Art Depew
Art Depew, son of a minister and African missionary, is one of the greats of the Big Band swing era.
Born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1925, he played in the Palm Beach High School band, sang in the glee club and at 13 was working professionally with the local big band, Tomy Keffer's Florida Cavaliers. His tolerant father said it was OK to play with dance bands on Saturday night as long as he was playing in the church orchestra at 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning--no exceptions! Art learned how to transpose playing from hymn books before he knew it was hard to do.
Art fell in love with 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. He dreamed of standing in front of a band and playing with the lyrical and driving jazz style of his personal idol, Harry James. In 1943, at age 18, 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 job in radio with Horace Heidt on the Tum's Treasure Chest Show but soon after he enlisted in the army. He spent the war years playing in the 304th ASF band stationed at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. After mustering out he enrolled at Julliard School of Music in New York where he studied symphonic trumpet for 3 1/2 years. During this period in New York City he also worked as a free-lance trumpet player with most of the major orchestras of the time playing the big theatres--the Paramount, Capitol and Strand and worked everything from casuals to record dates. In 1950 Art joined Tommly Dorsey on tour and later Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. In 1952 he rejoined Tommy Dorsey for a trip to California where he left the band and began to put down roots, even working for a brief time at Lockheed while waiting to become a full member of the Musician's Union in Hollywood.
After six months he joined Harry James on lead trumpet where he stayed for 4 years and loved every minute of it! He played everything from music to baseball with Harry though he confesses that Harry "traded" him after his first game. Art left the band to go into a Vegas-type showroom in Hollywood, the Moulin Rouge, and later joined Ray Anthony doing the Plymouth show on ABC TV with the band. When the show went off the air, Art began free-lancing in Hollywood playing theatres and working with Jerry Gray and Charlie Barnet. A call came to audition with Lawrence Welk and he wound up playing first trumpet and ofttimes featured soloist for 8 years on the Welk ABC TV show. After leaving the band he resumed free-lancing in the Hollywood area playing everything from Dixieland to record dates as well as leading his own big band and various small combos. After the death of Harry James he was asked to lead the band and did so for the next eighteen years. His childhood dream had come true. It seemed as if he had spent his entire life preparing for this opportunity. Art has led the Harry James Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, on tours around the country and on numerous cruises. He has toured Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Sweden and most recently led the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra in a tribute to Harry James.
Art lives in the San Fernando Valley with his wife Linda. They have a daughter, two sons and nine grand children. He has recently recorded two Dixieland CD's with his Ramblin' Men Jazz Band and one CD with the Art Depew Orchestra. He was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2001.