He played more and more as a soloist and many composers wrote concertos "to order" for him (Werle, Lovelock, Fischer-Tull, Jeff Tirsik, Vizzutti, Bilek, etc.). His programmes were generally "American classics" in the first half, jazz and popular in the second. He played an old American B♭ trumpet with a mouthpiece Bob Reeves had turned for him in Los Angeles (medium bore).
Tonight Show
It was around 1958 that he started to take part in this programme which today beats all the records for popularity and length of run. He conducts the show's big band, plays solos, welcomes the guests and is in charge of the floor in front of millions of faithful viewers. He has become one of the great national stars. At the same time people ask him to play as a soloist with university and college orchestras. Every weekend — his only free time — is devoted to these jaunts around the country: "plane-rehearsal-concert".
Since 1963 the symphony orchestras have also been fighting over him: London, Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Dallas, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Denver — quite a list!
Doc Severinsen
Twenty-five records
Doc Severinsen has made about two dozen records (one of which, cut in the early eighties with the London Philharmonic, contains two big contemporary American concertos, rehearsed and recorded in one weekend in London, travelling included).
All these recordings show off his amazing virtuosity and his unique fluency. Yet they are very difficult, if not impossible, to buy. Why is such a famous and such an extraordinarily "commercial" musician so badly distributed?
Don't ask; it's one of the mysteries, one of the contradictions in the man. Doc Severinsen is not absolutely convinced of the quality of his recordings. Strangely, this TV giant, this superstar who chats daily in front of millions of people, is ashamed of his records. "I never had the time to put the finishing touches to them like I should have," he says; "I can't listen to them any more." He makes no effort to promote them or reissue them. Hard luck for his thousands of admirers.
Still on the look-out
Doc is a spirited performer. It is the present that interests him and he must always have something new to maintain his zest for life.
In 1980, at the peak of his glory, he founded Xebron, a modern jazz quintet, a combination he had long wanted to get to know better.
His style is built on the respect he has for Harry James, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Rafael Mendez, Clarke Terry, Benny Baker, Bill Vacchiano, Adolph Herseth, Maurice André and many others. All these influences have contributed to make of him what he is today.
Today
Doc Severinsen built his career with an iron will. He still practises every day, looks after his physical (running and weight training), enjoys cooking (especially Italian) and never drinks alcohol. He lives in a magnificent property (Nichols Canyon, in Los Angeles) with his wife, Emily Marshall, who writes for television. He loves horses; he has a fine stable and runs it as a business himself. He also has a large collection of paintings by American artists.