Days of Wine and Roses
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Pianist / arranger / composer / educator
Lenny LaCroix
A Los Angeles-based musician whose work spans jazz performance, television, film, live production, cruise entertainment, and music education.
From arranging for Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand to helping shape jazz education programs, Lenny LaCroix has built a career around precise musicianship, deep collaboration, and a practical love of teaching.
About
A life at the piano, on stage, and behind the arrangement.
Lenny LaCroix was born in Chicopee, Massachusetts. His love of music started early: by age five he was playing drums, and by six he had moved to piano. At twelve, he formed his first band, where he played, arranged, and led the group.
At seventeen, he entered the Hartt College of Music at the University of Hartford. He completed the four-year program in three years, graduated at the top of his class, and later pursued graduate study while continuing to perform and teach.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1969, he worked as a pianist, arranger, conductor, and composer with entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Lucille Ball, John Denver, Gene Kelly, Shirley MacLaine, Ann-Margret, Tony Danza, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jim Henson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sid Caesar, and Imogene Coca.
His credits extend across dance, film, television, live production, and cruise entertainment, including projects connected with Royal Caribbean, Radisson, Holland America, Silversea, and Oceania.
A life in jazz
Performance
Just in Time
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Green Dolphin Street
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Blue Monk
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As a jazz artist, Lenny has shared the stage with Phil Woods, Dexter Gordon, Tom Scott, Jack Sheldon, Jeff Hamilton, Al Cohn, Eric Marienthal, Booker Ervin, Tommy Newsome, and Bill Watrous.
In the early 1980s, he formed his own big band, composing and arranging all of the music himself. The band became a staple in the local jazz scene, performing at venues including Carmelo's and At My Place while supporting public school jazz education programs.
Film, television, and live production
Arranger credits
A concise production index from television specials, concert programs, and live-stage arrangements represented in the archive.
01
In Hollywood
02
Albert Hall
03
TV special, "I Go to Rio"
04
TV special, "I Go to Rio"
05
Louis Prima Medley
06
Live at the Lido
Commitment to education
Teaching musicians how music works in practice.
Lenny's music education work began at seventeen, when he started teaching private students. While still an undergraduate at the Hartt College of Music, he co-designed and taught the pilot Jazz Workshop program, which later became a four-year degree program.
As a graduate student, he taught music theory, keyboard training, ear training, and improvisation. In the 1980s, he taught Rhythm Section Workshop, Keyboard Styles, and Rock Arranging at the Dick Grove School of Music in Studio City, California.