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 Doc Severinsen © 1998 Mike Metheny JAM talks with the legendary bandleader about life since Johnny, past associations with fellow greats, and a life-long love affair with the trumpet.
DS: Oh yeah? Well, just be careful where you put the staple. JAM: How has your life changed since Johnny Carson retired in '92? DS: Well, before, I used to do the concert things just as a sideline on the weekends. Now that's the main thing that I do. And I've extended my activities so that I'm doing a lot more concerts both with symphonies and with the old Tonight Show band that I'm still touring with. JAM: Do you enjoy doing the "pops" circuit with different symphony orchestras? DS: Yes I do. I really do. JAM: Let's talk a little about the earlier part of your career. The general public knows of you mostly from your years (1962-92) with the Tonight Show, but you had a lengthy career before that as a busy studio musician and staff trumpeter at NBC. What were the requirements of a working studio trumpet player in those days? DS: Well, at the time that I started out, basically you had to be able to play everything. I mean, you had to be able to sit in a symphony orchestra -- and I don't mean something like a symphony orchestra, but an actual symphony orchestra. You had to be able to play a little jazz, you had to be able to play in a big band set up or do backgrounds for vocals, you had to be able to transpose parts... It was pretty extensive. I mean, you had to really be a totally comprehensive player; all the basic fundamentals had to be there. And the reason for that was because those were the standards everyone had then, and you if you didn't have that, the best you could hope for was a little something you might pick up here or there. Those were the requirements just for being what you would call a studio musician. JAM: How is today's studio scene different from when you were an active part of it? DS: Today I think most everybody is more specialized. I mean, there are certain guys who are doing classical and that's it; or if you want to do a jazz thing, then you call a jazz guy. But before, everybody played everything. That's all there was to it. JAM: In recent years, technology has been responsible for many changes in the music world, both for the performer and the listener. What's your take on all of the advances you've witnessed in your career? DS: Well, I think they're all good. I mean, the quality of recordings is way better; they last forever... And you can get a much truer representation of an artist, soundwise. JAM: But, are musicians being replaced by machines... DS: Yeah, I was going to get into that. I'm sorry for that. I personally have never used an electronic sound to replace an acoustic instrument. In the group that I had (Xebron), I used the electronic instruments just for their own sound. I wasn't trying to make it sound like a string section or anything like that. I mean, anytime that you replace a human being with an electronic gadget or a machine, it's regrettable. JAM: From a trumpet-playing standpoint, how have you managed to maintain such top physical condition for so many years? Do you have a special regimen to stay in shape? DS: I think the first part of the regimen is having good genes. You know, if your family is predisposed to good health and long life, then that's got to be a help. But, I've always felt that part of being a trumpet player, for me, is being an athlete. I try to stay in shape by riding a bike in the gym, lifting weights and doing certain aerobic things. The older I get, the more important that all is as a part of what I do. JAM: Our trumpet-playing readers will also want to know what kind of horn you're playing these days... DS: I have a whole bunch of different instruments now. I might play an old Besson for some things, I might play an old Bach for other things... Just whatever I need at the moment. JAM: For years you actively worked with high school and college music students as a clinician and soloist. Do you still get a chance to occasionally work with the next generation of aspiring musicians? DS: On rare occasions. Sometimes the symphony orchestras I'm with on a permanent basis will do outreach educational things, and sometimes they'll invite some stage bands in, we work with them, that sort of thing. JAM: You've had a significant influence on a whole generation of young trumpet players. When you were starting out, who were the musicians you looked up to? DS: When I was starting out, I was living in a town of 600 people (Arlington, OR) with terrible radio reception. So it was very seldom that I got to hear much of anything. I mean, we didn't even have a phonograph. So, my chances to hear anything were rather limited. But, for instance, Harry James was pretty big at that time, so naturally you'd get to hear him maybe on the juke box in the local bus stop. Then, when I went into the Army -- I was in an infantry outfit -- I dropped by the recreation room one day and I found a 78 record of somebody I'd never heard of called Dizzy Gillespie (laughs). I put it on -- I think it was "Groovin' High" -- and it absolutely turned me around. JAM: That would have been about the same time that bop was really coming into its own... DS: Yeah! This was right in the heyday of bop. So, I was pretty impressed with that recording. Actually, beyond impressed. Then, when I was on (Charlie) Barnet's band, I joined at the same time that Clark Terry did. He was the first virtuoso trumpet player I ever sat beside. So, naturally I just couldn't resist stylizing things after Clark, and trying to play like him. So, at that time, I suppose the big influences were Dizzy... Miles... (pauses) and Fats Navarro. He was very big right around then. I was more impressed with all those guys than anybody else. Also, at that same time, Raphael Mendez had records out that you could get a hold of, and I heard about him. I almost fainted the first time I heard one his records (laughs). Then, when I was on Tommy Dorsey's band, I started listening to some symphonic recordings. I remember hearing the Prokofiev Fifth Symphony played by the Boston orchestra with (Jeorges) Mager playing first trumpet, and I just got that sound in my head. So, those were the early influences. But the main influence I had, besides my dad who was my teacher when I was a kid starting out -- he was a fiddle player, but he taught me trumpet -- was when I went to New York and settled down: my teacher, Benny Baker. Actually, he was more than a teacher to me; he was like my second father. JAM: Who was Benny Baker? DS: He was Toscanini's first trumpet player. Benny was legendary. And the sound that he got was just incredible. When Toscanini couldn't get the fiddles to understand how he wanted something to sound, he'd have Benny play it for them. JAM: So you studied with him formally? DS: Yes. Even when I was quite busy in the studios, I had my lesson with him once a week. I studied with him until he had his stroke. Then, after that, he just felt he couldn't teach anymore. JAM: There have surely been many highlights to your long and varied career. Can you name two or three that really stand out? DS: Well, I suppose being hired to be the bandleader on the Tonight Show would be number one. And the day I joined Tommy Dorsey's band was another one. (pauses) The day I heard Cat Anderson playing with Duke Ellington's band in 1945 in San Francisco... that was (laughs)... wow... Cat invented the whole concept of playing high notes. He was the master. Another highlight was the day I started studying with Benny Baker. (pauses) My first television job was with the Kate Smith Show, and, of course, that was a real big deal because I went from being just a guy working out his card in New York to being one of the busiest studio men in town. JAM: Was this around 1950 or '51? DS: Yes, around then. Maybe before. No, that's about right. But, the single highlight that I like the best for myself was a time I played at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It was the best day I ever had as a player. "I consider the future to be today. And my plans for the future today are to head out to the studio to practice." -- Doc Severinsen JAM: Let's do a little name association. We'll say the name of someone from your past you've either known or worked with or both, and you can give us a capsule impression and/or recollection. How about Charlie Barnet. DS: A wild man... And a great bandleader. JAM: Maynard Ferguson, when both of you were in the same Barnet trumpet section (in 1949). DS: Absolutely frightening. JAM: Tommy Dorsey. DS: One of the greatest musicians I've ever heard or met. JAM: Harry James. DS: He never got the credit he deserved for being a great virtuoso trumpet player. And he was a sweetheart of a guy. JAM: Steve Allen. DS: One of the driving forces that brought television into what we know today. He also loved music and musicians, so he utilized music as much as possible. JAM: Skitch Henderson. DS: Mentor, friend... and a damn good bandleader. JAM: Conrad Gozzo. DS: He almost ate the horn, as well as played it. JAM: Duke Ellington. DS: An icon for the ages. JAM: Louis Armstrong. DS: The father of jazz! JAM: And this one will have special meaning for many of our Kansas City readers: Claude T. Smith. DS: A fine man. And a worldclass composer. JAM: For someone who appears to have done it all, talk a little about your goals for the future. Is playing the trumpet still just as challenging as ever? DS: Oh, more so! (pauses) I consider the future to be today. And my plans for the future today -- after I finish talking with you -- are to head out to the studio to practice. I hope to spend the entire day there. JAM: Looking at the bigger picture: there are things about music that are always changing and things that always stay the same. What are the things, in your opinion, that will always remain the same? DS: The blues, and Latin music. Two of the most basic influences in all of music. They both basically always stay the same. JAM: Your next visit to Kansas City will be in September. What brings you to town? DS: I'll be performing with the Kansas City Symphony at their annual Symphony Ball. JAM: Will it be a "pops" kind of thing? DS: Well, I think so. But I'll find out more about it when I get back from Italy in August.
editor pesters Mr. Severinsen for an autograph. JAM: Will you be performing in Italy? DS: No, I'm just going over to vacation. But I also have a great place to practice over there... JAM: With lots of reverb? DS: Un-believable. It's like the carriage house of an old Italian villa. It's got cobblestones on the floor, a vaulted ceiling and everything is cement, stucco stone. And it's gigantic. Just perfect. JAM: How did you discover it? DS: Well, the last time I was in Italy, somebody recommended that we stay there; and when I got there, I started looking for a place to practice. That's where they put me. And it couldn't have been better. That's the real reason we're going back, not for the food or the hotel (laughs), we're going back for the place to practice. JAM: Back to Kansas City... Do you have good memories of playing here? DS: Real good memories. And I also have good memories of Dixieland Barbecue! I'm sorry it's not there anymore. JAM: There's still lots of good barbecue here... DS: I'll tell you where I am going to go... to "Guy & Mae's" in Williamsburg, Kansas. I'll get some barbecue down there. That place is something else. It just doesn't get any better than that. RETURN TO AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1998 MAIN INDEX ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved. |
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