[78-L] Man, they were great

[Mark Bardenwerper]

On 4/28/2013 9:09 PM, Jeff Sultanof wrote:
> There were a few people who could play quite well on just about anything
> during the band era. Names that come to mind are Murray MacEachern, Benny
> Carter, Claude Lakey, Deane Kincaide.....
>
> Maynard Ferguson is well known as a trumpet and valve trombone player, but
> he also played French Horn, and was a virtuoso on the alto sax.
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 9:53 PM, Taylor Bowie <bowiebks at isomedia.com> wrote:
>
>> Yeah...a lot of guys' idea of being able to "double" is to play alto and
>> tenor!  My dad played in a dance band with a guy who could double on any
>> damn reed instrument ever invented...he would have fit into the Casa Loma
>> band just fine!
>>
>> I have a friend who a while ago tried to take up oboe...he gave up,  and
>> having heard so much about it...I didn't blame him!
>>
>> There was a guy who worked for Welk in the 50s and 60s...name of Bill
>> Paige...he could play any of them.
>>

I played oboe in high school. It would not have been possible without 
first learning how to make my own reeds. Factory reeds were horrible, 
difficult to play. No wonder they gave up. I could doctor one to make it 
better, but my own reeds were far better.

Lou Breese was extremely versatile and studio quality on most of those. 
He started out on violin and piano and learned trumpet early on. He 
picked up banjo just a bit later (the instrument he is usually 
identified with).

One of his routines when performing at the Chicago Theater and at Chez 
Paree was to move around during one of his numbers and play others' 
instruments.

-- 
Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr.

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