Smith, Leonard B. (Leonard Bingley), 1915-2002

Leonard B. Smith (1915-2002) was an American cornetist, concert band conductor, and band music publisher. Born September 5, 1915, in Poughkeepsie, New York, he began studying the trumpet at age 8, received a musical scholarship to the New York Military Academy at 14, and joined the Edwin Franko Goldman Band at 19. During his six-year career in New York, Leonard B. Smith played the familiar trumpet call announcing the popular Lone Ranger radio program. In the 1930s he served his tenure as principal trumpet of the Detroit Symphony. During World War II, Smith was principal cornetist and soloist with the U.S. Navy Band. He established the Leonard Smith Band on April 5, 1946 which later become known as the Belle Isle Concert Band, and then in 1971 as the Detroit Concert Band. As a band leader Leonard B. Smith recorded all of John Philip Sousa's marches and made a BBC documentary about Sousa's life. While working as a band conductor and music publisher he amassed a large collection of symphonies, operas, and ballet music arranged for band. Although he gave up playing trumpet and cornet when he was 55, Leonard B. Smith conducted the Detroit Concert Band until 1991. He died July 26, 2002, in Scottsdale, Arizona.