Leonard "Red" Balaban (December 22, 1929 - December 29, 2013) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

tubist This is a list of tuba players with articles on Wikipedia. See also *Lists of musicians This is a list of lists of musicians. Genre The following are lists of musicians by style or music genre. 0–9 * List of 1970s Christian pop artist ...

and sousaphonist. He also played banjo, stand-up bass, slide trombone, ukulele and rhythm guitar. Balaban resided as an adult in the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

panhandle, where he worked as a farmer and played in regional ensembles from the 1950s. He held a regular gig from 1966 at the

Dixieland jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

club Your Father's Mustache in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is the son of

Barney Balaban Barney Balaban (June 8, 1887 – March 7, 1971) was an American film executive who was the president of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964 and an innovator in the cinema industry. Life and career Barney Balaban (formerly Birnbaum) was the el ...

, former president of

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. His sister is actress and author Judy Balaban and his brother is film producer and director

Burt Balaban Burt Balaban (March 6, 1922 – October 14, 1965) was an American film producer and director. Biography Balaban was born to a Jewish family, the son of Tillie (nee Urkov) from her first marriage, and stepson of Barney Balaban. He was the nephew ...

. He is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. He worked extensively as a sideman, for musicians such as

Wild Bill Davison William Edward Davison (January 5, 1906 – November 14, 1989), nicknamed "Wild Bill", was an American jazz cornetist. He emerged in the 1920s through his work playing alongside Muggsy Spanier and Frank Teschemacher in a cover band where they p ...

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. Early years Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, the son of J ...

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, S ...

Dick Wellstood Richard MacQueen Wellstood (November 25, 1927 – July 24, 1987) was an American jazz pianist. Career He was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Wellstood's mother was a graduate of the Juilliard School who played church organ. Wellst ...

, and

Kenny Davern John Kenneth Davern (January 7, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American jazz clarinetist. Biography He was born in Huntington, Long Island, to a family of mixed Jewish and Irish-Catholic ancestry. His mother's family originally came from Vi ...

. He opened the third incarnation of Eddie Condon's Jazz club on W. 54th Street after arranging permission for using Eddie's name from Condon's widow. He co-led the house band with

Ed Polcer Ed Polcer (born February 10, 1937 in Paterson, New Jersey, United States) is an American jazz cornetist, bandleader, festival director, club owner, and mentor of young musicians. He has been described as a "melodic mellow-toned cornetist with an ...

from 1975, with whom he later shared ownership of the club. Other noted musicians in this outfit included

Vic Dickenson Victor Dickenson (August 6, 1906 – November 16, 1984) was an American jazz trombonist. His career began in the 1920s and continued through musical partnerships with Count Basie (1940–41), Sidney Bechet (1941), and Earl Hines. Life and care ...

, Warren Vache, and

Connie Kay Conrad Henry Kirnon (April 27, 1927 – November 30, 1994) known professionally as Connie Kay, was an American jazz and R&B drummer, who was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Self-taught on drums, he began performing in Los Angeles in the mid ...

. The club closed in the mid-1980s. Balaban died at the age of 84 on December 29, 2013, after a brief illness. He was living with his wife of 62 years, Maxine, or Micki as she is called, at their lakefront home in

West Haven, Connecticut West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is located on the coast of Long Island Sound. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 55,584. History Settled in 1648, West Haven (then known as West Farms) ...

References

Eugene Chadbourne Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic. Life and career Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...

Red Balaban Leonard "Red" Balaban (December 22, 1929 - December 29, 2013) was an American jazz tubist and sousaphonist. He also played banjo, stand-up bass, slide trombone, ukulele and rhythm guitar. Balaban resided as an adult in the Florida panhandle, ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

External links

Official Balaban and Katz websiteOfficial Red Balaban website"Leonard Balaban" (obituary)
''New Haven Register'', January 3, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaban, Red American jazz tubists 20th-century American Jews American male jazz musicians 2013 deaths 1929 births Place of birth missing Place of death missing Balaban family 21st-century American Jews