Web Posted - Sunday June 6, 2021
When Steel Talks

 James “Jimmy” Leyden of The Calliope’s Children Steel Orchestra has passed

James Leyden - image via Linfield Archives screengrab

Oregon, USA - James “Jimmy” Leyden of The Calliope’s Children Steel Orchestra passed away recently at the age of ninety-nine.  Leyden formed and wrote charts for “Calliope′s Children,” one of the first High School steelbands in the US.  He introduced Ellie [Mannette] to the strobe tuner and worked extensively with him on harmonic and overtone concepts (in Chappaqua, New York in 1971). Leyden toured with  “Calliope′s Children” in Romania (1975) and Poland and Russia (1977).  Leyden first came into contact with steelpan while vacationing in Tobago, sister isle of Trinidad, in 1957.
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