Doc Severinsen

Biography

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.

Early life

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.

The Tonight Show and other television appearances

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.
Under Severinsen's direction, the Tonight Show Band, styled the NBC Orchestra, became perhaps the best known big band in America. Severinsen became one of the most popular bandleaders, appearing almost every night on television. He led the band during commercials and while guests were introduced. He joked with Johnny Carson, the show's host, and developed an amusing habit of wearing gaudy clothing.
The show introduced a comic "Stump the Band" segment in which audience members called out the titles of obscure songs to see if the band could play them. Severinsen often cried "key of E", his signal for the band to strike up a Western theme, and then he would enthusiastically sing a country music-flavored nonsense song.
Severinsen substituted for Ed McMahon on occasions when Ed was absent as Carson's announcer and sidekick. He typically assumed this role when the show featured a guest host, which became increasingly frequent during the program's later years. Tommy Newsom was usually the band's substitute director when Severinsen was away from the show or filling in for McMahon. The sidekick role was omitted from the show when Leno guest hosted (it was discontinued altogether after Leno replaced Carson permanently). While Leno guest hosted for Carson, Severinsen typically introduced Leno and led the band while interacting with Leno in a similar manner to his interactions with Carson and McMahon.
Doc continued as bandleader until Carson's retirement in May 1992. Doc, along with Tommy Newsom and Ed Shaughnessy, appeared on the January 31, 2005, episode of Late Show with David Letterman performing "Here's That Rainy Day" (Johnny's favorite song) in honor of Mr. Carson, who had died eight days earlier. He appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show in February 2015 when the show traveled to Los Angeles for a week. He played for the evening with The Roots. The appearance helped to promote his nationwide tour.
Through the 1970s to the 1990s, Severinsen also made appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Bonanza, The Bionic Woman, Cheers, and The Larry Sanders Show, among others.

Recording career

During the early 1960s, Severinsen began recording big band albums, then moved toward instrumental pop music by the end of the decade. In the 1970s, he recorded jazz funk, then disco, finding hits with "Night Journey×Night Journey1976 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1I Wanna Be With You4:07A2Night Journey4:13A3The World's Gone Home4:42A4Spanish Dreams6:06B1You Put the Shine on Me4:06B2Now and Then5:07B3Little Tiny Feets3:19B4Lookin' Good3:52B5Open the Gates of Love3:10" and "I Wanna Be with You". His recording of "Melody (Aria) made the Adult Contemporary Top 40 in early 1977. He released an album with the jazz fusion group Xebron in 1985. During the next year, he recorded The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen which won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance. After Carson retired in 1992, he toured with some of the band's members, including Conte Candoli, Snooky Young, Bill Perkins, Ernie Watts, Ross Tompkins, and Ed Shaughnessy.
Severinsen performed with high-school bands, in particular in the 1970s with Don Caneva's John Hersey High School Bands, which recorded four albums.
He performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" on at least three nationally telecast occasions; however, the first two renditions were marred by problems. When he accompanied actor Pat O'Brien, as O'Brien recited the national anthem at Super Bowl IV, the public address system at Tulane Stadium went dead for a minute, although viewers were unaware of it. Fifteen years later, when he performed the anthem again prior to the Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns fight, a giant US flag on the side of the Fantasy Tower at Caesars Palace overlooking the outdoor ring was not unfurled properly due to problems with the roping. He performed the anthem again, as well as "O Canada", at the 1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim, California. With the game being played in the Los Angeles television and radio market, he was accompanied by the Tonight Show band. As of 2020, Severinsen and the NBC Orchestra's performance remains the most recent nonvocal rendition of the national anthem at the Midsummer Classic.
Severinsen is credited for co-writing the hit song "Stop and Smell the Roses" with Mac Davis, although both parties agree that Severinsen only came up with the title.

Conducting and teaching

Severinsen was the principal pops conductor for several American orchestras during and after his time on The Tonight Show. His first position was with the Phoenix Symphony in 1983. He then held similar positions with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra.
He retired from conducting in 2007 and was named Pops Conductor Emeritus in Milwaukee and Pops Conductor Laureate in Minnesota. Severinsen was also named distinguished visiting professor of music and Katherine K. Herberger Heritage Chair for Visiting Artists at Arizona State University School of Music in 2001 and 2002.
In 2014, he was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame.
Severinsen performed his final concert, accompanied by his San Miguel 5 group, on September 1, 2022, in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Personal life

On June 23, 1949, Severinsen married Jane Simpson Frazer. They had four children before divorcing.
On August 7, 1964, Severinsen married Evonne Nyman. They had one child and were divorced in 1976.
In 1980, he married Emily Marshall, who was a television writer and producer and is an on-camera subject in a 2020 PBS documentary produced by American Masters titled Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story that premiered April 2, 2021. They met when she was working as a secretary for The Tonight Show producer Fred de Cordova. In 1992, after The Tonight Show, Severinsen moved to Mexico with his wife, and formed a new band, the San Miguel Five. They divorced in 2006. Marshall died in 2023.
By 2013, Severinsen had been living in Tennessee for a few years, moving there to be closer to Cathy Leach, principal trumpeter with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and professor of trumpet at the University of Tennessee. As of 2021 Leach was Severinsen's "companion." In 2022, Leach was cited as his wife. Severinsen and Leach perform together.
Severinsen has been quoted as saying that he has been married four times.
Severinsen's children are Nancy, Cindy, Allen, Robin, and Judy. He has eight grandchildren, including Blaire and Gray Reinhard, who write and perform roots rock music together in various incarnations as Curtis & Reinhard and the Blaire Reinhard Band.

Doc Severinsen and the San Miguel Five

El Ritmo De La Vida (Tejate, 2009) with Gil Gutierrez and Pedro Cartas
En Mi Corazon (Tejate, 2010) with Gil Gutierrez and Pedro Cartas
Oblivion (Bandcamp, 14 November 2013); (CD Baby, 2014); with Gil Gutierrez, Charlie Bisharat, Jimmy Branly, Kevin Thomas, Luis Conte, Otmaro Ruiz and Rene Camacho

As sideman

With Chris Connor

1959 Witchcraft
1961 Chris Connor Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song
With The Ray Charles Singers

1959 Sunrise Serenade (Decca)
With Urbie Green

1956 All About Urbie Green and His Big Band (ABC-Paramount)
1958 Let's Face the Music and Dance
1960 The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green
1963 Urbie Green & His Sextet
With Skitch Henderson and The Tonight Show Orchestra

1964 Skitch...Tonight!
1965 More Skitch Tonight!
With Gerry Mulligan

1961 Gerry Mulligan Presents a Concert in Jazz
1963 Gerry Mulligan '63
With Tito Puente

1957 Night Beat
1957 Top Percussion
1960 Tambó
With others

1956 The Swingin' Miss "D", Dinah Washington
1957 Dinah Washington Sings, Fats Waller
1957 Stormy Weather, Lena Horne
1958 Steve Allen at the Roundtable, Steve Allen
1958 United Nations, Toshiko Akiyoshi
1959 Late Date with Ruth Brown, Ruth Brown
1959 More Charlie Barnet, Charlie Barnet
1959 New York, N.Y., George Russell
1959 Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements, Gene Krupa
1961 Gloomy Sunday and Other Bright Moments, Bob Brookmeyer
1961 The Jazz Version of "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying", Gary McFarland
1961 Into the Hot, Gil Evans
1961 Memories Are Made of This, Ray Conniff
1961 Perceptions, Dizzy Gillespie
1962 Bashin': The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Smith
1962 All the Sad Young Men, Anita O'Day
1962 Big Bags (Riverside, 1962), Milt Jackson
1962 Big Band Bossa Nova, Stan Getz
1962 Big Noise from Winnetka, Bob Haggart
1962 It's About Time, Joe Morello
1962 Joe Morello, Joe Morello
1962 Off Beat Percussion, Don Lamond
1962 Spanish Guitar, Tony Mottola
1962 Vibrations, Enoch Light
1963 Right Here, Right Now, Billy Taylor
1964 Dimension "3", Enoch Light
1974 The Hi-De-Ho Man, Cab Calloway
1987 Jazz, Tony Bennett
1988 Big Band Hit Parade, Erich Kunzel
1989 Swinging West, Steve Lawrence
1994 Eartha-quake, Eartha Kitt
1994 Loose Walk, Sonny Stitt
1997 Jammin' with Ben Webster, Ben Webster
1999 Some Cats Know, Connie Evingson