Michael Leonhart
Leonhart with Sean Ono Lennon in 2022.
Background information
Born	( 1974-04-21 ) April 21, 1974 (age 50)
Genres	Jazz , rock , pop
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Trumpet, trombone, flugelhorn
Labels	Sunnyside , Truth and Soul
Website	michaelleonhart .com

Michael Leonhart (born April 21, 1974) is an American jazz trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist.

Solo career [ edit ]

In 1992 Leonhart was honored with the first Grammy Award for outstanding high school musician in the US (he attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School ). ^[1] He was the youngest Grammy recipient to date. He was 17 years old. In February of the same year ABC World News named him Person of the Week. ^[2]

Leonhart has performed with Steely Dan since 1996, recording two albums with them, including 2000's Grammy winning Album of the Year Two Against Nature on which he was a featured soloist, arranger, and conductor. He co-produced Donald Fagen 's fourth solo album, Sunken Condos (2012).

He recorded with Yoko Ono as a featured member of The Plastic Ono Band in 2009 for her album, Between My Head and the Sky ^[3] and again in 2013 on her album Take Me to the Land of Hell . He played with Monkey House on two albums: Headquarters (2012) ^[4] and Left (2016). ^[5]

In 2015, he collaborated with the Antibalas and The Dap-Kings horn sections, Mark Ronson , and Bruno Mars to record " Uptown Funk " and other tracks on the album Uptown Special (2015). ^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}

He has also worked with A Tribe Called Quest , John Barry, James Brown , Busta Rhymes , David Byrne , Mos Def , DJ Spooky , Brian Eno , Bill Frisell , Levon Helm , Lenny Kravitz , Arto Lindsay , Henry Mancini , Arif Mardin , Wynton Marsalis , Michael McDonald , Bobby McFerrin , Natalie Merchant , Q-Tip , Raekwon , Bonnie Raitt , Joshua Redman , Todd Rundgren , Skizm, Slash , Steven Tyler , Caetano Veloso , and Bill Withers .

Michael Leonhart & the Avramina 7 [ edit ]

After 40 plus recordings as the house trumpet player for Truth and Soul Records , the Brooklyn-based funk and soul label released Leonhart's heavy-funk concept album Seahorse and the Storyteller in 2009. ^[13]

Personal life [ edit ]

Michael Leonhart is the son of Jay Leonhart , ^[14] noted jazz bassist, and the brother of vocalist Carolyn Leonhart . ^[15]

Discography [ edit ]

As leader [ edit ]

• Aardvark Poses ( Sunnyside , 1995)
• Glub Glub Vol. 11 (Sunnyside, 1997)
• Slow (Sunnyside, 2002)
• The Suzy Lattimore EP (self-released, 2005)
• The Ballad of Minton Quigley (self-released, 2006)
• Hotel Music (St. Ives, 2008)
• Seahorse & the Storyteller ( Truth and Soul , 2010)
• The Painted Lady Suite (Sunnyside, 2018)
• Suite Extracts Vol. 1 (Sunnyside, 2019)
• The Normyn Suites (Sunnyside, 2022)

With JSWISS

• The Alchemy EP (self-released, 2021)
• Bona Fide (self-released, 2022)

As sideman or guest [ edit ]

With Vinicius Cantuaria

• Sol Na Cara (Gramavision, 1996)
• Tucuma (Verve, 1998)
• Vinicius (Transparent, 2001)
• Horse and Fish (Rykodisc, 2004)
• Cymbals (Naive, 2007)

With Jay Leonhart

• The Double Cross (Sunnyside, 1988)
• Galaxies and Planets (Sons of Sound, 2001)
• Rodgers & Leonhart (Sons of Sound, 2002)

With others

• Aloe Blacc , Good Things (Stones Throw 2010)
• Blonde Redhead , 3 O'Clock (Ponderosa, 2017)
• Paul Brill , Breezy (Scarlet Shame, 2011)
• Cibo Matto , Hotel Valentine (Chimera, 2014)
• Peter Cincotti , Long Way from Home (2017)
• Nels Cline , Lovers (2016)
• El Michels Affair , Sounding Out the City (Fastlife, 2005)
• El Michels Affair , Enter the 37th Chamber (Fat Beats, 2009)
• Donald Fagen , Sunken Condos (Reprise, 2012)
• Lee Fields , My World (Truth & Soul, 2009)
• Lee Fields, Faithful Man (Truth & Soul, 2012)
• The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger , La Carotte Bleue (Chimera, 2011)
• The Hold Steady , Thrashing Thru the Passion (Frenchkiss, 2019)
• Yuka Honda , Heart Chamber Phantoms (Tzadik, 2010)
• Per Husby , If You Could See Me Now (Gemini, 1996)
• Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings , I Learned the Hard Way (Daptone, 2010)
• Shawn Lee , World of Funk (Ubiquity, 2011)
• Jens Lekman , An Argument with Myself (Secretly Canadian, 2011)
• Arto Lindsay , Prize (Righteous Babe, 1999)
• Michael McDonald , Wide Open (BMG, 2017)
• Natalie Merchant , Leave Your Sleep (Nonesuch, 2010)
• Tom Odell , Jubilee Road (Columbia, 2018)
• Mauro Refosco , Seven Waves (MA, 1999)
• Mark Ronson , Uptown Special (Columbia, 2015)
• Ben Sidran , Dylan Different (Microcoscmo Dischi, 2009)
• Leo Sidran , Cool School (Bonsai Music, 2018)
• Alice Smith , For Lovers, Dreamers & Me (BBE 2006)
• Sharleen Spiteri , Melody (Mercury, 2008)
• Steely Dan , Two Against Nature (Reprise, 2000)
• Steely Dan , Everything Must Go (Reprise, 2003)
• They Might Be Giants , Here Comes Science (Disney Sound/Idlewild, 2009)
• Steve Tyrell , This Guy's in Love (Columbia, 2003)
• Sachal Vasandani , Slow Motion Miracles (Okeh, 2015)
• Martha Wainwright , Come Home to Mama (Cooperative, 2012)
• Rufus Wainwright , Out of the Game (Decca, 2012)
• Walt Weiskopf , Day in Night Out (Criss Cross, 2008)
• The Whitefield Brothers , In the Raw (Now-Again, 2009)
• Nikki Yanofsky , Nikki (Decca, 2010)
• Geoff Zanelli and Mark Ronson , Mortdecai (La-La Land, 2015)
• St. Vincent , …At The Holiday Party (Daddy's Home, 2020)

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Official Site
• At Discogs
• At AllMusic
• At Sunnyside