Ray Linn,
Trumpet (1968-1969) Popular Trumpet Player Was A
Protege Of Maynard Ferguson
Ray
Linn played the trumpet on the Lawrence
Welk Show from 1968 to 1969. Linn was born October
20, 1920 in Chicago, Illinois. Linn's first major
engagements came while he was a teenager in the late
1930s. He played with some of the best out there
including Tommy Dorsey (1938-41) and Woody Herman
(1941-42). He returned to play with Herman again
several times, in 1945, 1947, and 1955-59. In the
1940s he also spent time with Jimmy Dorsey
(1942-45), Benny Goodman (1943, 1947), Artie Shaw
(1944-46), and Boyd Raeburn (1946). He moved to Los
Angeles in 1945, where he worked extensively as a
studio musician, in addition to playing with Bob
Crosby (1950-51), Les Brown and another tenure with
Woody Herman before joining the Lawrence Welk
Orchestra in 1968.
After
Lawrence Welk After leaving the Welk
Show in 1969, Linn continued performing with
other notable musicians including Maynard
Ferguson, who despite his many alcohol and drug
addictions, was one of the finest trumpeters of
the 1970's. Other notable credits include the
movie "Spartacus", the "Steve Allen Show",
"Dinah Shore", Louis Armstrong and Diahann
Carroll. In 1972, Linn joined up with other
fellow Welk Show alumni such as Al Hirt, Henry
Cuesta and Bob Havens to form the Chicago
Stompers group.
Linn passed away in 1996.