Steven L. Isoardi, Interviewer, UCLA Oral History Program; B.A., M.A., Government, University of San Francisco; M.A., Ph.D., Political Science, UCLA.
Place: Isoardi's home, Pasadena, California.
Dates, length of sessions: June 11, 1997 (149 minutes); June 14, 1997 (63).
Total number of recorded hours: 3.5
Persons present during interview: Leon and Isoardi
This interview is one in a series designed to preserve the spoken memories of individuals, primarily musicians, who were raised near and/or performed on Los Angeles's Central Avenue, especially from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s. Musician and teacher William Green, his student Steven Isoardi, and early project interviewee Buddy Collette provided major inspiration for the UCLA Oral History Program's inaugurating the Central Avenue Sounds Oral History Project.
In preparing for the interview, Isoardi consulted jazz histories, autobiographies, oral histories, relevant jazz periodicals, documentary films, and back issues of the
The interview is organized chronologically, beginning with Leon's early childhood in El Paso, Texas, and continuing through his move to Los Angeles in the thirties, his career as a saxophonist-pianist-arranger in Los Angeles, his years as a music teacher at Lincoln High School, and his decision to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology. Major topics discussed include Leon's experience as a Mexican American, music venues in Los Angeles during the thirties and forties, Latin jazz in Los Angeles, and Leon's commitment to educating the youth of Los Angeles in the areas of both music and race.
Kathleen McAlister, editorial assistant, edited the interview. She checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings, edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling, and verified proper names. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed.
Leon passed away before he was able to review the transcript, and therefore family names remain unverified.
Alex Cline, editor, prepared the table of contents and biographical summary. Isoardi assembled the interview history. Victoria Simmons, editorial assistant, compiled the index.
The original tape recordings of the interview are in the university archives and are available under the regulations governing the use of permanent noncurrent records of the university. Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Oral History Program.