Leslie Drayton

Leslie Drayton's trumpet has channeled sweet jazz tones through funk, rock, and jazz with equal fluency. A founding member of Earth, Wind & Fire, he took part in multiple ventures across the 1970s. These encompassed work in the orchestra pit for the Hollywood production of the musical Hair, plus arranging and conducting dates for Nancy Wilson and New Birth, and serving as music director and conductor for Marvin Gaye and Sylvester. He also performed big-band jazz in the Cab Calloway, Gerald Wilson, and Louis Bellson orchestras.

Musical aptitude came from his father Charles, a bassist who accompanied Lena Horne and Louis Jordan. Three years old at the time of his father's death, Drayton received ongoing encouragement from his mother, who served as Pearl Bailey's hairdresser. Piano study began at age five; after his eleventh birthday he turned to trumpet, receiving his first instrument from Benny Carter, a friend of his late father who had promised the gift once the boy reached that age.

His debut solo album, Our Music Is Your Music, appeared on his own Esoteric label in 1980. He sustained activity as leader of his own ensemble and as co-leader of a big band shared with Melba Liston. In the mid-'80s Barbara Morrison joined the orchestra as vocalist. What It Is, Is What It Is followed in 1987 on Germany's Ausverkau label. After Island rejected Midnight Rendezvous in 1988, disillusionment prompted a move to Colorado. Before leaving Los Angeles he bought synthesizers and computers, treating the interval as a chance to deepen his technical skills. Unfinished Business emerged on Ausverkau in 1990.

The relocation ushered in a period of hardship. Drayton earned a Masters degree in musical composition from the University of Denver, yet received a cancer diagnosis only months after arriving in Colorado. Surgery performed in 1994 successfully removed the growth. He kept recording for the New Perspectives Jazz Ltd. label, releasing Until Further Notice in 1994 and Jazz House Party in 1995. Difficulties persisted after his return to Los Angeles, where his mother suffered a heart attack six months later and died in front of him. That loss shaped several pieces on Urbanesque, issued in 1998 as his third album for New Perspectives.