Leon Lee Dorsey

Associate Professor
Affiliated Departments
Harmony and Jazz Composition
ldorsey@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-6718
Personal Websites
Leon Dorsey's website

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Career Highlights
  • Bassist with Lionel Hampton and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, as well as with vocalist Cassandra Wilson
  • Performances with conductors Lukas Foss and Robert Fountain
  • Performances with Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, John Lewis, Kenny Clarke, Jon Hendricks, Joe Williams, and others
  • Worked with Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall, guest appearances at the White House under presidents Reagan and Clinton, and performed with the operatic diva Marilyn Home
  • Recordings include The Watcher (Leon Dorsey, Vincent Herring, and Don Braden), Song of Songs (Leon Dorsey, Bryan Carrott, Carlton Holmes, and Vincent Ector), Today’s Love Songs,Tomorrow’s Blues (Arthur Prysock), The Other Side (Oliver Lake), New York Story (Hilton Ruiz), among others
  • Composer and arranger
Education
  • Stony Brook University
    New York
    Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.)
    Music
  • Manhattan School of Music
    New York
    Master of Music (M.M.)
    Contemporary Classical Music Performance
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Wisconsin
    Master of Music (M.M.)
    Music
In Their Own Words

"I think it is extremely important that facts and information given to students have an inherent functionality. This is so application is intimately linked with information. The student should be taught to breathe life into whatever information is received from the instructor. Teachers should fuel the desire to learn within the student."