He is a contrabass player born Leonard Bennett Crantford in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in South Carolina. He took his further studies at Indiana University and after setting out on his career as a professional musician performed with many orchestras in Indiana as well as in Texas and the Southern states of the US.
In 1983 he took on a position with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and has since worked with them as a musician, a section coach for the ISO’s “Side by Side” educational program and the Assistant Orchestral Personnel Manager. He has also worked as a member of Suzuki & Friends and the Aire Born Strings who have performed on recordings with Tim Zimmerman & The King’s Brass .
Outside of classical music, he has performed on recordings such as The Bull is Blind by Barbara Bell and Timeless Broadway by Daniel Narducci and Stand by Denver & The Mile High Orchestra.
Tim Zimmerman & The King’s Brass recordings
Angels We Have Heard on High(Traditional French/James Chadwick/Edward Barnes )
Track Records CD625 (CD: Christmas With Tim Zimmerman & the King’s Brass)
Conductor and strings arranger- Ardis Faber
Organ – Dan Miller
Percussion – James Kirby
Piano – Alex Thio
Strings – Aire Born Strings
Trombone – Brian Kay
Trombone – Doug Warner
Trombone – Tony Warner
Trumpet – Don Duncan
Trumpet – Larry Jones
Trumpet – Tim Zimmerman
Tuba – David Kneller
Here he is talking about Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 …
Sources:
- https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/about/musicians/l-bennett-crantford
- http://cdbaby.com/cd/barbarabell
- http://www.answers.com/topic/timeless-broadway
- http://www.violin.org/concert/news/1.html
- http://www.answers.com/topic/stand-2004-album-by-denver-the-mile-high-orchestra
- http://shop.moravianbookshop.com/browse.cfm/4,221.htm
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=BENNETT|CRANTFORD&sql=11:kbfwxqualdte~T4
- CD Liner Notes Christmas with Tim Zimmerman & The King’s Brass