Remembering Some of Those In Pan We’ve Lost in 2021 - Composer, Director & Arranger James Alexander Leyden III

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 James “Jimmy” Leyden

Composer & arranger James Alexander Leyden III was born on June 12, 1921 and passed away on May 25, 2021. Leyden formed and wrote charts for “Calliope′s Children,” one of the first High School steelbands in the US. He introduced Ellie [Mannette] to the strobe tuner and worked extensively with him on harmonic and overtone concepts (in Chappaqua, New York in 1971). Leyden toured with “Calliope′s Children” in Romania (1975) and Poland and Russia (1977). Leyden first came into contact with steelpan while vacationing in Tobago, sister isle of Trinidad, in 1957.


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