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MaiGroup, David Crosby
From a tiny village in Estonia to the big stages of America, Mai Leisz’s musical metamorphosis has led her to play alongside David Crosby, Jackson Browne, and her own jazz-fusion band, MaiGroup
A TIME
UPON By Jon D’Auria | Photo by Anna Webber
W
hen it comes to backstories, Mai Leisz’s reads more like a fairytale than it does a musician bio. Add in a storybook romance straight out of a Hollywood movie and a surreal supporting cast, and that’s her life in a nutshell. Born in the tiny village of Leisi, Estonia, with a population of 200, Leisz was sheltered from popular music due to regulations from the post-Soviet regime of the time. When she started playing the bass at 16 she was exposed to jazz through her music teacher’s guidance. As she gained more access to American jazz and pop music, Mai found tremendous influence in the playing of Jaco Pastorius, Gary Willis, Jimmy Johnson, Carol Kaye, and her first bass teacher Raul Vaigla. After moving away to Sweden to continue
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her bass studies, her bass was her only solace, until the moment that changed everything. It was a day in June 2015 when everything was going wrong for Mai, as she took the wrong metro on her way to busk in the streets of Stockholm with her friend Doug Seegers, then wandered down the wrong road and ended up in an unfamiliar place. When she finally pulled out her bass to start playing, it started to rain. During those 10 minutes, someone who would play a significant role later in her life walked by and heard her soulful bass playing. The man turned out to be renowned multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz (Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, John Mayer), who was in town performing with Jackson Browne. Mai was invited to sit in with Jackson’s band the next day, whose bass chair was being occupied by Bob Glaub.
BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 2 ; bassmagazine.com
