A Cleveland lad,
Wes Hensel became the darling of many brassy show bands, including Las Vegas outfits such as
Jack Cathcart's. Not only was
Hensel a solid lead trumpeter, he also whipped up spine-tingling arrangements of favorites such as "You Are Too Beautiful" and "Flying Home" for an octet led by
Dave Pell and the
Les Brown band, respectively. He was associated in the second half of the '40s with both the ensembles of
Charlie Barnet and
Boyd Raeburn, an early start in syncopated music that caught the interested inner ear as well as motivated couples on the dancefloor. From 1948 he was one of a group of players connected with the aforementioned
Brown. Many of the arrangements he and associates such as trombonist
Bob Brookmeyer did for the latter band are now in the permanent collection of the University of Arizona School of Music. In the '70s and '80s
Hensel taught at the Berklee School of Music in Boston; students have acclaimed many of his techniques such as singing atonal 12-tone lines. Unfortunately, most musicians ignore one of this teacher's main tenets: the importance of showing up on time. ~ Eugene Chadbourne