He started playing trumpet when he was 6 and switched to saxophone in his teens, and his first professional gig was playing on a Mardi Gras float at age 14. Hill was born in Texas and raised in New Orleans. But, actually, his stuff was so in tune with whatever they were doing. “If you watched the act, it seemed like he was sort of freestyling - he would be riffing along with the song. He was pretty much one of the architects of that act, the musical part of it.” “And the arrangements for their songs, the way they were arranged, he played a big part in that. “He was such a terrific sax player,” Charles said. “Anybody who was a Treniers fan will remember Don Hill,” said Sonny Charles, former lead singer of The Checkmates, who met Hill in 1964 while both of their bands were playing Las Vegas. “The Treniers created a sound and it became rock and roll. “And it influenced music for 20 or 30 years. Hill brought to the Treniers, and then to rock and roll’s DNA, “that whole high-energy, super-strong, sexy sax,” Brei said. 2, died Friday morning at his home, according to Jeanne Brei, a longtime friend and fellow performer who co-wrote Hill’s memoir and performed regularly with him in his later years. (Las Vegas News Bureau)ĭon Hill, whose music career took him from playing Mardi Gras as a teenager to more than five decades as a member of the pioneering lounge and rock ‘n’ roll group The Treniers, has died. Don Hill, center, performs with The Treniers.
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