Peanuts Hucko: Big Band Clarinet

A few days ago, when I mentioned Peanuts Hucko in a post on trumpeter Don Ferrara, I received a bunch of emails from readers either wondering who he was or chortling about his nickname. Michael “Peanuts" Hucko was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and would become one of the biggest and most prolific clarinetists after Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Buddy DeFranco. The name was given to him as a child after displaying an unstoppable passion for the shelled kernels.

Hucko came up during the late 1930s, when he played tenor saxophone for bands led by Will Bradley, Tommy Reynolds and Joe Marsala. He soon doubled on clarinet and played with a long list of dance bands. In 1943, he joined the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band on clarinet, which meant he was the sound in the Miller-voiced reed section that mattered most to the bandleader. [Photo above of Glenn Miller]

After World War II and Miller's death following an English Channel plane crash, Hucko remained in Paris with the Miller band under the direction of Ray McKinley. He also gigged and recorded there with small groups until June 1945. Back in New York, he played tenor saxophone in Benny Goodman's band and clarinet with Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and other swing orchestras and New Orleans—and Chicago-style combos. He also recorded extensively with guitarist Eddie Condon.

Into the 1950s and beyond, Hucko recorded with or led big bands playing swing era hits. He also was a mainstay on the Lawrence Welk Show in the early 1970s. Hucko was still going strong in the 1980s and 1990s. He died in 2003. I particularly love his recordings with Miller and his 1950s jazz sessions with Billy Butterfield, Al Cohn and others on the New York scene. [Photo above of Billy Butterfield]

Here are YouTube clips to illustrate Hucko's gift on clarinet and saxophone:

Here's Peanuts Hucko with the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band in 1944 backing Johnny Desmond singing Now I Know...



Here's Hucko on tenor saxophone with pianist guitarist Django Reinhardt and the Glenn Miller All Stars playing How High the Moon in Paris in January 1945...



Here's Hucko in June 1947 playing Peanut Butter...



Here's Hucko in 1947 playing Stolen Peanuts, a play off of Fats Waller's Stealing Apples...



Here's Hucko leading a big band on Don't Be That Way, off his Tribute to Benny Goodman album in 1953...



Here's Stompin' at the Savoy off the same album...



Here's Hucko on Robins and Roses from Mellow Moods of Jazz, recorded in 1956, which you can find at Fresh Sound here...



Here's Hucko playing on Double Fracture, from Al Cohn and the Sax Section in 1956, featuring Romeo Penque (oboe), Charlie O'Kane and Phil Bodner (fl), Peanuts Hucko (cl), Boomie Richman (b-cl), Sam Marowitz and Gene Quill (as), Al Cohn (ts,arr), Eddie Wasserman (ts), Sol Schlinger (bar), John Williams (p), Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d)...



Here's Hucko on clarinet opening Frank Sinatra's What Is This Thing Called Love? from The Wee Small Hours of the Morning album in 1955...



And here's Hucko playing Memories of You live in 1990...