Smith, Leonard B(ingley)
Smith, Leonard B(ingley)
Smith, Leonard B(ingley) , American cornetist, trumpeter, conductor, arranger, and composer; b. Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Sept. 5, 1915. After training with Ernest S. Williams, he studied at the N.Y. Military Academy, the Ernest Williams School of Music, N.Y.U., and the Curtis Inst. of Music in Philadelphia. He was first trumpeter in the Detroit Sym. Orch. (1936–42), and concurrently played during the summers with the Goldman Band in N.Y In 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as cornet soloist with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C. In 1946 he became founder-conductor of the Detroit Concert Band, which became one of the leading ensmbles of its kind in the U.S. He composed and arranged numerous works for band, and also publ, the manual The Treasury of Scales (1952).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire