Slats Long

Wichita, KS, may possibly not be well-known for the music artists who been given birth to there; to everyone, the most obvious musical Wichita research will be the “Wichita Lineman” mythologized by songwriter Jimmy Webb. Slats Long was a Wichita clarinetist, hinting that few in his hometown actually understood about his musical achievements. Certainly, to Wichita’s citizenry most importantly, Long was only a man who experienced worked well in the plane industry for a lot more than two decades from 1943, not really a musician whatsoever, and most most likely answering towards the name he was created with, Don Very long. Having a stage name that appears like builder’s shorthand, Long experienced among other achievements been portion of innovative film composer Raymond Scott’s lab of musical affiliates. He previously also performed and documented with excellent traditional jazz skills including vibraphonist Crimson Norvo and trumpeter Bobby Hackett. Long’s shortish jazz profession seems to set up in the past due ’20s when the clarinetist started gigging with Cass Hagan. From your mid-’30s he is at an organization led by companions Ed Farley and Mike Riley. Long journeyed east, the most obvious destination being NEW YORK and possibilities with Norvo, Chauncey Morehouse, Vincent Lopez, and Bud Freeman. Hackett employed the clarinetist in past due 1940; participation with Scott started quickly thereafter, the composer both familiar and impressed with Long’s active freelance recording timetable during the prior decade. Long still left the music business in 1943, time for Wichita. He passed away of a coronary attack in 1964.