School of Arts & Sciences Faculty

Sabina, Leslie

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT

Visual and Performing Arts

ACADEMIC SCHOOL

School of Arts and Sciences

TITLES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Professor, Music
Chair, Department of Visual and Performing Arts

CONTACT

Office phone: (716) 375-2320
Send an email

OFFICE

Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, 205

COURSES TAUGHT

ACADEMIC DEGREES

OTHER EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Former Assistant Professor, University of Windsor (Canada)
Former Honorary Visiting Fellow, University of York (UK)
Former editor of the International Association for Jazz Education’s Jazz Education Journal

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Jazz performances and recordings in Detroit, Toronto and Buffalo with J.C. Heard Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams, Billy Eckstine, Della Reese, Milt Hinton, Buddy Tate, Roger Kellaway, and many others.
Concert and nightclub performances with Temptations, Drifters, Manhattan Transfer, Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Megan Hilty, Johnny Mathis, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others.
Over 100 big band and saxophone quartet compositions and arrangements published and internationally distributed by Kendor Music, Inc., and Alfred Music (Van Nuys, CA), the world's largest educational music publisher.
- Listen to John L. (Wes) Montgomery's Angel, arr. by Les Sabina
- Listen to Pollo Rojo, by Les Sabina
- Listen to Steam Whistle, by Les Sabina
- Listen to Gears, by Les Sabina
- Listen to O Christmas Tree, arr. by Les Sabina
Many "Editor's Choice" awards from J.W. Pepper, one of the world's largest sheet music distributers.
Author of Jazz Arranging and Orchestration: A Concise Introduction, published by Schirmer/Wadsworth (now Cengage).
More than 40 transcriptions and analyses of jazz work by L. Armstrong, M. Davis, C. Parker, L. Young, etc., published by Jazz Journal UK.
Numerous scholarly papers on jazz published in journals and/or presented at international music conferences.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS/PROJECTS

Playing saxophone with many WNY jazz combos; playing saxophone with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the BPO Big Band; playing electric bass with the LTM Trio, NY Standard Time, and the SBU Faculty Jazz Trio.
Composing and arranging music for jazz groups of all sizes.
Composing production music for modern media use. Distributed in the US and internationally by Warner Chappell Production Music. Listen
Composing and producing meditation/relaxation music under the name Bending Time, and LoFi/Chill Jazz under the name UD 35-90. Tracks are found on all digital streaming services, such as Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

PERSONAL INTERESTS/COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

LINKS