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Art Depew,
Trumpet (1957-1965)
Part of Lawrence Welk's Famous
Trumpet Backbone
Art
Depew played the trumpet for the Lawrence Welk Show
from 1957 to 1965. Joining him in this tight
sounding trumpet section were fellow trumpeters Dick
Cathcart, Rocky Rockwell and Norman Bailey.
Together, they formed a trumpet section widely
considered among the best of the era.
Depew was born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1925 and
attended Palm Beach High School. In 1943, he formed
a 12-piece dance band and worked the Virginia and
North Carolina beach resorts. World War II forced
him to disband and migrate to New York where he
joined his first name band, the Bob Chester
Orchestra. The band went to Hollywood where they
made a movie called Trocadero. While in California,
Art was offered a radio job with Horace Heidt but soon after he enlisted
in the Army spending his war years playing in the
band at Walter Reed Hospital. After the war, he enrolled at
Juilliard School of Music where he studied symphonic
trumpet for more than three years.
In 1950, Art joined Tommy Dorsey on tour and later Tex Beneke and
the Glenn Miller Orchestra before joining the Welk
Orchestra in 1957.
Depew enjoyed the
styles of some of the great trumpeters of the day
like Ziggy Elman, Bunny Berigan, Cootie Williams and
Charlie Shavers, but the style of Harry James was
the one that intrigued him the most. So, Depew
jumped at the chance to join the Harry James Band in
1965 when Pee-Wee and Sal Monte called him and asked
him to front for the band.
In all, Depew
played with 23 bands during his career before
retiring. Depew passed away in July 2015 at the age
of 90.
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