Jeffrey P. Leonard is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music, having majored in Music Education and Jazz Composition and Arranging. He was the first to graduate from Berklee’s newly instituted double major program, completing the five-year program in four years. He holds a Master's Degree in Music Education from Boston University, where he was invited to join the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. He has done additional graduate study at University of Michigan, the New England Conservatory of Music, and Central Connecticut State University..

After teaching for one year in the Andover, MA public schools, Mr. Leonard moved to Lexington High School where he has been the director of bands and the jazz program from 1983 to the present, and Acting Coordinator of Music Education from 1988 to 1990. In 1995, Mr. Leonard was the recipient of the Lexington Public School Teacher of the Year award for Exemplary Teaching. He has taught Music Education courses at New England Conservatory, directed the Jazz Ensemble at Boston University, and for four years was the Music Director for the musical theater productions at Boston College. Mr. Leonard returns as the conductor of the Reagle Players in Waltham this year for his ninth year, after an absence of two years. With founder Don Gillespie’s retirement in 1996, Mr. Leonard was appointed as the music director for the Lexington Bicentennial Band.

Mr. Leonard is an active performer, arranger and conductor. As a saxophone and woodwind player, he performs extensively throughout New England in theaters and Boston area jazz clubs. His compositions and arrangements have been commissioned by groups in Massachusetts, Virginia, Indiana, Maryland. As a conductor, he has made many guest conducting appearances with Bands, Orchestras, Pit Orchestras, and Jazz Bands around New England, including the Massachusetts All-State Jazz Ensemble, The New Hampshire All-State Jazz Band, Central District Junior Festival Band and Jazz Ensemble, Central District Senior Festival Jazz Ensemble, The Lions Club All State Jazz Band, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell Summer Band Camp and the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School. Mr. Leonard has worked as an adjudicator for District, State, and National Division festivals, for Heritage Festivals and as a clinician for Concert band and Jazz festivals and workshops throughout New England. His groups at LHS have been consistent Gold medal winners at MICCA State Festivals, IAJE District and State festivals, the Berklee College of Music Jazz Festival, the University of New Hampshire Jazz Festival and the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Festival and Competition. They have been invited to perform at MENC All-State and All-Eastern division conventions and IAJE National conventions.

Mr. Leonard’s first exposure to Lexington was as a student from Arlington, Virginia on a band exchange in 1973. The town left such an indelible impression on him, that it was his only choice as a place to student teach in 1982. Working under Don Gillespie, Joe DiDomenico, Sandi Peaslee, Bob Lague, and Carol Messina, he gained a passion for teaching music that remains with him constantly. He feels very fortunate to be in his “dream job” and has committed himself to the students of Lexington for as long as they will have him!