bouncing up and down as he hammered his musical points home.

Another highlight came in the form of Leitham's solo turn on the old Latin-tinged standard, "Besame Mucho." Reflecting her youthful study of classical guitar, Leitham's flamenco-like strums and dazzling runs were nothing short of amazing.

On top of that, there were passages where she played both melody and harmony, the latter achieved by the use of double-, triple-, and even quadruple-stops which allowed her to sound two, three and four notes simultaneously, a rare feat for a bassist.

For sheer pyrotechnics, one would be hard pressed to top Leitham's rousing version of Oscar Pettiford's "Tricotism," an acrobatic bebop line demanding the players' undivided attention. Here, Leitham and Berg strolled with boppish bravado in a celebration of the joys of positive swing.

At the end of the afternoon, the crowd stood to cheer its approval. It was a lovefest from start to finish, and a reminder of why Leitham has been regularly sought out by such accomplished artists as Mel Torme and George Shearing, and now, as the leader of her own gilt-edged trio.

Brava!

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