Kevin Hilman

Doc,

As is the case with many of us here you have been an inspiration to me since I was a young boy. I also stayed up late many a-time to listen to you play on the Tonight Show. I remember one evening my mom shouted to me downstrairs "Kevin! Come up quick! Johnny Carson says that Doc is going to cook after the break!". Imagine my dissapointment when you actually gave a cooking demonstration and made spaghetti sauce!! I had wanted you to play but none the less, we tried your recipe and it was fantastic!

I saw a couple of your live tapings in Burbank back in the day and always try to catch you when you are in the Salt Lake area. You have always been such a gentleman when I've had the opportunity to meet with you and your abilities on the trumpet are just amazing. That uber rich, full sound of yours always inspires me! You are truly a class act and I wish you all the best in your retirement.

Sincerely,

Kevin

wiseone2

Hi Doc.
These kids don't remember the Steve Allen Tonight Show That theme still haunts me. It was a trumpet solo. You played it beautifully every time, as I recall.

We met only once. When Skitch Henderson conducted the Baltimore Symphony in 1966,I think, he brought key players. You played the Floyd Werle Trumpet Concerto..........then joined the trumpet section for a Suite from West Side Story. Skitch never did get the rhythm thing in "America" straight You were memorable. You have inspired countless young players including this slightly older one.
Wilmer

__________________
Be sure Brain is engaged before putting Mouthpiece in gear.
S.Suark 1951

bftrumpet

Doc,

Thanks for being such an inspiration for us all! We have been truly blessed to have had the chance to listen and learn from such a great musician. Thank you for setting a great example for us to follow from your practice sessions to the concert hall. Your passion for music and love for trumpet playing continues to inspire me everyday. Thanks for the memories and enjoy your well deserved retirement!!!!!!!!

Ben Fairfield

BADBOY-DON

Doc..
Just another long time fans of yours and we so enjoyed your performance this year with the Seattle Symphony.

How fortunate my wife and I was so fortunate to catch what just might be the last time we will ever see you live in concert.

Over the years, my old Boeing trumpet buds...would car-pool to the SSO just to catch your wonderful entertainment and out of this world gifted trumpet performances.
Thanks for all these years, YOU GAVE,N' GAVE US SOOOOO MUCH. Although we have never met in person, over the years of coming to us in our living rooms for so many years by TV, we feel like you will always be a dear friend in brass.
Congratulations!!!!!God Bless.
Don and Carol Shultz...(and my Boeing stage band buds...
from Gig Harbor, Wa.

trumpetdiva1

Doc,

Before I had heard you perform with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra when I was a music student in college, I was listening to you throughout my teenage years and trying to model after your sound. I think that you have the greatest trumpet sound! To this day, I continue to strive to make such a wonderful sound on the trumpet. When I’ve received compliments on my sound, I usually attribute it to hearing your sound concept at such a young age. It has highly influenced my playing. Thanks for giving us your all.

Enjoy your retirement! You deserve it!

Janell Carter
Brooklyn, New York
M.M. Ball State University

A.N.A. Mendez

Never met you but as a trumpeter in high school during the tonight show days we held you up as the "man". Rumors flew in those days that you could hit a high C with the trumpet hanging on a string. We could not imagine how someone could do that but it added to the mystique. I'm very glad you have had a long career and been able to play the whole time, what a wonderful life! Keep playing and inspiring! Thanks! You will never know how many youngsters you had a positive influence on,God bless you!

__________________
(Above) Alexanders ragtime band-circa 1960

"Baby, I'm already the coolest, and the hippist, now you want me to be on time too?" Buddy Love

"We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and our best generals to edit our newspapers." Robert E. Lee

highbrass

Hi Doc:
Thank you for always being such an inspiration to countless trumpet players like myself. I was fortunate to have heard you live in person when you played and conducted the symphony at the Waikiki Shell in Hawaii several years ago. I was also one of the lucky kids who got to meet you through my trumpet teacher, Richard Lum. Your trumpet playing always was and will continue to be "the sound" I hear whenever I think of a good, powerful and soulful trumpet sound. May your retirement be ever so wonderful and precious with your wife. Thank you again for your many contributions to the trumpet and music world.

Liz

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"I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it."

~from "The Shawshank Redemption"

tpter1

Doc- I remember seeing you with Johnny Carson at first. You were a real inspiriation to both my brother and I way back then as young high school players.

I wish you all the best.

__________________
-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting

monel12

Hi Doc,
Back in 1969, at Clay Center High School, Kansas, C.L. Snodgrass introduced you to me. I was a beginning band director, and you were
so positive towards me, and public school education. Everytime you came
back to Clay Center, I was there to be inspired...thanks for your incouragement throughout the years to music education.
Best of luck to you and your wife.

vic

Doc, thanks for all the memories of your awesome Tonight Show Band! And thanks for the daily inspiration for a trumpet player.

I was fortunate enough to hear you in a great concert at the University of Denver in 1977.

Thanks for everything! Best wishes in your next career phase.

Yours in music,
Vic Nutt