Welcome to my profile, my name is
Lenny P
(a.k.a. Leonardas Povilas)!
I was born in Wiesbaden, Germany shortly after WWII. My parents were Lithuanian refugees who fled Lithuania just before the second Soviet occupation in 1944. We came to the U.S., to Chicago, where I grew up, playing in various rock bands in the '60s and '70s. While in grad school, my horn (tenor sax) needed significant work (it was held together by rubber bands and tape), which I couldn't afford, so I sold it. One of the most stupid things I ever did in my life!
After a long career in academic research administration and teaching, I picked up the horn again when my wife Judith bought me a saxophone for Christmas several years ago. Music has consumed my life ever since. I soon formed a jazz combo with colleagues from work who had similar histories.
The combo is called "Seizure" (check out our profile at http://www.myspace.com/seizurejazz ) because we originally had two neuroscientists and a neurologist in the group. We recently recorded an album of jazz standards titled "Grand Mal". You're hearing cuts from that album on this page.
I now have 7 saxophones (2 each, tenor, alto and soprano; a C-melody; and a wind synthesizer [an electronic horn that can sound like any instrument]). Now that I have retired from my first career, I have embraced music as one of my principal interests.
I have spent the past several years actively improving my abilities as a jazz musician by working with some excellent instructors in Connecticut (Gary Lai and Kris Jensen), as well as attending intensive jazz camp workshops (Port Townsend and Litchfield) where I have had the privilege of learning from, and working with, jazz greats such as Houston Person, Gary Smulyan, Marc Seales, Kim Richmond, John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Gary Hobbs and John Benitez (to name a few). These experiences have helped me to develop as a jazz musician, and I hope to be able to share my newly developed abilities with anyone who'd like to hear them.
Background from Google search result ..