Doc Severinsen
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"Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen" is an United States/American popular music/pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading The Tonight Show Band/the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

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As I look back now, some of those dates, the players - I think I didn't realize how fully significant that all was. My God, some of the playing you heard. You had to take it in, and it had to do something to you.

I was snowed in a couple of years, just like everyone else.

Well, the thought came to me that, for many of us who did this show, and for many people who watched the show, just because Johnny left there, didn't give them the closure they needed. But I would say that his passing gave us that closure, because I think we all realize now that he's not coming back.

He got a very large meat cleaver and made us get back on the bus. That was heartbreaking, ... Maybe an hour's drive from New York. I'll never forget it.

We were run out of a diner.

Personally, I think young musicians need to learn to play more than one style. Jazz can only enhance the classical side, and classical can only enhance the jazz. I started out playing classical, because you have to have that as a foundation.

Everyone was close friends.

I'm a Swede who loves Italian food; it's the culture I identify with mostly. I love the people and everything about them.

Television is so influential that when an audience sees you day-in and day-out there's a certain acceptance that sets in; you're no longer a threatening personality. They become more willing to accept whatever you present.