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Jay Leonhart On Song Travels

Jay Leonhart.
Mary Savage
/
Courtesy of the artist
Jay Leonhart.

Bassist Jay Leonhart is a highly sought-after session musician, a trio leader and a one-man act. He got his start as a kid playing banjo and guitar with his brother in the '40s and '50s, and was inspired to take up the bass after hearing Ray Brown and the Oscar Peterson Trio.

Leonhart has played with musicians from all genres and has been on the New York jazz scene for almost five decades. On this episode of Song Travels, Leonhart brings songs and stories from his act and joins host Michael Feinstein for a duet of the Gershwin-inspired original tune "Problem."

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