Don Hunt 1930-2018
The last surviving member of the original Syracuse Salt City Five – Don Hunt – died Aug. 5 in Lyons, N.Y. at age 87.
Although he blew a trumpet for the Salt City combo, Hunt was a multi-talented musician who played everything from keyboards to kazoos.
“Don’s inspired skills on the trumpet were a major factor in the Salt City Five’s rise to fame,” said former SC5 manager Arnie Koch. The band also featured trombonist Will Alger, clarinetist Jack Maheu, drummer Bob Cousins and pianist Charlie French.
Under Koch’s leadership and Hunt on lead horn, the band made a prize-winning appearance in 1952 on CBS-TV’s Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, one of the highest-rated television shows of the decade. The quintet later performed on Godfrey and His Friends as well as on Godfrey’s CBS radio programs. As a result, the band was booked for a long-term Sunday-afternoon engagement at Childs Paramount, a 700-seat restaurant club in Times Square below the Paramount Theater. There the quintet often shared the bill with some of the most legendary names in jazz, including New England-bred trumpeters Phil Napoleon and Bobby Hackett.
“Hackett was Don’s idol,” Koch said. “At jam sessions at end of sets, Don stood next to him and traded choruses. He was so impressed with Hackett’s improvisations.”
Koch credits
