[78-L] Skeets Herfurt and...?

[Taylor Bowie]

Herfurt had a gorgeous sound. I admit I watched the Lawrence Welk show
waiting for his solos every week. Welk really wanted Johnny Hodges, but he
knew that whatever issues Hodges had with Duke, he was not leaving. So Welk
got hold of alto players who had the same approach. I know he had someone
similar before Skeets in the Alto chair. Does anyone remember who it was?

Jeff Sultanof



Hey Jeff,

Welk had fantastic players in his reed section right from the start.  You 
may be thinking of Mahlon Clark,  who usually soloed on clarinet. Bill Paige 
was one of the reed section anchors for years and he played every one of the 
reeds with great skill.   Jack Dumont was really good on soprano and alto. 
He played for some time with the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet who made a 
number of LPs in the 60s.  Russ Klein was amazing on tenor,  alto and 
clarinet...his sub-tone clarinet work is superb.

I could yammer on and on about the Welk reed section,  and then continue 
with just as much enthusiasm about the brass.

Taylor