Michael Leonhart

A highly versatile trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, and arranger, Michael Leonhart has distinguished himself as both a bandleader and session player with a wide variety of pop, jazz, and hip-hop artists. Leonhart first garnered attention in his teens winning the 1992 Grammy for Best High School Musician and releasing 1995's Aardvark Poses. He has toured and recorded regularly with Steely Dan since 1996 and worked with artists like Vinicius Cantuaria, El Michels Affair, David Byrne, Yoko Ono, and more. While his roots are in post-bop jazz, he has explored a wide array of sounds, including neo-psychedelic rock and funk as on 2010's Seahorse and the Storyteller. He also leads his large Michael Leonhart Orchestra, with whom he released 2018's The Painted Lady Suite, 2019's Suite Extracts, Vol. 1, and 2022's Normyn Suite. Born in 1974 in New York City, Leonhart grew up in a musical family, the son of singer Donna Leonhart and bassist Jay Leonhart. His sister, Carolyn Leonhart, is also a vocalist. A gifted jazz trumpeter, he was a mere 17 years old when he won the Grammy for Best High School Musician in 1992. Two years later, he made his debut as a leader with Aardvark Poses on Sunnyside. The album caught the attention of Steely Dan, who invited Leonhart to join them on tour. Over the next few years, he toured with the legendary rock group, a period that also found him branching out with artists like Vinicius Cantuaria, Arto Lindsay, and others. In 1997, he displayed his ever-broadening tastes with his sophomore album, Glub-Glub, Vol. 11, showcasing his trumpet, organ, and guitar skills alongside his interest in fusion and psychedelic rock. A year later, he appeared alongside Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, and other emerging jazz greats on Perico Sambeat's album Ademuz. He continued his work with Steely Dan, appearing on the group's Grammy-winning 2000 album, Two Against Nature. In 2002, Leonhart paired with guitarist Jon Herrington for the hushed and intimate Slow. He also moved into studio and production work, contributing to projects by Nanny Assis, Alice Smith, Jens Lekman, and others, including playing in the house band for Leon Michels' Truth and Soul Records label. Leonhart again explored his own neo-psych-folk inclinations with 2006's The Ballad of Minton Quigley and in 2010 released Seahorse and the Storyteller, a conceptual funk album featuring members of El Michels Affair, the Dap-Kings, and Antibalas. He co-produced Donald Fagen's 2012 solo album Sunken Condos and has also recorded and/or worked with Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band, Aloe Blacc, Lee Fields, Rufus Wainwright, Natalie Merchant, St. Vincent, David Byrne, and Mark Ronson, among others. In addition, he helms his own large ensemble, the Micheal Leonhart Orchestra, which he debuted on 2018's The Painted Lady Suite. A year later, he returned with 2019's Suite Extracts, Vol. 1. In 2022, he delivered his third large-ensemble work, Normyn Suite. Named after his beloved dachshund dog, it featured contributions by Elvis Costello, Chris Potter, JSwiss, and more. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi