Listening with Leckrone is back! To kick things off, we’re focusing on the “King of Soul,” Sam Cooke. In his short life, Cooke made a lasting impact on soul and popular music, which still resonates to this day. We hope you enjoy listening to the life and songs of Sam Cooke. Read more about Sam… Read more »

In this episode, Mike guides us through the life and career of Tony Bennett. A keeper of the American Songbook, Tony Bennett’s career spanned over 70 years, with over 50 million records sold. His voice was one of a kind, and his performances were always memorable.  There are so many wonderful recordings and videos of… Read more »

In this episode, Mike guides us through the life and career of Wisconsin’s own, Bunny Berigan. Although his time was short, he quickly established himself as one of the leading trumpeters of the swing era. As you might expect, there is very little footage of Berigan. I was able to find a couple clips of… Read more »

  In this episode, we spin off our previous episode “Stardust” and deep dive on a single song and its many, MANY renditions. This time we’re focusing on “I Got Rhythm,” written by George and Ira Gershwin. So many artists across genres have recorded versions of this tune since its conception in 1930. Additionally, its… Read more »

  In today’s episode, Mike spotlights three unique singers, who each were featured vocalists with the Count Basie Orchestra.  Jimmy Rushing was a well established singer before he started collaborating with Count Basie, singing with Jelly Roll Moten, Billy King, Walter Page, and Benny Moten. He’d be featured with Count Basie from 1935 to 1948…. Read more »