Jay Leonhart

If say Dave Frishberg and folksinger Christine Lavin (look her up if you don’t know this hilarious singer/songwriter) had a love child or perhaps Mose Allison and satirically great Nancy White did…he might result in someone like Jay Leonhart.

The veteran bassist, singer and songwriter provided a sparkling and cozy antidote to the rainy fall evening outside the Old Mill on Monday night. Having worked with the likes of Mel Torme, Bucky Pizzarelli, Judy Garland, Ozzy Osborne (yes) and Dizzy Gillespie – more on that famous trumpeter later…

Leonhart makes good use of his constant travels as material for his sly compositions. He explained that arguments and indeed his family were deemed off limits – by his family . That means fair game for anything else. Witness” Bass Aboard a Plane” – especially relevant since travel has become a security nightmare for everyone, but of course, most of all musicians who have always been deemed somewhat suspect at the best of times by the authorities.

He even wrote songs for a theatre production about travel…the majority of which were labeled “inappropriate”. To give an example, a jaunty tune about…the Hindenberg. He also has long list of teeny tiny, minor, insignificant items he is trying to get past “Customs” and a bonding experience “Lenny and Me” with the great Leonard Bernstein on a New York to L.A. flight. He never heard from his new “bff” again.

How about a different realm of flying? “They’re Coming to Get Me” – fear of alien abduction…and for a change of pace the slightly resentful “Robert Frost” – about how that poet laureate had a much more bucolic setting for writing…not with the distractions of the big city.

His collaborators on this musical journey were acclaimed pianist John Sherwood (whom he had just met) and his longtime friend, drummer Terry Clarke. And now to the Dizzy story…everyone has one about that impish legend…

“Dizzy” tells the tale of that famous individual entering a pub in Ireland filled with jazz musicians and acknowledging them all….except for Jay who had worked with him several times. Pure fiction or blarney, if I may invoke Irish lingo. Of course, being the comedian he is, Dizzy requested the tune when he was travelling on a jazz cruise where Jay, Terry and Robert Kellaway were performing. Natch, Dizzy shook hands with Terry and Robert and of course…ignored Jay. Joke over, they became great friends.

The show is subtitled that “It’s Impossible to Sing and Play the Bass”, I would argue it’s impossible not to enjoy yourself listening to someone like Jay Leonhart sing and play said instrument.