Harlan Leonard was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 bandleader

Bandleader

A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....

 and clarinetist from Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

.

A professional musician from the age of 17, he joined Benny Moten

Benny Moten

Benny Moten was an American jazz bassist.Moten had a long career as a sideman from the early 1940s, including with Hot Lips Page, Jerry Jerome, Red Allen , Eddie South, Stuff Smith, Arnett Cobb, Ella Fitzgerald, Wilbur De Paris , Buster Bailey, Roy Eldridge, and Dakota Staton...

's orchestra in 1923, where he led the reed section until 1931. In 1931 he and Thamon Hayes formed the Kansas City Skyrockets, which included trumpeter Ed Lewis

Ed Lewis (musician)

Ed Lewis was an American jazz trumpeter.Lewis played early in his career in Kansas City with Jerry Westbrook as a baritone hornist, then switched to trumpet in 1925...

, trombonist Vic Dickenson

Vic Dickenson

Vic Dickenson was an African-American jazz trombonist. Dickenson's career started out in the 1920s and led him through musical partnerships with such legends as Count Basie , Sidney Bechet and Earl Hines...

, and pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 Jesse Stone

Jesse Stone

Jesse Stone was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres...

. After disputes with the Chicago local of the American Federation of Musicians

American Federation of Musicians

The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...

 the band broke up. Leonard then formed a new band, Harlan Leonard and his Rockets. Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

 played in this band for five weeks, but was fired by Leonard for lack of discipline. The band's music is considered transitional between swing

Swing (genre)

Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...

 and bop

Bebop

Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...

. The band broke up during the Second World War, and Leonard left professional music.

Source

Music Web Encyclopaedia

Big Band Serenade #111 (Includes 39 minutes of band playing