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I can't remember if I ever asked this question before... I have asked about which of the "Big Bands" of the 1930s and 1940s had tuba players. Well, I know a few that did. Now I want to know who the tuba players were...

By the way, so there is no confusion in this area, the term "Big Band" was a style of music which began with Benny Goodman around 1935 or 1936. Benny Goodman's original tuba player was Harry Goodman, Benny's older brother, who later (a matter of weeks) became his bass (string bass) player. The Big Band setup was originally four trumpets, four reeds, four trombones, and rhythm section.

Here are some of the bands that had tuba players... Who played tuba?

Sammy Kaye...

Kay Kyser...

Emery Deutsch...

Harry James...

Ted Weems... (Country Washburn was the tubist, bass player arranger, and singer... sometimes, he even led the band... could a man do more?)

Harumph

That's too easy. And he didn't have his own band with a tuba player until AFTER the Big Band Era (1953 is the first time I saw one listed).

Incidentally, Stan Kenton was first arranger for Gus Arnheim in the early 1930s and he also played piano for Gus. Gus's tuba player was Jake Garcia, who preferred to call his sousaphone a "brass bass." Gus played piano with a band in the early 1920s called the Virginians. The singer was Billy Murray, one of the best of the era. The band leader was Ross Gormon and was an offshoot of Paul Whiteman's group. The tuba player was none other than Joe Tarto.

Liberty Mo wrote:As a big fan of Stan Kenton, I know there was a laundry list of guys who played Tuba for him. I can think of:

Carl Fontana

Really?

That one was odd I know, but I seem to recall Fontana mention in an interview that he played tuba a few times when he first joined the Kenton band from 55-58 after leaving Herman's band.

I have some live recordings from that era that have a tuba, but the liner notes don't mention who played.

I'm not an expert by any means.

LoyalTubist wrote:That's too easy. And he didn't have his own band with a tuba player until AFTER the Big Band Era (1953 is the first time I saw one listed).

Many a "Big Band" continued on past the "Big Band Era".

Liberty Mo wrote:As a big fan of Stan Kenton, I know there was a laundry list of guys who played Tuba for him. I can think of:

Bud Parker

I played tuba in a big band at Christmas, the Stan Kenton book. Bud Parker was playing 4th trombone. I asked him if he played tuba and he said, "no".

Liberty Mo wrote:

LoyalTubist wrote:That's too easy. And he didn't have his own band with a tuba player until AFTER the Big Band Era (1953 is the first time I saw one listed).

Many a "Big Band" continued on past the "Big Band Era".

And that's not the point here. Most bands DID continue past that period. I'm interested in who played tuba for Kay Kyser or Sammy Kaye on those broadcasts I have in my OTR (Old Time Radio) library that were interrupted when Honolulu was attacked December 7, 1941.

LoyalTubist wrote:

Liberty Mo wrote:

LoyalTubist wrote:That's too easy. And he didn't have his own band with a tuba player until AFTER the Big Band Era (1953 is the first time I saw one listed).

Many a "Big Band" continued on past the "Big Band Era".

And that's not the point here. Most bands DID continue past that period. I'm interested in who played tuba for Kay Kyser or Sammy Kaye on those broadcasts I have in my OTR (Old Time Radio) library that were interrupted when Honolulu was attacked December 7, 1941.

My apologies, I misread the post as wanting to know names of people who played tuba in big bands.

Didnt mean to clog up your thread.

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?

don't forget Lombardo's Royal Canadians

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

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.

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.

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....

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.

LoyalTubist wrote: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.

Interesting picture:

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