LEOPOLDO FLEMING (Percussionist)
Puerto Rican born Leopoldo Fleming has drawn from his Latin/Afro/Indian roots to create percussive colors that are as rich as his heritage. Leopoldo, as he is professionally known, is a musician, composer and arranger of international dimensions. He has performed with Nina Simone for over 18 years and has also recorded with a spectrum of talents including: Miriam Makeba, The Symphony of The New World, Harry Belafonte, The String reunion, Eartha Kitt, World Bass Violin Ensemble, Beaver Harris, Novella Nelson, Lonnie liston Smith, Sonny Stitt, Grove Holmes, Esther Marrow, Leon Thomas, randy Weston and Elizabeth Swados.
His theater credits include: Burt Reynolds' Diner Theater production of "Cowboy and the legend", starring Eartha Kitt and the New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theater productions of "The Haggadah", "Dispatches", "Runaways" (Off-Broadway and Broadway productions)., and "Alice in Wonderland". He composed the original music for the Public Theater's "Les Femmes Noires", "Sister Sonji", and "Black Visions". His most recent project with this theater was a workshop presentation of "Rumbal", a works-in-progress which he wrote and co-directed. Leopoldo Fleming was Musical Director for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's production of LeRoi Jones' "Slaveship". He has also toured extensively with the New Orleans based Free Southern Theater.
New York based. Leopoldo Fleming has enthused audiences and colleagues all over the globe, enhancing his status as a world-class performer. In the 60's Leopoldo traveled throughout the Northern Europe, Japan, and extensively through the African continent. The 70's were spent alternately in Europe and North America. In the mid 70's he became a member of the American Society of Composers and Publishers. From the 80's to the present Leopoldo Fleming has spent his time and creative energies between touring the world, recording and composing in the United States.
A number of his original compositions have been used in soundtracks on national television for both public and commercial networks. His melodic reggae tune, "Peace and Love" can be heard on Lonnie Liston Smith's LP, "Visions of a Golden Dream", on the Flying Dutchman label, and "Recuerdos Del Mamoncillo", on Orchestra Metropolitana's LP, on the Ansonia label. Another of his compositions, "I Can Sing" has been recorded by the Boy's Choir of Harlem and has received acclaim, both abroad and stateside.
Leopoldo Fleming is consistently perfecting, broadening, and enhancing his craft. To quote Nat Hentoff, "He was playing various percussion instruments and extracting extraordinarily fresh, and unexpected hues from his instruments, with grace, and flawless timing..".
Audiences around the world can continue to anticipate excellence in his controlled and charismatic performances.