Biography
George Rock anchored one of the era’s most successful ensembles throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Although proud of his achievements, the unassuming musician never asserted his proper standing in the annals of popular music. Serving as lead trumpeter with Spike Jones & His City Slickers, he largely shaped the ensemble’s distinctive sonic character and played a major role in its achievements.
He entered Wesleyan College on a football scholarship yet eventually exchanged his helmet for a trumpet. Turning professional at age twenty, he performed with several small Midwest combos before joining Freddie Fisher’s Schnickelfritz Band. That outfit blended Dixieland and polkas with generous doses of novelty and corn, establishing a clear stylistic precursor to the City Slickers.
With the Schnickelfritzers the young trumpeter cut sides for Decca, appeared on screen, and worked nightclubs. While performing in Hollywood with Fisher’s unit, he was spotted by Spike Jones, who promptly recruited him. Rock spent a brief period with Charlie Barnet during Jones’s USO tour; once he linked up with Spike late in 1944 he rapidly emerged as the troupe’s standout figure.
“Spike could hire all the trumpet players he wanted, but none of them could play like George,” longtime Jones staff writer Eddie Brandt later recalled. “He had that big fat tone and he could bend all the notes. Nobody could do what he did. He had the Slicker style, and Spike knew he had the style, so he took Rock away from Fisher.”
Rock adapted “Trumpet Blues,” a number originally in Fisher’s book that had come from Schnickelfritz trumpeter Nels Laakso, into the showcase solo “Minka.” He also drew on his flair for imitating children—an ability Fisher already knew well—to record “All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth),” which moved more than two million copies. The follow-up “Ya Wanna Buy a Bunny?” enjoyed modest success at the time yet gained fresh listeners years afterward when Dr. Demento featured it regularly on his nationally syndicated program. One of Rock’s most memorable experiences occurred when the six-foot, 250-pound performer donned a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit to deliver “Blowing Bubble Gum” for President Truman at a command appearance. Beyond his trumpet work and comic vocals, he supplied uncredited vocal effects—maniacal laughs and boisterous belches—that appeared on nearly every RCA recording Jones released.
Rock departed the City Slickers early in 1960, roughly when the band was slipping from view, and formed his own unit for engagements along the Las Vegas/Reno/Lake Tahoe circuit. He spent a brief interval with trad-jazz revivalist Turk Murphy, then collaborated with former Slickers Phil Gray and Joe Siracusa, recording an album with the latter’s Spike-inspired New Society Band. In his final years he frequently appeared with Merle Koch’s jazz ensemble at a Nevada steakhouse.
Although never a rival to Louis Armstrong or Harry James, Rock was regarded by fellow trumpeters—both then and since—as an artist of considerable stature. Al Hirt, who once played second trumpet on several Jones radio broadcasts during his early career, numbered among the many who admired him.
He entered Wesleyan College on a football scholarship yet eventually exchanged his helmet for a trumpet. Turning professional at age twenty, he performed with several small Midwest combos before joining Freddie Fisher’s Schnickelfritz Band. That outfit blended Dixieland and polkas with generous doses of novelty and corn, establishing a clear stylistic precursor to the City Slickers.
With the Schnickelfritzers the young trumpeter cut sides for Decca, appeared on screen, and worked nightclubs. While performing in Hollywood with Fisher’s unit, he was spotted by Spike Jones, who promptly recruited him. Rock spent a brief period with Charlie Barnet during Jones’s USO tour; once he linked up with Spike late in 1944 he rapidly emerged as the troupe’s standout figure.
“Spike could hire all the trumpet players he wanted, but none of them could play like George,” longtime Jones staff writer Eddie Brandt later recalled. “He had that big fat tone and he could bend all the notes. Nobody could do what he did. He had the Slicker style, and Spike knew he had the style, so he took Rock away from Fisher.”
Rock adapted “Trumpet Blues,” a number originally in Fisher’s book that had come from Schnickelfritz trumpeter Nels Laakso, into the showcase solo “Minka.” He also drew on his flair for imitating children—an ability Fisher already knew well—to record “All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth),” which moved more than two million copies. The follow-up “Ya Wanna Buy a Bunny?” enjoyed modest success at the time yet gained fresh listeners years afterward when Dr. Demento featured it regularly on his nationally syndicated program. One of Rock’s most memorable experiences occurred when the six-foot, 250-pound performer donned a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit to deliver “Blowing Bubble Gum” for President Truman at a command appearance. Beyond his trumpet work and comic vocals, he supplied uncredited vocal effects—maniacal laughs and boisterous belches—that appeared on nearly every RCA recording Jones released.
Rock departed the City Slickers early in 1960, roughly when the band was slipping from view, and formed his own unit for engagements along the Las Vegas/Reno/Lake Tahoe circuit. He spent a brief interval with trad-jazz revivalist Turk Murphy, then collaborated with former Slickers Phil Gray and Joe Siracusa, recording an album with the latter’s Spike-inspired New Society Band. In his final years he frequently appeared with Merle Koch’s jazz ensemble at a Nevada steakhouse.
Although never a rival to Louis Armstrong or Harry James, Rock was regarded by fellow trumpeters—both then and since—as an artist of considerable stature. Al Hirt, who once played second trumpet on several Jones radio broadcasts during his early career, numbered among the many who admired him.