JENNIFER LEITHAM
Genres: Hard Bop, Vocal Jazz, Post-Fusion Contemporary, Pop, Art Song, Folk • United States

Jennifer Leitham says she’s always had a hard time sitting still when she’s onstage. Music has a visceral effect upon her, and never more so than when she’s caught up in a tune, her arms embracing her left-handed instrument, her toes beginning to move in rhythm with the music. “I was always afraid,” she says, “that if I stood up I was going to start dancing. Which would have looked kind of weird.” After years of attempting to hold those feelings in check by confining herself to the top of a wooden stool, she finally decided, eight or nine years ago, to set her feelings free. Discarding the restrictive stool, she began to play while standing, her body now unrestrained, moving in deep emotional physical sync with the pulsing rhythms she plucked from her dark-toned acoustic bass. “I immediately felt liberated,” says Leitham. “It was a revelation. And now I’m read more...