BIOGRAPHY
RONNIE LEIGH
For the past five decades, he's wowed audiences everywhere
from Istanbul to Winnipeg and from Detroit to Philly to the
Big Apple, in theaters, arenas, stadiums, gazebos, concert
halls, nightclubs, and dance halls.
He's also played a balcony over a bowling alley, and a
sandwich shop opening on a converted gas station's rooftop.
If you can imagine a venue, Ronnie Leigh has probably
played it.
And over the course of those five decades, at thousands of
gigs, concerts and performances, Ronnie has never come up
short. If this was baseball, this guy's the musical equivalent
of Hank Aaron,.... a guy who hits it out of the park every
night, and never fails to delight audiences wherever he
performs. His multiple-octave vocal range, engaging stage
presence, singular style and his love of the music always
comes across, and whether he’s interpreting Monk, Al
Jarreau or Duke, the man’s consistently sensational!
After 40 years in the music biz, working with everyone from
Smokey to Aretha to Ray Charles, and after 30 years of
watching this guy, all I can tell you is that he’s one of the
finest song stylists working in jazz today. But it doesn't stop
there. He's also one of the finest Soul and R & B stylists I've
ever heard and an amazing entertainer. The guy's the
complete package. And it's not even remotely hype to
mention him in the same sentence with the great Lou Rawls
and the amazing Donny Hathaway.
In Ronnie's first CD, Live at Apple Jazz, Leigh puts his signature
spin on 11 classics from the Great American Songbook that
you know and love.
If you're wondering who the incredible vocalist is on these
tracks, his name is Ronnie Leigh. And if you're wondering
why you've never heard his CD's before, I've been
wondering about that very thing for the last 30 years. Some
debuts obviously take a bit longer than others. Not sure why
that is, but the wait has been worth it.
~ Frank Malfitano, founder, Syracuse Jazz Fest