Larry Jackson / Penni Layne

Member Since: 2026 | Location: Boston | Page Views: 71

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About Me

Larry Jackson & Penni Layne are a husband-and-wife musical partnership blending jazz, soul and original songwriting with an intimate, instinctive approach shaped by years of making music together.

Larry Jackson & Penni Layne are longtime musical collaborators, songwriters and husband and wife whose work moves naturally between jazz, soul and R&B. Jackson is a bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and producer whose musical partnership with Layne has developed over years of writing, recording and performing together. Their shared instincts are at the center of their latest album, *everyday i fall in love*, which they co-produced and which features four of their original compositions alongside reimagined jazz standards. Layne is a Boston-based vocalist and songwriter whose singing combines the phrasing and freedom of jazz with the emotional directness of soul. She is drawn to songs with a story to tell - whether interpreting the jazz repertoire or singing her own material - and brings a warm, conversational quality to both.

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My Jazz Story

Larry here: Jazz became a big part of my life in high school, where playing in the jazz big band was instrumental in my development as a musician. I loved being inside that sound - hearing how all the individual parts worked together and beginning to understand what made an arrangement move, breathe and swing. That experience eventually led to a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, where I studied big band arranging and jazz composition. Berklee opened up the music for me even further, not only as a player but as a writer and arranger, and introduced me to sounds and ideas that would stay with me throughout my musical life. My influences have always been pretty wide-ranging. Jaco Pastorius had a huge impact on me as a bassist, while Bill Evans drew me in through his harmony, sensitivity and musicality. I also developed a deep love for Brazilian jazz and the way rhythm, harmony and melody live together in that music. Rosa Passos became a particular favorite - that understated, intimate approach to a song really speaks to me. All of those influences became part of my musical vocabulary: the energy and architecture of a big band, the freedom of jazz, the harmonic possibilities of Bill Evans, Jaco’s approach to the bass, and the warmth and rhythmic sophistication of Brazilian music. Penni here : When I was 17, a friend and I went to see Sarah Vaughan at the Blue Note in Washington, D.C. We were sitting in the front row and were easily the youngest people in the room. After the set, her bass player came over and asked if we wanted to meet her. My first response was actually no - I didn’t want to bother her! Thankfully, I reconsidered. We went backstage, and Sarah was so warm and kind that by the time we left, it felt as though we were old friends. Looking back, I think that night - her kindness as much as her extraordinary voice - was one of the reasons I really began studying jazz. I had the Sarah Vaughan cassette from the "Compact Jazz" series and played it on rotation until I practically wore it out. When she sang “My Funny Valentine,” I could feel it in my soul. I listened to her phrasing, her choices, the way she could live inside a lyric. So many of the jazz songs I now know by heart, I first learned by listening to Sarah. That love of the music eventually took me to Berklee College of Music, where I studied jazz with Bob Stoloff and Jan Shapiro. They helped me begin to understand more deeply what I had been hearing instinctively for years — how to approach the music as a vocalist, how to phrase, improvise, interpret a lyric and make a song my own. In a very real way, though, Sarah Vaughan was one of my first jazz teachers.