He is best known as the author of Method of Organ Playing, published in numerous editions made by him and later by his wife, concert organist Catharine Crozier.

[1] Gleason was born in Jefferson, Ohio, on April 26, 1892, and studied organ in California with the English organist Edwin H. Lemare, Lynnwood Farnam in Boston, and in Paris with Joseph Bonnet.

In 1919, he was appointed organist and choirmaster of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City, and then in 1921 became the head of the organ department of the newly founded Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.

As head of the graduate division at Eastman from 1932 until his retirement in 1955, Gleason was instrumental in the development of the School's DMA degree program.

He died at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California on June 28, 1980, and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena.