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Leon Oakley

US jazz trumpeter with [a=Turk Murphy]. In 1968 Leon relocated from Binghamton, NY to join the Turk Murphy Jazz Band in San Francisco. After leaving Turk's band in 1979, he became a member of The South Frisco Jazz Band until the band retired in 1998. During this period, Leon also worked a day job as a senior electrical engineer with BART, retiring in 2000. Shortly thereafter, Leon became a member of John Gill's Yerba Buena Stompers, that continues to perform at jazz festivals around the country. Around the San Francisco Bay Area, Leon is a regular with Clint Baker's All-Stars at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park on Friday nights and with Mal Sharpe's Big Money Jazz Band at the Fior d’Italia in San Francisco’s North Beach. He often is a guest musician with local bands, including Dave Rickett's Gaucho Gypsy Jazz Band, in which he was a guest recording artist on their “Pearl” and “Part-Time Sweetheart” CDs. Leon has made many recordings produced by various labels with the Turk Murphy, South Frisco and Yerba Buena Stompers jazz bands.