Leonid Morozov is a fifth generation musician from Kursk, Russia. He started out by playing harmonica on the streets of Moscow to earn lunch money at the age of nine. Leonid later picked up the guitar after hearing blues masters Mississippi Fred McDowell, B.B. King and others, and fell in love with with jazz after hearing Lester Young. The first portion of Leonid’s career was spent in Russia, where he often played with his first mentor and biggest influence, his grandad, pianist Leonid Vintskevich. Before coming to the US, Leonid successfully established himself on the Russian jazz scene, and participated multiple times in the “Jazz Province” Festival, “Lundstrem-fest-100”. He also led his own gigs in the top tier Moscow jazz clubs “Esse”, “Kozlov Club”, and “B.B. King club”, and played as a side man with famous Russian and European jazz musicians like Aleksei Kuznetsov, Lembit Saarsalu, Nick Vintskevich and others.

After graduating from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music in 2021, Leonid is making his way into the New York scene playing regularly in clubs, restaurants, and other venues around the city. In the short time since graduation, Leonid already performed at Caramoor Jazz Festival and James Moody Festival, as well as at clubs like Mezzrow, Flying Lobster, Django, Groove and Ornithology with his co-project “The Octet”. He has also performed as a side man with noticeable musicians like Samara Joy, Don Hahn, Jason Clotter, Nichelle Lewis and others.

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Leonid Playing On “Will You Still Be Mine”