Leon Breeden

Harold Leon Breeden ( born October 3, 1921 in Guthrie (Oklahoma ); † August 11, 2010 in Dallas, Texas ) was an American jazz musician (saxophone, clarinet, arrangement, composition), big band leader and high school teachers.

Breeden grew up in Wichita on Falls, Texas, where his parents ran a gas station. As a child he learned the clarinet. Even before the military service, he earned a Bachelor and a Masters in Music Education at Texas Christian University. During the Second World War, he played in the 69th Infantry Division band. After his discharge from the army he worked as a teacher and director of college bands, first at Texas Christian and later at another Texas high school before he headed from 1959 to 1981, the jazz program at the University of North Texas. He also worked with the student band One O'Clock Lab band, the most famous of his nine big bands; it was also the first college band, which was nominated for a Grammy.

Among his students musicians like Lou Marini, Marvin master, John Riley and members of the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman big bands. Under his leadership, the One O'Clock Lab Band played in 1967 at the White House, along with Stan Getz and Duke Ellington, went on worldwide tours and performed in 1970 at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The late 1970s, accompanied Breeden with the band Ella Fitzgerald during a tour and various jazz festivals.

Disco Graphical Notes

The Best of One O'Clock (Amazing Records, 1992)
Live in Portugal ( North Texas Jazz, 1993)

Swell

Obituary in the New York Times ( accessed August 15, 2010 )
Disco Graphical entry at Allmusic ( accessed August 15, 2010 )

Leon Breeden

Disco Graphical Notes

Swell

Further Reading