THE MONTANA STANDARD
Scott Kelly

VIRGINIA CITY-In a world that thrives on sound bites and quick answers, it's tough to pigeon hole the Jeni Fleming Trio into a particular genre.

Some would say they're a Jazz band because they have a stand up bassist and perform lush ballads or a folk trio because their guitarist plays an acoustic and they might do a James Taylor song or perhaps a pop band with covers ranging from Stevie Wonder to Cyndi Lauper.

Regardless of what genre the band is dabbling in, the end result is a powerful product, full of top notch musicianship, emotion and honesty. A trait Jeni Fleming, lead vocalist in the band to which she lends her name, deems intricate to the trio's success in connecting with their audience.

"If you aren't being honest up there people can tell," notes Jeni Fleming.

The trio consists of Jeni on vocals, her husband Jake on guitar and Chad Langford on bass. While the Fleming's are at home in Bozeman, Langford calls Portland, Oregon home.

This would seem to pose some difficulties for a band when their bassist, one third of the band, lives a time zone away. With the depth of Langford's musical knowledge-he has a degree in music from MSU and currently composes contemporary classical pieces in Portland it's worth the trouble.

Although its certainly no easy, Jeni feels "really lucky" to collaborate with Chad, a native of Bozeman, as she has for the past years. Between plenty of e-mails and all three being "good friends," when they are able to get together for a rehearsal the music really "flows"……