Leonard "Red" Balaban is 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...

 tubist

Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...

 and sousaphonist

Sousaphone

The sousaphone is a type of tuba that is widely employed in marching bands. Designed so that it fits around the body of the musician and is supported by the left shoulder, the sousaphone may be readily played while being carried...

.

Balaban grew up in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and played in regional ensembles from the 1950s. He held a regular gig from 1966 at the Dixieland jazz

Dixieland Jazz

Dixieland Jazz was a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1954.-Premise:The series host was Trump Davidson, a cornet player. He also hosted a radio music series on CBC's Trans-Canada Network.-Scheduling:...

 club Your Father's Mustache in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

He worked extensively as a sideman, for musicians such as Wild Bill Davison

Wild Bill Davison

Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz cornet player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s...

, Eddie Condon

Eddie Condon

Albert Edwin Condon , better known as Eddie Condon, was a jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland, he also played piano and sang on occasion....

, Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...

, Dick Wellstood

Dick Wellstood

Richard MacQueen "Dick" Wellstood was an American jazz pianist...

, and Kenny Davern

Kenny Davern

Kenny Davern , born John Kenneth Davern, was one of the premier jazz clarinetists of his generation.-Biography:He was born in Huntington, Long Island to a family of mixed Jewish and Irish-Catholic ancestry...

. He co-led Eddie Condon's house band with Ed Polcer

Ed Polcer

Ed Polcer is an American jazz cornetist, active principally on the Dixieland jazz scene.Polcer attended Princeton University, where he graduated in 1958. Following this he played in New York City on a part-time basis...

 from 1975; other noted musicians in this outfit included 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...

, Warren Vache

Warren Vache

Warren Vaché is a jazz trumpeter, cornetist and flugelhornist born in Rahway, New Jersey. He came from a musical family as his father was a bassist. In 1976 he released his first album...

, and Connie Kay

Connie Kay

Connie Kay was an American jazz drummer.Kay was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet from 1955 until the group's dissolution in 1974...

. The club closed in the mid-1980s; Balaban continues playing today. He lives with his wife in New England.