Doc Severinsen

Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen (born July 7, 1927) is an American retired jazz trumpeter who led the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Severinsen was born in Arlington, Oregon, to Minnie Mae (1897–1998) and Carl Severinsen (1898–1972). He was nicknamed Doc after his father, the only dentist in Arlington, who was born in Germany to a Danish father and a Swiss mother. Severinsen's father played violin and wanted him to play it, as well, but Severinsen wanted to play trombone. Because his arms were not long enough for trombone, and the small Arlington music store had none available, he settled for the cornet. A neighbor provided him with some lessons, while his father, tobacco in mouth, instructed him to spit out the notes like spitting tobacco. His mother threatened to spank him if he did not practice. Growing up, Severinsen idolized trumpeter and band leader Harry James.

Severinsen proved to have a knack for the instrument and was in a high-school band when he was seven. At 9, he won a state trumpet contest, at 12 he won the Music Teachers National Association’s national contest, at 13, he joined a multistate all-star band, and at 14, he auditioned for Tommy Dorsey, but was not hired. He started a quartet called the Blue Notes that performed at local dances.

Before graduating from high school, he was hired to go on the road with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra. After graduation, he went on tour with Charlie Barnet, Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman. He served in the Army during World War II. Severinsen was a member of Sam Donahue's band between 1946 and 1951. In 1946, he played trumpet on radio station KODL.

In 1949, Severinsen landed a job as a studio musician for NBC, where he accompanied Steve Allen, Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore, and Kate Smith, was a member of the original band for Tonight Starring Steve Allen, and was the soloist playing the closing theme. He left the show with Allen in 1957. The leader of the Tonight Show Band, Skitch Henderson, asked him to return as first-chair trumpeter in 1962 for what had become The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and five years later, after Milton Delugg, Severinsen was leading the band.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.