Carmen Leggio

Carmen Leggio (c. 1927 – 2009) was an American jazz musician. He played tenor saxophone.

Contents

• speak low easy to love carmen leggio sax
• The carmen leggio group full album
• Select discography
• References

Leggio was born in Tarrytown, New York and died there on April 17, 2009. In his final years, he performed in various clubs and restaurants throughout Westchester, like the Red Hat Bistro in Irvington. In 2006 he recorded Three Legends Live At The Division Street Grill with Bucky Pizzarelli and Bill Crow at one of these dates. On April 17, 2009, he suffered a heart attack in front of his home in Tarrytown, and died later that day.

From an interview with Leggio conducted by Fred Cicetti, October 1999:

Leggio (incredibly, it means "music stand" in Italian) taught himself how to play at the age of nine. He began on clarinet, imitating Artie Shaw on the radio. He still performs "Stardust," "Nightmare" and "Begin the Beguine" on an old King metal clarinet. At 14, he switched to tenor sax and began playing in clubs in his hometown of Tarrytown, a suburb just north of New York City.

"I quit high school, because I knew I was meant to be a musician," he said. "But my father was so angry that he didn't speak to me for years. On his deathbed, he admitted I was right to leave school."

From Colin Smith, EZRock 99.1:

After playing in local bands, Leggio came to New York City in 1950 where he worked with Terry Gibbs and became a studio musician. Most notable among his musical associations have been Marty Napoleon, Sol Yaged (1956), Benny Goodman (1957), Maynard Ferguson's Orchestra (1958-59), Woody Herman (1963) and during the late 1970's the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.

Carmen Leggio cherished his saxophone. He played the same instrument since 1961, a Gold Medal SML made in France by Strasser, Marigaux & Lemaire. And the same mouthpiece, a Selmer D.

"I don't know much about horns and mouthpieces. A friend of mine got me to the right sax and set-up and I just stayed with it because it worked for me. A sax is like a pair of shoes. If you get a pair that are comfortable, you can learn how to do any kind of dance in them."