Cecil B. Leeson (October 16, 1902 – April 17, 1989)"Cecil Leeson", The North American Saxophone Alliance Online was an American musician and teacher who was widely credited with establishing the saxophone as a legitimate concert instrument in the United States.
Early life While Leeson lived in the southwestern United States, he received a degree from the Tempe Normal School of the Arizona State Teacher's College. He then began studying engineering at the University of Arizona, at which point he began playing saxophone."Saxophone Concert Soloist to Appear Here on January 17." Niagara Falls Gazette, January 11, 1939. In 1921, Cecil Leeson enrolled as a saxophone major in Dana's Musical Institute in Warren, Ohio (today a part of Youngstown State University), graduating in 1925.
Career
Beginning in 1926, he worked on occasion in various commercial groups in Detroit and Ohio, including broadcasts on Cleveland's radio station WHK"Violin Period, Polish Dances, Philco Series." Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 27, 1927. and WJAY"Radio Programs for Tomorrow." Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 7, 1927. in 1927. Musicians Guy Lombardo and his brother Carmen Lombardo were then active in Cleveland, and Leeson began directing the Lombardo School of Saxophone, established by Carmen in 1926, by early 1927."Music and Dancing" (Classified advertisement), Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 28, 1927.Vorpe, John. T. "In the Land of Orchestras and Entertainers." Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 26, 1926.
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. 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."
In 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 June 11, 1931."Saxophone Concert Soloists," January 11, 1939."Leeson Concert." Los Angeles Evening Express, May 16, 1931. By 1934 he was working and performing in New York,"Music Notes." New York Times, April 17, 1934. including an October 1934 recital at the Barbizon Hotel."The Calendar for October." New York Times, September 30, 1934. In July 1936 he visited a series of universities in the midwestern and southwestern United States offering summer musical institutes."Among the Musicians." New York Times, July 12, 1936. In the summer of 1937 and 1939, Leeson taught at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan."A Typical Day at the National Music Camp." New York Times, August 15, 1937."Notes of Musicians Here and Afield." New York Times, July 30, 1939.
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).Matter, Stewart. "Right off the Record." Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 27, 1938.
On February 5, 1937, Cecil Leeson was the first saxophonist to play at Town Hall in New York City."News from Abroad." New York Times, November 1, 1936. 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 National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota.
The 2nd World Saxophone Congress, held in Chicago in 1970, "honored Leeson for 50 years of pioneering and contributing to the establishment of the saxophone in the field of music.""Saxophonist Leeson Dies", The Lewiston Daily, Sun - April 19, 1989. Via Google news, retrieved November 11, 2011
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."
References
External links
"The Cecil B. Leeson Saxophone Collection and Archive ", National Music Museum.
Further reading Mark Hulsebos, Cecil Leeson: the pioneering of the concert saxophone in America from 1921 to 1941, Publisher Ball State University, 1989.