Jennifer Leitham: Transamerican Music

JazzTimes.com – Don Heckman

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…