Cecil Leeson

Cecil B. Leeson (16 December 1902 North Dakota – 17 April 1989),[1] a musician and teacher, was widely credited with establishing the saxophone as a legitimate concert instrument in the U.S.

Cecil Leeson
Born16 December 1902
Died17 April 1989 (1989-04-18) (aged 86)
InstrumentsSaxophone

Early life

While living in the southwest, he received a degree from the Tempe Normal School of the Arizona State Teacher's College. He then began engineering study at the University of Arizona, at which point he began playing saxophone.[2] In 1921, Cecil Leeson enrolled as a saxophone major in Dana's Musical Institute in Warren, Ohio (currently part of Youngstown State University), graduating in 1925.

Career

From 1926, he worked on occasion in various commercial groups in Detroit, and in Ohio, including broadcasts on Cleveland's radio station WHK[3] and WJAY.[4] Musicians Guy Lombardo and his brother Carmen were then active in Cleveland, and Leeson began directing the Lombardo School of Saxophone by early 1927,[5] which Carmen had started in 1926.[6] His approach to classical saxophone playing differed from jazz and dance saxophone music popular at the time, and helped promote classical saxophone style in a mainstream medium.[7]

A writer in the Hollywood News said that "in Leeson's capable hands, the saxophone [is] no longer the blatant jazz instrument of popular conception, but an instrument of really beautiful tone color [...]. If there were other saxophonists who could play as Leeson does, the saxophone would speedily make its appearance in the symphony orchestra."

During the early 1930s, he joined the faculty at the Hollywood Conservatory of Music and taught there for several years. He considered his formal "concert debut" to have been a Hollywood Conservatory recital on 11 June 1931.[8][9] By 1934 he was working and performing in New York,[10] including an October 1934 recital at The Barbizon Hotel.[11] In July 1936 he visited a series of midwestern and southwestern U.S. campuses offering summer musical institutes.[12] The following summer Leeson taught at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan,[13] as he did in 1939. [14]

From 1934 to 1939, Leeson collaborated with American composer Paul Creston, resulting in several major pieces for the classical saxophone repertoire, which they premiered. Leeson and Creston recorded the composer's "Suite" (a-sax/pno) in 1938 for New Music Quarterly Recordings (catalog 1314-A-B).([15]

On 5 February 1937, Cecil Leeson was the first saxophonist to play at Town Hall in New York City.[16] He was also one of the first saxophonists to appear as a soloist with major American symphony orchestras. More than 50 works for saxophone were written for him by composers such as Leon Stein, Edvard Moritz, Paul Creston, and Ferde Grofé.

Leeson taught saxophone performance at Northwestern University from 1955 to 1961 and then at Ball State University. His papers and his collection of original Adolphe Sax and other famous saxophones are in the America's National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota.

The 2nd World Saxophone Congress in Chicago in 1970, "honored Leeson for 50 years of pioneering and contributing to the establishment of the saxophone in the field of music".[17]

According to Stephen Cottrell, "Leeson's style of saxophone performance established in the United States a school of classical saxophone playing that differed from the European model."[18]

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References
  1. "Cecil Leeson", The North American Saxophone Alliance Online
  2. "Saxophone Concert Soloist to Appear Here on January 17." Niagara Falls Gazette, 11 January 1939.
  3. "Violin Period, Polish Dances, Philco Series." Cleveland Plain Dealer, 27 March 1927.
  4. "Radio Programs for Tomorrow." Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7 June 1927.
  5. "Music and Dancing" (Classified advertisement), Cleveland Plain Dealer, 28 January 1927.
  6. Vorpe, John. T. "In the Land of Orchestras and Entertainers." Cleveland Plain Dealer, 26 September 1926.
  7. Stephen Cottrell (2013). The Saxophone (Yale Musical Instrument Series). Yale Musical Instrument Series. pp. 253–254.
  8. "Saxophone Concert Soloists," 11 January 1939.
  9. "Leeson Concert." Los Angeles Evening Express, 16 May 1931.
  10. "Music Notes." New York Times, 17 April 1934.
  11. "The Calendar for October." New York Times, 30 September 1934.
  12. "Among the Musicians." New York Times, 12 July 1936.
  13. "A Typical Day at the National Music Camp." New York Times, 15 August 1937.
  14. "Notes of Musicians Here and Afield." New York Times, 30 July 1939.
  15. Matter, Stewart. "Right off the Record." Cleveland Plain Dealer, 27 March 1938.
  16. "News from Abroad." New York Times, 1 November 1936.
  17. "Saxophonist Leeson Dies", The Lewiston Daily, Sun - Apr 19, 1989. Via Google news, retrieved 11 Nov 2011
  18. Stephen Cottrell (2013). The Saxophone (Yale Musical Instrument Series). Yale Musical Instrument Series. p. 256.

Bibliography
  • Mark Hulsebos, Cecil Leeson: the pioneering of the concert saxophone in America from 1921 to 1941, Publisher Ball State University, 1989.
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