Stealing Apples – 1984
Peanuts Hucko
A swinging number featuring a great clarinetist
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Peanuts Hucko (1918-2003) was a top swing clarinetist for quite a few decades, and his ability to sound very close to Benny Goodman resulted in him being featured on many tributes to the King of Swing.
Hucko actually began his career as a tenor-saxophonist, playing with Will Bradley, Joe Marsalis and the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band in Europe during World War II.
It was while he was with Miller that Hucko switched his focus to the clarinet.
He worked in later years with Eddie Condon, Jack Teagarden, as a studio musician, the Louis Armstrong All-Stars (1958-60), and his own groups which often featured his wife, singer Louise Tobin.
During the 1970s Hucko led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for several years; he stayed active until the early 1990s.
Here is Peanuts Hucko in 1984 being featured playing “Stealing Apples” (a song that Benny Goodman had helped make famous) while joined by the U.S. Air Force In Europe Ambassadors Band and drummer Ray McKinley.
-Scott Yanow
Stan Getz