Leighton Harrell

Leighton Harrell is a bassist and composer from Raleigh, North Carolina, whose playing draws on hymns and spirituals, folk music, and the broader traditions of Black American Music. He came to the music at sixteen through the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble, with which he competed at the 2017 Essentially Ellington competition in New York, and that year won a scholarship to the University of Toronto's jazz performance program. In Toronto he built a busy performing schedule, holding a biweekly residency at the Poetry Jazz Cafe with his quartet from 2019 and appearing at venues such as The Rex and festivals including the Toronto Jazz Festival and the Kensington Market Jazz Festival. He studied with Andrew Downing, Dave Young, Rodney Whitaker, and Ben Wolfe, and works on both acoustic and electric bass as a performer and teacher.