Jennifer Leitham

Jennifer Leitham's over 40 year career has taken her to the finest concert halls around the world, playing with the likes of Mel Torme', Doc Severinsen, Peggy Lee, k.d. lang and countless other music world greats. With 10 recordings of her own, she has achieved much critical acclaim. Her "Future Christmas" was one of the top selling Indie CDs of 2014 and her latest MOOD(S)WINGS is the #1 top selling Crossover Jazz CD of 2015. The documentary film about her, "I Stand Corrected" was the winner of 11 best film awards as it screened at film festivals around the world in 2012.

Jennifer Leitham is one of the finest jazz bass players in the world, having worked with Doc Severinsen, Peggy Lee, K.D. Lang, and for 10 years with Mel Torme.  She has 10 CDs with her own group, including the top selling Crossover Jazz CD of 2015, MOOD(S)WINGS. As a transgender individual, she is the subject of the 2012 documentary “I Stand Corrected” which garnered 11 Best Film awards from film festivals around the world.

 

Jazz is so much more than music.  Music is to dance to, to tell a story, to play in the background while you do something else.  Real jazz grabs you by the collar and dares you not to listen.    Jazz is a tightrope walk.  Jazz is commitment.  Jazz is bravery.  And more than anything else, jazz is about being as true as you can be, to yourself and to the world around you, in every moment.

 

So there are good reasons that jazz and the New Thought movement have such a long history together.  Both are sophisticated.  Both have histories of genius and madness.  To be really good at either of them means that you have to bare your soul - in public.  Because that’s too strong a brew for most people, both jazz and new thought are populated by misfits and seekers who are at once dissatisfied with the status quo and at the same time surprised and delighted to find kindred souls gathering in small groups, to listen to and support one another.

 

Today we have one such gathering.  Jennifer Leitham is a supreme jazz artist, something that was recognized long ago by Peggy Lee, by Doc Severinsen, by K.D. Lang, and by the man many consider to be the finest jazz vocalist ever, a man she worked alongside for 10 years, Mel Torme. In playing and singing jazz, Jennifer had to bare her soul. The music was always good but her soul didn’t always sound like what she looked like.  And when your insides and your outsides don’t match up, well, as they say in the old song, somethin’s gotta give.  She’s here today to tell us about that journey.  Please welcome, Jennifer Leitham.