[Dixielandjazz] R.I.P. Steve Lipkins

[Robert Ringwald]

Stephen Lipkins, 93, Big Band Era Trumpeter
by Nicholas Spangler
Newsday, February 24, 2011
Stephen Lipkins, a trumpeter in orchestras of the big band era until he pursued a
career as a stone craftsman, died Jan. 29 in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 93.
The cause was Parkinson's disease, said his son, Jonathan Lipkins.
Beginning in the 1930s, when he was barely out of high school, Stephen Lipkins played
and recorded as lead trumpet with Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Bunny Berigan and the
Dorsey brothers.
"A really good lead player would be harder to find than a good soloist," said Dan
Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University.
Playing lead, Morgenstern said, took power and faultless feel for tune -- whether
the band was in a soundproof recording studio or a crowded, noisy ballroom.
Lipkins, a Great Neck resident for 47 years, cut one record as a soloist, a promotional
45 for Atco, in 1958, recorded under the name Stevie Layne.
In the '50s, after the popularity of the big band sound waned, Lipkins worked on
Broadway and at the NBC studio in New York, playing musical accompaniment for Sid
Caesar's "Show of Shows," "The Steve Allen Show" and "The Tonight Show" with Jack
Paar.
"Studio work was well paid," Morgenstern said. "Better than being on road -- you
don't have to go on bus and sleep in some flea bag."
Dependable, precise musicians like Lipkins were in demand, said Bill Crow, a jazz
bassist and musicians' union official. The most popular musicians were "running from
one studio to another."
When the television business moved to the West Coast, and electronic synthesizers
replaced live musicians in jingles and soundtracks, Lipkins turned to stone crafting.
"My uncle owned a precision optics factory and was polishing some stones in his factory,"
said Jonathan Lipkins. After watching the process, his father began to experiment
and was soon making cuff links and jewelry.
That interest grew into a business, SJ Lipkins Inc., that opened in the 1970s and
specialized in inlays and parts for custom furniture. Father and son worked together
there for 25 years.
Lipkins is survived by his wife, Ruth, 92, of Boca Raton; and by sons, Jonathan Lipkins,
55, of Syosset and Robert Lipkins, 67, of Westchester; and a grandson.
Services were held at the Star of David Memorial Gardens Cemetery and Funeral Chapel
in North Lauderdale, Fla.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
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