Submitted photo Former students and colleagues of Tony Leonardi, who died in 2001 at age 62 and was the founder of Youngstown State University’s jazz studies program, will be celebrated by many of his former students and colleagues at Saturday’s Tony Leonardi Legacy Concert.

Tony Leonardi died in 2001 at age 62, but his legacy continues due to the many working musicians who studied with the founder of Youngstown State University’s jazz studies program.

Many of his students and former colleagues will celebrate that legacy with a concert Saturday at YSU’s Ford Theater.

This is the second event produced by Leonardi’s daughter, Paula Leonardi Ducato.

That first concert was inspired by a show she saw at the Bop Stop in Cleveland featuring some of her father’s former students.

“It was such a great impromptu reunion,” she said. “I wanted to do something where we all could get together again, because a lot of these people were more like family to me.”

She initially envisioned a smaller, private gathering at her home.

“I started to spread the word, and I literally got hundreds and hundreds of responses,” Ducato said. “People called, emailed, texted. Everyone wanted to be a part of it, and I was so surprised because he had been gone since 2001. I realized this is going to be a lot bigger than just a little concert at my house.”

Dana School of Music Director Joseph Carucci reached out and offered to host the 2023 event at Ford Theater, and the sold-out performance featured about 50 musicians.

“As soon as it was done, people that attended it as well as the musicians in it, everyone got in touch with me and said, ‘When are we doing this again? We have to do it again.’ So here we are.”

This year’s concert will feature more than 40 musicians, some who are returning from 2023 and some who weren’t able to play last time, such as Warren native Sean Jones.

“He was doing a world tour last time, so he couldn’t make it,” Ducato said. “But this time, he’ll be there, and he’s probably the most internationally known. He’s considered one of the top trumpet players in the world.”

Bandleader Dave Rivello will perform “Elegy,” a piece he wrote in memory of Leonardi and performed at his funeral. Darryl White will play his original composition “The Tree Has Fallen, But the Roots Live on Forever.”

“He wrote it for his father, but he said because my father was so much like a dad to him, and because all of the students coming back to do this concert are the roots that go on and pass along the education to to others that he provided for them, he wanted to dedicate it to my dad,” Ducato said.

As a musician, Leonardi toured the U.S. and Europe with his own quintet, the Jazz Explorers, and as a member of the Woody Herman Orchestra. He also played with artists such as Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Buddy Rich and Stan Kenton.

Videos compiled by Ducato and her brother, Chris Leonardi, for the 2023 concert that chronicled her father’s life and career, will be shown again this weekend.

Ducato picked most of the music for the concert, going through the albums he produced and programs from his past concerts to pick songs that had a special significance in his life and career.

“One of our guest artists, jazz vocalist Tania Grubbs, I asked her if she would do ‘Nature Boy,'” Ducato said. “That was my dad’s favorite song.”

The concert will open with “Greetings and Salutations” by Thad Jones, one of the many jazz greats that Leonardi brought to YSU to work with his students. It will close with “Feels So Good” by Chuck Mangione, who also came to YSU. Jones will play the flugelhorn part on that instrumental hit.

“While that song’s playing, I’ll have pictures of Chuck and my dad up on the screen,” Ducato said.

If you go …

WHAT: Tony Leonardi Legacy Concert

WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Ford Theater, Bliss Hall, Youngstown State University

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $33 for adults and $17.25 for students and are available in advance online at ysu.tix.com and at the door the evening of the performance.