Jake Leckie

Jake Leckie is a bassist whose playing is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, and informed by classical, gospel, latin music, and hip-hop. His credits include touring with Sixto “Sugarman” Rodriguez, traveling to the Havana Jazz Festival to perform with Spanish saxophonist Gianni Gagliardi, recording two albums with Canadian pianist/composer Cat Toren for her Human Kind project, recording and touring with The Harlem Gospel Travelers, working as a session player with producer Bekon, playing SFJazz and Angel City Jazz Festival and recording Water Stem with saxophonist Hitomi Oba, and playing at The Apollo Theater and Newport Jazz Festival with piano prodigy Matthew Whitaker. He has performed with a diverse array of artists including pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, avant-garde saxophonist Matana Roberts, and Grammy® Award-winning Latin Big Band Pacific Mambo Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed on the stages of Jamboree Club (Barcelona), LACMA, Mintons, Smalls and Blue Note (NYC), Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (San Francisco), Pilgrimage Festival (Nashville), and The Montreal Jazz Festival. He produced several albums, including Chris McCarthy’s Ropeadope release Still Time To Quit, and mixed five albums by Thumbscrew (Mary Halvorson, Michael Formanek, Tomas Fujiwara). His work as a composer can be heard on PBS, BBC, HBO, CNN, and NBC.

Born in Boston, Leckie developed an interest in improvised music at a young age studying with John Lockwood. He recorded with avant-noir pianist Ran Blake, reggae guitarist Lyn Taitt, and long time friends Eli “Paperboy” Reed and Eli Keszler. He earned a degree in Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore while studying bass with Michael Formanek, and earned a Masters in Audio Science from the Recording Arts department of the Peabody Conservatory. He recorded his debut album The Abode in New York with trumpeter Kenny Warren, pianist Sebastien Ammann, and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell, which was released on Outside In Music in 2019 to critical acclaim. After relocating to LA, he formed The Guide Trio with guitarist Nadav Peled and drummer Beth Goodfellow who play on his second album The Guide, a rootsy analog acoustic folk-jazz recording released on Ropeadope Records in April 2022. As a trio they have performed at The Tucson Jazz Festival, The San Joaquin Jazz Festival, and several of LA’s jazz venues. His third album of original music, Planter of Seeds, featuring The Guide Trio with pianist Cathlene Pineda, saxophonist Randal Fisher, and trombonist Darius Christian, will be released in June of 2024.

"Leckie leaps in and goes to town on bass—a jazz star is surely born. " - Chris Mosey, 4.5/5 Stars, All About Jazz