JIM CULLUM, JR., Bandleader, cornet In the 1950s when everyone else his age was listening to Elvis Presley and Connie Francis, Jim Cullum locked onto the sounds of early jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. At first he thought he might want to play trombone, but one day while helping his dad in the grocery business, Jim caught sight of an antique cornet in a store window and fell in love. While attending Trinity University in San Antonio, Jim formed a seven-piece traditional jazz group, the Happy Jazz Band, with his father the late Jim Cullum, Sr., who had played professionally with Jack Teagarden and others in the 1940s. In 1963, a group of San Antonio business leaders established The Landing, a jazz club on the San Antonio River Walk, as a showcase for the Happy Jazz Band. Under Jim, Jr.'s direction the band evolved into a nationally-acclaimed professional company known as The Jim Cullum Jazz Band. Jim Cullum’s lifelong passion has been researching, preserving and presenting jazz and popular song from the turn of the 20th century to the mid-1940s. DAVID HOLT David Holt is a four-time Grammy Award-winning musician and storyteller, the host of shows on public radio and television, and an historian devoted to traditional American music and storytelling. A native of Garland, Texas, Holt recalls growing up in a family of informal storytellers for whom storytelling was a natural part of family life. As co-host of Riverwalk Jazz, David tells the story of jazz in America, interviews jazz pioneers and today’s leading figures of classic jazz. He is also host of public television's Folkways and can also be seen in the popular film, O Brother Where Art Thou. RON HOCKETT, clarinet Growing up in Evanston, Illinois, Ron Hockett began playing professionally with George Brunies, the Salty Dogs, Bobby Gordon and Eddie Davis while still in high school. Also a member of the popular youth group, the Windjammers, Hockett took part in rehearsals that turned into jam sessions with visiting greats Bobby Hackett, Bud Freeman, and Jimmy McPartland. While attending Princeton, Ron toured the Orient with the Dukes of Dixieland. From 1970 to 1999, he was the lead saxophonist and clarinet soloist in the "President's Own" U.S. Marine Band in Washington, D.C., performing throughout the U.S. and Europe, and making regular appearances at the White House. Ron Hockett took over clarinet duties in The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in May, 1999. KENNY RUPP, trombone Kenny Rupp’s trombone style is reminiscent of Jack Teagarden, whom he acknowledges as a major influence. Rupp holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He had a long career in New York playing in symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, Broadway pit bands; and behind vocalists Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughn, and others. He also worked in the bands of Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Clark Terry and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks. Kenny Rupp took over trombone duties with The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in 2000. JIM TURNER, piano Born and raised in Los Angeles where he studied music with his father, the noted classical pianist and teacher Robert E. Turner, Jim Turner later studied jazz piano with Johnny Guarnieri and Dick Cary. Turner has also enjoyed a career as an award-winning producer of piano recordings. His producing credits include Teddy Wilson, George Shearing, Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Dick Hyman, Floyd Cramer and Steve Allen. HOWARD ELKINS, banjo, guitar and vocals. Jim Cullum first heard Howard Elkins playing in El Paso, Texas in 1978. Howard joined the band the next day and he has been holding down the guitar/banjo chair in the group ever since. Howard proved to be a rhythm guitarist par excellence and provides rock-solid time to the band's rhythm section. He is the composer of the Riverwalk Jazz theme, “Nightspell.” Elkins plays a 1920s-vintage Epiphone archtop, four-string tenor guitar and a 1930s Gibson tenor banjo. When he's not working with the band, Howard enjoys tending his ten-acre pecan grove southwest of San Antonio. DON MOPSICK, bass A native of New Jersey, educated at Rutgers, Berklee and the Manhattan School of Music, Don Mopsick had a thirteen-year, free-lance career in Florida, playing concert dates with Al Cohn, Buddy DeFranco, Clark Terry, Mose Allison, Warren Vache, Jr., Scott Hamilton, Flip Phillips, Kenny Davern and others before joining The Jim Cullum Jazz Band in 1991. Mopsick plays an antique German double bass set-up with gut strings and high action in the manner of the pre-amplified era. Don’s approach to bass playing is completely acoustic, and one hears echoes of Bill Johnson, Pops Foster, and Milt Hinton in his work. Don also serves as Webmaster. MICHAEL WASKIEWICZ, drums Michael Waskiewicz is a youthful protégé of longtime Cullum band drummer Ed Torres. He uses drumming techniques and equipment found in the earlier drumming styles of Zutty Singleton, Ray Bauduc, and Baby Dodds. Michael joined the band in January 2000, and has been on the stand ever since except for a hiatus in New Orleans where he worked with Banu Gibson, Duke Heitger, and led his own band, featuring Evan Christopher, at Fritzel's on Bourbon Street. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.