Washington County Oral Histories

Don Hite oral history audio recording on the Woody Hite Big Band and early Sherwood

An audio recording of an oral history of Don Hite, a musician who played in the Woody Hite Big Band. Topics include: his birth on March 1, 1918; family history; his band the which played beginning in the 1930s at venues including the Uptown Ballroom in Portland, Martin's Ballroom in Sherwood, the Starlight Pavilion in Lincoln City, high school dances and Catholic parish dances all over Oregon; influence of his mother on their music; his father Garth Hite; his maternal grandfather 'Ferg' Langer and the Langer land near Sherwood; Langer family history in Austria and Wisconsin; taking dancing lessons; playing music with his brother as teenagers for local organizations in Sherwood; music influences of the Woody Hite Big Band; listening to music at the Chautauqua camp gatherings; the influence of jazz; how the band started; other musical families in Sherwood; music on the radio; seeing big bands around Portland; thoughts on other performers; thoughts on where music should go in the future; where they got some of their arrangements; making recordings; never having African American band members before World War II; the small African American population in Oregon before the war; names of some of their band members; visiting other cities; playing for military balls during the war; a big fire in Sherwood around 1947; the bank in Sherwood; going to school in Sherwood and Tigard; the polio epidemic after the war; and other topics.

Hite, Donald, 1918-2000

Washington County (Or.) -- History

Hite, Don

Woody Hite Big Band

Washington County (Or.)

Sherwood (Or.)

1 sound file (1 hr., 34 min.)

English

SHS_OH_67

In Copyright

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Sherwood Historical Society

WAVE

sound