The Topeka Capital-Journal

October 2003 - Bassist Wows Topeka Jazz Workshop:

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!