She Can Really Lay It Down by Rachel Frankel

Author:Rachel Frankel [Frankel, Rachel and Petrusich, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 2019-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

“Gender becomes totally nonexistent when playing music, especially jazz. It’s like being within a flock of birds and that telepathic thing . . . you turn one way and everybody turns. If you’re thinking about anything else, that kind of thing can’t happen. I often play with my eyes closed. It’s either good or bad. There’s no gender, there’s just music.”

—JENNIFER LEITHAM

AUGUST 10, 1953–

Jennifer Jane Leitham is an American left-handed double bassist, a singer, jazz virtuoso, transgender advocate, and educator. Born John Leitham in Reading, Pennsylvania, she moved to Los Angeles in 1983 to start her extremely prolific career as a studio musician and bandleader. After performing for decades with the likes of Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Mel Tormé, Woody Herman, and countless others, Jennifer came out as transgender in 2001 while touring with Doc Severinsen. She nearly lost her life to surgical complications the following year, and stated in interviews that she dealt with many instances of prejudice, sexism, and discrimination within certain circles of the notoriously chauvinistic jazz world once she returned to her profession.

Despite this initial bumpy return to the industry, Jennifer found herself with a wider and more inclusive audience as a result of her coming out. Her playing style also transformed posttransition; instead of sitting still with the bass, she stands to play the instrument and dances along with her own tunes. With a versatile and highly percussive technique, she is an expert improviser and passionate performer. She has frequented some of the top jazz venues and festivals across the globe, including the Blue Note in New York, the Louis Armstrong Jazz Festival in Bánk, Hungary, and the Yamaha Jazz Festival in Hamamatsu, Japan, among many others. Jennifer is the subject of I Stand Corrected, an award-winning documentary based on her life, career, and transition, and she is a fierce advocate within the LGBTQ community. She routinely performs and tours as part of her own trio around the country, and has more than one hundred recordings to her name.

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