Larry Leggett

Laurence L. Leggett Sr.

(October 23, 1921 – January 20, 2001)

Larry Liggett, in a 40-year career in public education with Indianapolis Public Schools, taught a significant number of Indianapolis children to play and appreciate music.  He joined IPS in 1948 as an instructor of instrumental music at Crispus Attucks High School while also supervising music programs in 13 elementary schools and one junior high school in the system. He had 58 winning bands and orchestras in the Indiana School Music Association’s statewide music contests.  In 1999 he was awarded an Indiana Governor’s Arts Award.

Professionally he was known as Larry Liggett. To avoid any confusion with the Leggett Drug Store chain, his name was changed by Chess Records when he signed on their label in 1954.  His first single, “Perdido Mambo,” which he also wrote, earned him a new artist citation in Downbeat magazine. 

In the early 1950s, his combo, Three Flips and a Flop was a regular staple at a Westside club.  After touring nationally in support of his 9 singles on Chess Records, he had offers to tour internationally with his mentors Duke Ellington and Count Basie.  He chose, however, to remain in Indianapolis with his family and students. His only album, Larry Liggett Swings Stouffers, was recorded on his own Meridian Records label. 

Larry served on many boards of directors and received numerous awards. He was made a Sagamore of the Wabash in 1991 by Governor Evan Bayh.  A passionate defender of arts education, he refuted the notion that the arts are unnecessary extras in a child’s education.