Doc star
Doc Severinsen had one of the most frightening experiences of his life right here in Spokane at the Fox Theater, 63 years ago.
Severinsen, 77, who arrives at the Opera House on Saturday for a Spokane Symphony SuperPops concert, still remembers it vividly.
“I was maybe 14 and it was the All-Northwest Concert Band, made up of students from about a half-dozen states,” said the former “Tonight Show” bandleader.
“Here I came, from this town of about 600 people (Arlington, Ore.), and it was a competition. You had to earn your chair in the band. All of the other kids were advanced high school players, and it put a lot of pressure on me. I just remember how frightening it was.”
Oh, and he remembers one other thing: He knocked ‘em dead.
“I was the first cornet,” he said, by phone from his California home. “I think I did OK.”
Severinsen went on to become a trumpet-playing legend, touring with the Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Charlie Barnet bands. A generation of trumpet players grew up emulating his flashy and exuberant style.
Yet because of one other aspect of his career, his stint as “Tonight Show” bandleader from 1967 to 1992, Severinsen is just as likely to be remembered for one other thing: his loud ties.
“When I was a kid growing up in eastern Oregon, I liked wild cowboy shirts and things like that,” said Severinsen. “Then I went back to New York and found out you had to wear a dark blue suit. I never quite got used to that.
“So when I became a bandleader on the show – and bandleaders always wear something different – I thought, ‘Here’s my chance.’ I wore a really ridiculous necktie one night – I thought it was nice – and Johnny (Carson) made a big deal out of it.”
The banter between them was so funny – Johnny laughing at the tie, Doc defending it – that it became a regular part of the show’s shtick. From then on, Severinsen was on a search for the flashiest wardrobe he could find.
Is that all in the past now?
“Oh no,” he said, laughing. “It’s very much in the present. (Loud clothes) are all I have. I’ll be wearing them at the concert Saturday. It’s either that, or go naked, and I don’t think they want that.”
Severinsen was born and raised in tiny Arlington on the Columbia River and was nicknamed Little Doc early, since his dad was a dentist. Little Doc was a horn prodigy at an early age; he began winning national contests at age 12.
In his first professional audition in Portland, he played for a big-band legend: Tommy Dorsey.
“They were looking for a trumpet player and somebody suggested I go down and try out,” said Severinsen. “(Dorsey) was nice about it. He said, ‘Oh, that’s nice, let me hear you play and let’s meet the guys in the band.’ Unfortunately, I was only 14. But he let me stick around for a couple of days.”
Dorsey didn’t need a trumpeter who had barely started shaving. Yet for Little Doc, the experience of hanging out with the band was powerful.
“From that day on, I knew what I was going to do for the rest of my life,” he said.
It didn’t take long. Severinsen went on the road with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra before he was out of high school and, after a stint in the Army, toured with many big-name bands and became a sought-after session man in New York.
He became a staff musician at NBC and started playing with the “Tonight Show” orchestra in 1962. When original bandleader Skitch Henderson left, he was replaced by Milton Delugg. Carson was not satisfied with him.
“Johnny asked me one night, ‘How about coming back and giving it a shot as bandleader?’ ” Severinsen said. “He said, ‘Let’s just give it a try and see how it goes.’ “
Severinsen stayed 25 years, until the end of Carson’s reign.
“He didn’t want somebody just as a bandleader,” he said. “He wanted someone he could make a part of the TV family, to talk to and do a little comedy.”
He said that news of Carson’s death on Sunday came as a shock, although he knew Carson had been ill. Severinsen said he’ll always remember Carson “sailing out through that curtain every night” when the theme music came up.
These days, Severinsen spends 46 weeks a year doing symphony pops and big-band concerts.
His SuperPops program with the Spokane Symphony will be titled “Gershwin, Ellington, Vienna and More.” It will include Gershwin and Ellington medleys, as well as Viennese waltzes and operatic music by Strauss and others.
Severinsen brings his own rhythm section with him. He will conduct as well as play his incendiary trumpet solos.
“I’ve thought about retirement, but it didn’t seem like such a great idea to me,” he said. “I enjoy what I’m doing too much to stop at this point.”