In hot pink leather pants, a pink shirt, orange socks, and a black suit coat emblazoned with glittering skeletons, 80 year old Carl H. “Doc” Severinsen sauntered out on the stage of the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox in downtown Spokane, Wash., on Saturday night, March 29, like his days on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” had never ended.
His face turning purple to match his outfit, Doc’s screaming trumpet rang through The Fox to a breathless audience, many of whom were seeing Doc in person for the first time. His new band wowed the crowd with their pyrotechnical playing style. The taste of this picante sauce was hot!
Not long ago, Doc planned to retire in Mexico, expecting he’d put his trumpet away for the last time. He and his third wife, TV producer Emily Marshall, moved to the sleepy central mountain town of San Miguel de Allende. Founded in 1542, San Miguel de Allende is a popular American and Canadian expatriate destination and a favorite vacation spot of wealthy Mexico City residents. Then magic happened.
Moving to Mexico was just the beginning of a new chapter in Doc’s musical life. Shortly after settling in, he and his wife went out to dinner at a local Italian bistro where Gil Gutierrez and Pedro Cartas were playing a mixture of Mexican, Spanish, and French Gypsy music and standards.
Doc was astounded at the incredible pure talent of these locals and soon asked to join them. They formed a new band called “El Ritmo de la Vida,” which is Spanish for “the rhythm of life.” The current personnel are Gil (pronounced “heel”) on guitar, Pedro on violin, Kevin Thomas on bass and Miguel Favero on hand percussion. Miguel played a Peruvian Box he had bought that morning at Hoffman Music on Monroe in Spokane.
The concert in the Davenport District’s venerable art deco masterpiece, The Fox, began with “Introduction to El Amor Brujo” (Falla), followed by “El Farol” (Gutierrez, Cartas, Lobo, arr. Toussaint). They also played a medley of Argentine tunes, “Adios Nonino” and “Milonga de mis Amores” (Astor Piazzolla, Laurenz, arr. Toussaint).
Then along came “Sweet Georgia Brown” (Pinkard, Casey). They played the standard in a Latin style with violin strumming and fingerpicked guitar before segueing into a Hot Club style breakdown. Doc took out the mute he used on the first part of the tune and played the rest in straight ahead style. Lots of prestissimo riffing by all the players.
They moved on through the pretty “Gabriel’s Oboe from the Mission” (Ennio Morricone, arr. Toussaint), then fired up a traditional Mariachi piece, “Son de la Negra” (Traditional, arr. Toussaint), strongly featuring the Spokane Symphony. The lights were upon the orchestra, highlighting a counterplay between the flutes and bassoons, followed by a string hoedown with French horns echoing the moment.
After “Camino del Pan Bendito” (Los Elementales, arr. Toussaint), Doc took the microphone for a quick story. In 1941, he was the 12 year old cornet soloist at The Fox in the All-Northwest Band, representing his hometown of Arlington, Ore. Although his dad was a dentist, his family was poor and so while the rich kids stayed at the Davenport, “Little Doc,” as he was known in those days, stayed at the Otis Hotel.
“I vowed that someday I would stay at the Davenport and now I am,” he said. He stayed in the Davenport’s luxurious presidential suite, courtesy of The Fox and the show’s underwriters, D.A. Davidson & Co. and Global Credit Union. “I’m so excited just to be there, I’m just pressing buttons saying, ‘Bring me something.’”
During intermission, Doc did a wardrobe change and returned to the stage in lime green leather pants, a wild orange Mexican shirt, and a red patent leather jacket reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s from the 1983 “Beat It” music video. The flamboyant stage clothing is a signature style he started clear back in his childhood rodeo days, but it was his nightly repartee with Johnny Carson that made it famous.
“There isn’t a woman in this audience who wouldn’t kill for this outfit,” Doc said. The audience laughed and applauded.
The band came back to play a Gil Gutierrez original, “Irene y Diego”, named for his children.
“If they played bluegrass in Mexico, this is what it would sound like,” Doc said.
Gil played a classical Spanish guitar with acoustic pickup and a cutaway under the neck. Pedro played his violin so hard he shredded horsehair in volumes. The dust from it glittered in the spotlights. In a novel duet on a single instrument, Miguel came over and strummed a rhythmic pattern on Gil’s guitar while Gil fingered the chords.
Then the band floated all the gypsy music fans on cloud nine with an atmospheric rendition of “Nuages” (Django Reinhardt, arr. Toussaint). Gil played a truly inspired overtone solo on guitar. The Hot Club anthem was followed up by “La Espiga” (Traditional, arr. Cartas), a very traditional Mariachi.
Next they played a “very loving, grandmotherly song” called “Cucurucucu” (Tomas Mendez), featuring Gil and Pedro in a duet with a gorgeous harp flourish at the end.
The concert ended with “La Fiesta” (Chick Corea, arr. Toussaint), a bold and crisp salsa with a jazzy flair in the middle. In a nice piece of stage business, Gil picked a note on Pedro’s violin, then reached up and played the valves on Doc’s trumpet as he blew.
The band left the stage, then returned for an encore - a Mexican theme with a segue into a lightning fast Djangoesque etude with full orchestra. Everyone took multiple bows as the audience cheered: the perfect ending to a fabulous two hour extravaganza.
After the concert goers had left, Doc had a chance to relax, and we chatted about life and music.
“I love living [in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico]. The town is safe,” Doc said. “There are two levels of law enforcement, one official and one unofficial, and that’s what keeps people from doing what they shouldn’t.” Life is also tranquil in his adopted community.
“Nobody honks,” he said. “If they do, people come out of their buildings and say, ‘What the hell is that about?’” He also explained how he came to move to San Miguel de Allende in December, 2006.
“We (Doc and his wife Emily) went there to get adobe and building supplies for our home at the time and we fell in love with the place.” That home was in Santa Barbara, Calif. He and Emily quickly finished the remodeling job and sold that home, moving to their new headquarters, ten hours’ drive south of the border. He is presently living on a rented horse ranch set against the Sierra Madre mountains. He can’t imagine anything better.
“These guys (his fellow members of ‘El Ritmo de la Vida’) are a part of my family life,” Doc said. “We’re all intertwined. When we’re not playing we’re still together.”
Villa Clara, Cuba-born Pedro Cartas was a concert violinist, concertmaster and conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra before settling in Mexico on a scholarship. He and Gil Gutierrez formed “Gil+Cartas” in 1991, four years later. They are recording artists on the Opus 3 record label. Oaxaca, Mexico-born Gil Gutierrez studied classical guitar at Oaxaca’s School of Fine Arts, learning jazz along the way as he played in various musical arrangements for concerts and theater. Their new CD, “En Mi Corazon” features Doc Severinsen as a “special guest”. The CD played through professional studio monitors as this review was written.
Several songs from the concert are present on the CD, including Sweet Georgia Brown, Gabriel’s Oboe, and Nuages. Unlike the high-energy show Doc and company put on in concert, the CD is very reserved and quiet: perfect for a dinner party or a quiet time at home. The arrangements are introspective, intuitively reharmonized, and expertly balanced. The highs are reined in just enough to keep them at the same perceived volume as the other instruments. The bass is full and musical without booming. The songs are played with great technical skill and musicality.
The personnel listed include Gil Gutierrez on guitar; Pedro Cartas on vioin; Doc Severinsen on trumpet, flugelhorn “and cigars”; Agustin Bernal on acoustic bass; Magdalena Sherpen on viola; Rolando Fernandez on cello; Julian Mendieta on congas, timbal, bongo, clave and guiro; and Ricardo Sebastian on percussion.
Although there is no symphony on the CD, Doc made a special request of me, regarding his experience playing this music with the Spokane Symphony.
“I want it noted that this symphony is just wonderful,” he said. “It was so great to play with these talented musicians. Someone is obviously taking very good care of them. I look forward to the next time I get to be back in Spokane.”
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