DeWitt Fleming Jr.

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

DeWitt Fleming Jr. is a multi-talented and brilliant performer, renowned for his tap dancing, choreography and acting, and is also a singer and drummer. As he said to me in this interview “when I’m tap dancing I’m drumming”. You’ll hear about his experience growing up in the Projects, the importance of attending an Arts high school, the usefulness of theatre training for musicians, and insights into memorization, mindset and performing. He shared his experiences working with Wynton Marsalis, meeting his wife the actor and singer Jennie Harney-Fleming, with whom he’s presently performing A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, his experiences with Cirque du Soleil and touring internationally with Riverdance, and most recently playing both drums and performing tap with the Hot Sardines in Tokyo.

Like all my episodes, you can also watch this on my YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website, everything linked here : https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/dewitt-fleming-jr

DeWitt Fleming Jr. Website: https://www.dewittflemingjr.com/bio

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You may be also interested in my episodes with ⁠J. Walter Hawkes,⁠ ⁠Vahn Black⁠,⁠ Mike Essoudry⁠, ⁠Destiny Muhammad⁠, ⁠EmmoLei Sankofa⁠, ⁠Kellylee Evans⁠ and so many ⁠others. ⁠

“Doxy” highlighting DeWitt’s tap dancing with saxophonist Erica von Kleist; Sax & Taps’ this video which was recorded live at The Red Room in 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-xm8DZY6c

Sax & Taps’ album Intersplosion!

https://saxandtaps.bandcamp.com/album/intersplosion-live-at-dizzys-club

clips of DeWitt dancing with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGl6svIDzNc

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(02:48) history of tap, African roots

(09:26) DeWitt’s youth Projects of Washington DC, Hoofin’ out of the Hood show

(17:54) meeting his wife Jennie Harney-Fleming, parenting

(22:16) A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical

(23:30) choreography, Broadway

(26:56) benefits of drama training

(29:31) clip from Doxy, Sax & Taps with Erica von Kleist

(32:28) other episodes you may like, and different ways to support this series!

(33:15) drummer, Blue Note Tokyo with The Hot Sardines

(36:47) Cirque du Soleil experience, Broadway Underground

(43:06) meeting and working with Wynton Marsalis

(50:24) tap dancing, mentoring and teaching youth, the importance of theater

(56:10) connections with music, acting, dancing

(59:38) touring internationally with Riverdance

(01:02:35) Alicia Keys

(01:04:57) balance between playing drums and dancing, being in the moment, tap is music