Leon Breeden, Jazz Educator, Dies at 88

Leon Breeden, the longtime director of jazz studies at the University of North Texas, who half a century ago transformed the program from a clandestine enterprise into the international Mecca for jazz training it remains today, died on Wednesday in Dallas. He was 88. The cause was complications of an abdominal infection, said Richard Cox, a family friend. Mr. Breeden, a resident of Denton, Tex., for many years, had lived most recently in Dallas.

A respected clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and arranger, Mr. Breeden ran the North Texas program from 1959 to 1981. He also led the university's One O'Clock Lab Band, the most prestigious of its nine big bands and the first college band to be nominated for a Grammy Award. Today, the division of jazz studies, part of the university's College of Music, offers bachelor's and master's of music degrees in jazz. Students may concentrate in areas like instrumental and vocal performance, composition, arranging and pedagogy.

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