Music performances, symphony, concerts in Maryland

Del Puschert: Annapolis celebrity, barber & saxophone player

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Published on Monday, 10 September 2012 20:00

Written by Nadja Maril

It's Saturday night at the Moose Lodge in Crownsville. The evening starts with a hard drink or a beer accompanied by home-style cooking, followed by music and dancing. Each week a different band plays. Tonight the band is Assisted Living, with a repertoire of hits from the 1950s and 60s.

Joining the band is a last-minute replacement, and someone famous. They'll be playing with a legend, the saxophone player who once played with Elvis, Little Richard, The Coasters, The Drifters, and Otis Redding. A musician, versatile enough to also play Western Swing with the Cornell Hurd Band, The Charlie Daniels Band, and Asleep at the Wheel. They'll be playing with none other than native son Del Puschert, soon turning 80 and still going strong.

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It takes a large frame to provide the breath support necessary to play the sax and Del Puschert is an imposing presence. His personality easily fills a room. "How are you doing, darlin'?" he calls out in his booming voice. 'Ready for some dancing?"

Earlier in the week, I visited Del at his home to interview him for this article. He showed me a video of one of his friends demonstrating a swing dance routine that included tosses into the air, fast twists, turns, and the inevitable pulling of the lady into a slide that takes her overhead and through her partner's legs. I've long been a fan of swing dancing, but for me it is strictly amateur hour. I react to Del's remark with a broad toothy smile.

He smiles in return. "Keep smilin' darlin', keep smiling!" he instructs. I think back to the first time I met Del five years earlier at a swing dance held at the old Annapolis Recreation Center, upstairs, on St. Mary's Street. At that first meeting, he told me about the times he'd played the saxophone in that very same building years ago as a child, and I was hooked. I wanted to know where and when he was playing next.

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