CD Release Concert
Siskiyou Music Project welcomes back bassist, composer, vocalist Jay Leonhart with pianist Tokmoko Ohno for an intimate concert at the Old Siskiyou Barn on Friday, July 20. Jay has been recognized as a very accomplished bass for a long time now. He has been named the Outstanding Bassist In the Recording Industry three times and is always mentioned when the discussion turns to the outstanding. At age thirteen, while playing banjo with his brother in a dixieland band in Baltimore, Jay watched and listened to the bass player and knew that the bass was the instrument he would play forever. Jay and Tokmoko are celebrating the release of their new recording, Don’t You Wish,” release this spring.
Since that time Jay has been privileged to play with the likes of Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Buddy Rich, Jim Hall, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Marian McPartland, Kenny Barron, Sting,m James Taylor, Papa Joe Jones, Roy Eldridge, Jim Hall, Louie Bellson, Dick Hyman player, Luciano Pavoratti, and many more.
Over the years, Jay Leonhart has been writing and singing his own very individualistic songs about his life as a bass player. He now performs his music worldwide to very receptive audiences.
TOMOKO OHNO
Tomoko Ohno, born in Tokyo, began piano studies at the age of 4. As a teenager, she began playing professionally in the Tokyo area jazz scene. After graduating from Rikkyo University in Law and Politics, Miss Ohno moved to the United States and entered the Jazz Studies Program at William Paterson University in New Jersey, where she studied with Harold Mabern and Rufus Reid. During this time she had the opportunity to perform with such artists as Jerome Richardson, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson and Joe Henderson. A recipient of the Student Award of Outstanding Performance and a member of the Dean’s List, Miss Ohno graduated with a B.A. in Jazz Studies.
Tomoko has performed at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital, Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Birdland , in addition to appearing on live radio broadcasts by WBGO and WNYC, and ABC TV’s Good Morning America. She has performed and/or recorded with Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi, James Spaulding, Rufus Reid, The John Lee Quartet, The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Big Band and Sherry Maricle and the Diva Jazz Orchestra, as well as working as a side musician with such diverse musical ensembles as the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble and The Spirit of Life Ensemble.
