Scott, Leon
Scott, Leon
Scott, Leon, jazz trumpeter; b. Demopolis, Ala., Aug. 15, 1904; d. Chicago, III., Jan. 2, 1974. His father played baritone horn. Leon began on trumpet, was taught by John Whatley in Birmingham, Ala., and then moved to Chicago, where he studied music with Major N. Clark-Smith. He worked with a series of bands, including Lester Boone (1925), John Morrisett (1926), Tiny Parharn (1927), Sammy Stewart (1928–29), and Walter Barnes (late 1929). In 1930–31 he toured France and Belgium with Earl Moss. Scott worked with Lucky Millinder in Chicago and N.Y. (1931), prior to a brief return to Tiny Parham’s Band. He worked often with Carroll Dickerson during the 1930s and then with Jimmie Noone (1937–39); he also worked with Earl Hines (1938). From 1941–late 1945 he worked in Hawaii, and then moved to Los Angeles in 1946 where he worked with Benny Carter and Eddie Heywood before moving back to Chicago in the late 1940s. Scott freelanced around Chicago during the 1950s and 1960s; beginning in 1965, he began to play many dates with Franz Jackson (including overseas tours). III health caused an end to regular playing during the early 1970s. Leon’s daughter Julie L. Scott plays French horn and piano.
—John Chilton , Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter