Bill Page
Bob Ballard, Kriss Music Co. ASCAP
Tower 349
1967
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BILL PAGE was born in Chicago, IL on September 11, 1925. A World War II veteran who served in the European stage; Bill attended Wright Junior College and played with several bands such as Del Courtney and Boyd Raeburn before joining Lawrence Welk in 1951, playing about 14 woodwind instruments including not only all the saxophones, the clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, piccolo, bassoon, oboe, and English Horn. He was often featured in numbers in which he played about 11 instruments going through all of them as the band accompanied him. Plus, he was know to have played two clarinets at once!
After leaving the Welk organization in 1965, he continued to perform with famous artists such as Barry Manilow, Ted Mack, Frank Gorshin and Judy Garland.
Bill Page recorded a few albums under his own name. Pros and Conns (meaning Conn horns) on Dot. That one featured a tune called, "Conn Artist From Elkhart Indiana"! Another one on Dot simply titled "Bill Page". Then there were two records on Tower featuring electronic effects and octaviders, wa-wa, etc. "Sounds of the Sonic Sixties" and "Way Back Now".
Producer and composer Robert Hudson (Bob) Ballard (1913-1992) was one of the musical arrangers for the Lawrence Welk Band until 1982.
The Lawrence Welk Show: Saxophobia (1957)
One of the several videos available on YouTube
featuring Bill Page
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