Big Band Tuba Players...

[RadDad2005]

Don Ellis used tuba on his Tears of Joy album (and likely some others). On that particular recording, the tubist was Doug Bixby.

Lawrence Welk had a tuba player as well, I remember his last name was Dial (sp)? Does that sound right?

[eupher61]

don't forget Lombardo's Royal Canadians

[LoyalTubist]

Can you name the tubist?

In the 1970s, it was Bill Troiano. But technically, Guy Lombardo wasn't Big Band. His style of music was "sweet" (not "hot") 1920s music. Those of you familiar with music from that period know what I mean. And Bill Troiano isn't much older than I am.

If you want to listen to what I mean, which is a Big Band group with a tuba, listen to the following songs and see what you think...



Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (Frank Loesser) - - Kay Kyser
Daddy (Bobby Troup) - - Sammy Kaye
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire (Eddie Seiler, Sol Marcus, Bennie Benjamin and Eddie Durham) - - Horace Heidt

[eupher61]

I"m going to crucify this name, but Rich Chimengo (spelling and first name could be totally wrong) was with Lombardo in the 70s at some point also.

[Bill Troiano]

I believe Rich was the tubist who played after I left. I was there from 1975 - 78. I followed Jack Faye who was with the band for 12 years.

[Søren]

The early bigband of Cab Calloway (The Missourians and so on) used a sousaphone as bass for many years. Also in the era that you inquire about. I have no idea who played it though....

[LoyalTubist]

Guy Lombardo and early Cab Calloway were NOT Big Band bands. Big Band music first appeared on the musical scene in about 1934 and Benny Goodman was probably the first person to use that name for this genre of music...

Let's think about the style of music that was popular through World War II, not immediately after World War I.

All the bands in the 1920s had tuba players because that was the common bass used then.

[David Richoux]

Guy Lombardo and early Cab Calloway were NOT Big Band bands. Big Band music first appeared on the musical scene in about 1934 and Benny Goodman was probably the first person to use that name for this genre of music...

Let's think about the style of music that was popular through World War II, not immediately after World War I.

All the bands in the 1920s had tuba players because that was the common bass used then.

There were two basic categories of jazz bands (not including New Orleans Brass Bands ) from the 1920s onward - those under around 10 pieces and those over around 10 pieces. The first were usually called "Bands" and the 2nd were called "Big Bands" (or sometimes "Large Bands.") Sometimes there were string players (even just guitar or banjo) and they might have been called "Orchestra" if the leader wanted to be fancy. I have hundreds of recordings by groups before 1934 that were considered at the time to be "Big Bands." What you are describing in the post 1934 era is more usually called "Swing Band." There are sub-categories of Big Bands based on the style of music played - Dance, Hot, Sweet, Corny, Novelty, etc. - that may have been determined by the fans or promoters and not what the bands called themselves.

Also, the use of Double Bass instead (or with) Tuba (or Sousaphone) in the 1920s to 1930s has been discussed a lot on TubeNet - it depended on the recording studio set-up (mechanical or electric microphones) or playing situation. Most bass players doubled on string bass and tuba, so you can't exactly say tuba was the common bass used then.

[Dan Schultz]

Interesting picture:

[Bob Kolada]

No visible tuning slide, back bow "stuff", loooong handslide- is that a German trombone?