Lively Times Jeni Fleming: Steeped in jazz
Kristi Niemeyer

Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
    – John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Jeni Fleming, dressed in a cappuccino colored gown, cocks her head at the microphone. And like a lark, her songs emerge as natural as breath, as confident as daybreak.

Whether she’s singing a Beatles’ love song, Billy Strayhorn’s "Lush Life," or one of her husband’s compositions, music is clearly her native tongue.
The Bozeman-based jazz vocalist, who performs with her husband, Jake Fleming, and bassist Chad Langford, is celebrating the release of the trio’s third recording, Once Around the Sun. She’s also appreciating a life and marriage that are steeped in music.

Fleming took an unorthodox path to her profession. She’s the daughter of a Lutheran minister and grew up singing in church. "Music was a huge thing in my house," she says. "I’m not exaggerating when I say that we had to practice our music before we were allowed to do our homework."

She spent her first 12 years in northern California before the family moved to Billings, where she completed high school. Her college career was adventuresome: she attended schools in Spokane, Chicago and Portland, Ore., and "studied whatever I happened to be interested in," she recalls. "I saw the country, thanks to student loans."

Eventually, she ended up at Montana State University (her fifth school), and met her future husband, Jake Fleming. "My dad had asked me to go to church, and Jake was the music director of campus ministries," she recalls. "When I arrived, there was this long-haired guy doing a Lenny Kravitz song, and I thought, ‘I need to meet him.’"

She credits Jake with a dramatic change in course. "My interest in music came full circle," she says. Instead of completing a degree in architecture, "I called my father and told him I was changing my major to music – and not music education either – music performance."

The trio – all graduates of MSU – has performed together for three years. Jake, who plays guitar and saxophones, taught music at public schools in Rapid City, SD, and Manhattan (a tiny town near Bozeman) before becoming minister of music and outreach at MSU’s Center for Campus Ministry. He’s received several awards for saxophone playing, is a conductor of the Bozeman Municipal Band, and performs with various jazz, gospel and fusion ensembles.

Bassist Chad Langford played with the folk-rock ensemble Sixth Sense, studied with Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda, and has had two original works premiered by ensembles in Portland, Ore.

The seeds of Jeni’s future were sown early. "When I was six years old, I knew I wanted to sing." But most of her experience in singing comes from outside of a classroom. Her degree emphasizes classical piano – "vocal jazz wasn’t something MSU offered."

"I learned about jazz from some great mentors." She mentions, particularly, Billings musicians Ralph Sappington and Kathy Honaker. "I was 17 when they took me under their wing – when I got the buzz to pursue that jazz thing," she says.

While classical piano remains important to her – she teaches both piano and voice – "the two just never met for me." Her experience in church choirs helped her voice flourish. "All the technical things you need to know, you can get from a good choir director," she says.

The classical training, with its attention to detail and strict adherence to notes on a page, surfaces in the care Fleming lavishes on each note. "In classical music, you’re very married to the page," she says. "Jazz is the totally opposite approach. In the end, it’s more demanding too – when you put your own voice into something, it’s a way scarier process."

When she sings jazz and pop standards (like "Send in the Clowns" on her new CD), Fleming says she’s very conscious of those who have gone before her – and her responsibility to bring something new to the piece.

But when she sings songs her husband has crafted, like the five originals on Once Around the Sun, "I don’t have anything to compare it to," she says. "It’s an opportunity to present my voice, my music the way I want it to be."

Jake’s songs are often about their relationship, which lends an intimacy to their collaborations that not many singers have with their songwriters. As Jake writes in "Lost in the Words," "I’ll have to write my message on your heart."

"It’s easy to deliver Jake’s songs because I know all about them," says Jeni.

It’s not, however, always easy to be married to your musical partner. "Our styles are so different," she says. "I’m very organized, very Type A, and he has 3,000 tiny slips of paper in his office where he keeps track of things. He loves to go off on tangents."

"Just learning how another person operates – once you understand each other’s goofy little idiosyncrasies, you see them in a whole different way," she says. "That’s how we live together, tour together, perform together."

"It’s difficult, but very rewarding."

The same elements of honesty and respect guide the trio as a whole. "We’re really diligent about choosing tunes we all relate to emotionally," says Fleming. "If one of us feels uncomfortable delivering a song, it gets culled."

The trio’s concerts are stylish, polished and intimate. The charisma is infectious, especially in their hometown. December’s CD release party drew more than 500 fans to the Emerson center, who were "yelling, screaming, whistling."

"We seem to hit some kind of emotional nerve," says Fleming. "We’re really honest about our life experience, and we share that on stage."

For more information, visit www.jenifleming.com. – Kristi Niemeyer