by Charles C. Bonniwell
Jazz singer/songwriter Terri Jo Jenkins wowed a jam-packed audience at the nightclub DazzleJazz located at 9th and
Lincoln. The event on Sunday night, March 13, was the live introduction of her newest CD release From this Moment. In the audience were local musical luminaries including singer Lannie Garrett. DazzleJazz has been ranked as one of the “Top 100” jazz clubs in the world according to Downbeat Magazine.
Jenkins was backed by what many are calling the best ensemble band in the Rocky Mountain region led by her husband Jeff Jenkins on piano and featuring John Gunther on clarinet and sax and Greg Gisbert blasting it out on trumpet. In addition Mike Mariler was on drums and Ken Walker on bass. Tia Rebolz provided the vocal harmonies.
While Jenkins has done CDs featuring only her original songs, this CD features songs and artists she admires along with a new song of hers, Afternoon Tea. The CD’s title comes from the Cole Porter song she sings on the CD From This Moment On. The theme of the CD is, however, perhaps best exemplified by the first song on the CD by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen Accentuate the Positive:
You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between
Having sung for her supper since age 5 and occasioned the many ups and downs of life, the simple verities of lyrics she found do have a profound effect on helping to lead a happy and productive life. Jenkins calls herself a Nebraska farm girl being brought up in Venango, Neb., with a dad, Dean Dodson, who was a farmer who loved music, and a mother, Willadean Dodson, who was a classical pianist and a fish out of water in the western Nebraska farming community of Venango.
Willadean channeled her considerable energy into becoming a classic “stage mom” taking Terri Jo and her two sisters around the country hoping to catch the “big break.” They traveled to Los Angeles for The Lawrence Welk Show hoping to be a replacement for the Lennon Sisters who after 13 years on the show were going out on their own. They met Lawrence Welk but he had just signed another sister act so it was back to Nebraska for the Dodson Sisters who would record their first song when Jenkins was 14 years old.
In the intervening years Jenkins has toured the country and abroad as a vocalist, guitarist, and flute player in folk, Americana, New Age and jazz groups. She has done everything from a Joni Mitchell Tribute Show to traveling for the past few summers to France to perform at the Jazz en Vercors festival.
The new CD is very much a family/band affair. The CD was produced by her husband Jeff Jenkins who teaches doctoral students on music theory. The graphics for the CD were done by her guitarist Ken Walker while the painting that graces the front cover is by her daughter Molly Anne Ruhlman who lives in Baltimore. She received a grant for the project from the Boulder County Arts Alliance which had a representative at the gala opening.
To help pay the bills Jenkins also teaches guitar and piano to both adults and children and is deemed one of the top music teachers in the Denver metropolitan area. Those interested in lessons can simply Google “Terri Jo Jenkins – Music Lessons.”
After singing through the CD songs at DazzleJazz the crowd clearly wanted more. After a standing ovation Jenkins came back and belted out an incredible rendition of St. James Infirmary Blues first made famous by Louis Armstrong in a 1928 recording. A happy crowd then filtered out into a warm pre-spring evening lengthened by the coming of daylight saving that Sunday.
Copies of the From this Moment CD can be obtained by going to www.terri jomusic.com. Her email is terrijojenkins@gmail.com and phone 720-320-6254.
