Jeni Fleming Acoustic Trio (No. 101)

First Aired Thursday, September 15, 2005

The Jeni Fleming Trio effortlessly delivers complex classical and modern jazz.

The Trio is led by Jeni's powerful and honest voice, capable of effortlessly delivering complex classical and modern jazz dichotomies in one breath, breezy folk tunes with a modern twist and vibrant original pop in another. Rounding out the Trio's full-bodied melodies are Jake Fleming, on guitar and saxophone, and Chad Langford on bass. Each accomplished musicians in their own right, both Fleming and Langford add depth to the music while perfectly and intuitively knowing exactly how and when to enhance Jeni's soulful sound.

In 2002 the Trio toured the Midwest for three weeks and recorded their first live album The Trinity Tour. Released in December 2002 the CD showcases the Trio's outstanding musicianship. The Trinity Tour features a variety of styles, pop-infused folk tunes, jazz standards, originals, sacred classics, but in the end, the jazz comes out in every tune. With the material from their second tour, 2003, the Trio released their first studio effort , Things I Meant To Say, Dec. 2003. Both albums continue to be well received, garnering rave reviews and extensive air play on Public Radio stations across the country. Once Around the Sun, their 3rd album and 2nd studio effort was released to a sold out crowd in Dec. 2004, and showcases 5 original tunes written by Jake Fleming.

Jeni Fleming is a graduate of Montana State University, Bozeman, with a Bachelor of Music. She continues to sing and tour with the MSU Jazz Band, and has won 2 Outstanding Soloist Awards at the UNC Greeley Jazz Festival. She has performed 3 years in a row for the annual Jazz Montana Festival, opening for Hilton Ruiz and Dave Valentine in 2000, Nicholas Payton and Tim Warfield in 2001, and Cyrus Chestnut, Gary Bartz, and Stefon Harris in 2002. In 1997 Jake and Jeni recorded their first album together, It Is Well. In 1998 toured for 11 months as a guitar/vocal jazz duo, and were featured on a nationally televised program by the Odyssey Channel.

Jake is also a graduate of MSU, Bozeman with a Bachelor of Music Education. He received the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award in 1992 and the Academic Excellence Award, 1994. He made his classical saxophone debut as the winner of the 1994 MSU Concerto Competition. Jake also shared the stage with Jeni opening for Nicholas Payton and Tim Warfield.

In addition to bass, Chad concentrates his efforts on composition. His principal teachers have been Tomas Svoboda and Eric Funk. His short piece "Envoi" has recently been included as part of the ZEPPELIN 2004 Festival’s sound installation "On Agreement and Conflict" in Barcelona and Zaragoza, Spain. His catalog currently contains over 20 chamber works for varying instrumentations including string quartet, piano quintet, brass quartet, and string orchestra. He has also composed music for several short films, and was the subject of the documentary film Moment, an exploration of improvisation in music and dance, which aired on MontanaPBS in 1999-2000.