Professional Summary

An expert in the fields of crossover musical performance, global arts entrepreneurship, cross-generational and cross-cultural engagement/advancement, and higher education pedagogy, Dr. Jose Leonardo Leon is one of the leading Classical and Commercial music trombonists (i.e., 1st-call orchestral, chamber, and solo performer; 1st-call studio recording trombonist for Pop, Latin, and Jazz Ensembles). Furthermore, he is an award-winning record producer, a social arts entrepreneur, a keynote presenter, and a digital creative arts consultant. Dr. Leon is a polymath musician who regularly engages with leading professors in institutions of higher learning. Most recently, he was a keynote presenter at the University of Florida’s Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship in 2020 and was a Headlining Artist-Clinician for the 2021 International Trombone Festival. Dr. Leon holds the distinction being a Global Music Awards® Winner for Best Instrumental Album (Classical album) and Compositions for his album “Journey”, and for the Contemporary Classical album, “Embarkation: The Resiliency of Humanity Amid Covid-19” (as Associate Producer, Composer, and Trombonist) with EMMY® and GRAMMY® Winning composer and musician, Dr. José Valentino and Bruno Miranda is quickly garnering much acclaim and media attention (53k media impressions via only and podcasts) for its public health advocacy efforts, and the 2015 Latin GRAMMY® Award Winning album as the bass trombonist for the Mamblue Instrumental Album. Most recent, Dr. Leon has been granted the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences’ Anthem Award for Education, Art, and Culture (Strategy) for “Getting to the GRAMMYs and Beyond: An Insight to Student-Professor Collaborative Albums/Music Videos for a promoting Ecological Activism and Social Impact,” serveing as Co-Producer this past month of February 2023.

As one of most active and proficient trombonists possessing equal mastery on both bass and tenor trombones in Ibero-America and U.S.A., Dr. Leon has worked with reputable professional music organizations such as the Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Symphony under Maestro Gerard Schwarz, the Miami Symphony Orchestra, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra (Spain), the Orquesta Filarmonica UNAM (Mexico City), the Jalisco Philharmonic (Mexico), and the New World Symphony (Miami). Dr. Leon has also enjoyed touring and/or performing with acclaimed artists such as Andrea Bocelli, The Manhattan Transfer, José Valentino, Idina Menzel, Arturo Sandoval, Wycliffe Gordon, Bob Mintzer, Paquito D’ Rivera, Eddie Daniels, Tony Succar, Dr. Ed Calle, David Foster, and the Kravis Center Pops Orchestra, just to name a few.

Jose Leonardo Leon holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Florida International University, a master’s in music from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music. Currently, Jose Leonardo Leon is the bass trombonist with the Symphony of the Americas, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, Applied Trombone, and Founder of the Arts Performance and Entrepreneurship Initiative for the College of Arts and Letters at Florida Atlantic University, trombone and low brass instructor at Pine Crest School and North Broward Prep. Jose Leonardo Leon is a Bach Brass Performing Artist and Clinician at Conn-Selmer Inc and a Hammond Design Mouthpieces Artist in Residence.