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Leon Breeden
Leon Breeden, Jazz Educator, Dies at 88
Source:
AAJ Staff
Leon Breeden, the longtime director of jazz studies at the University of North Texas, who half a century ago transformed the program from a clandestine enterprise into the international Mecca for jazz training it remains today, died on Wednesday in Dallas. He was 88. The cause was complications of an abdominal infection, said Richard Cox, a family friend. Mr. Breeden, a resident of Denton, Tex., for many years, had lived most recently in Dallas. A respected clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and ...
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Leon Breeden, Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The average jazz listener—whoever that might be—may never give a thought to how his favorite musicians learned their art. There was a time, long past, when most professional jazz artists reached proficiency through on-the-job training. Music departments in institutions of higher education took decades to recognize jazz as a serious branch of music. Older jazz players who majored in music can tell you stories of being disciplined or, in extreme cases, thrown out of school for jamming in practice rooms. ...
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Leon Breeden
Born: October 3, 1921
