Classic Adult Profile
By Linda L. Leake
Dr. Jazz
Wilmington s 68-year-old I larry Van Vclsor
practices medicine by day and blows saxophone by night.
A'in.tll sign hi Dr. 1 1 .11 1 \ Van
Velsoi *s olliee reads; ‘‘I.ilc is
like a piano — whal von gel
onl ol il depends on how vou
plav il." And no one
«
an s.iv dial die Wilm¬
ington plnMci.iiMimsici.m doesn'l lake
ad\ .ullage ol evei v opjmi tiinitv lo play il
well. \ .in Velsoi noiinallv anives.il his
office In 7 o'clock even liiorililig. earlv
enough lo pla\ lot at leasi IT» minutes
Im-Ioic his si.ill
.и
i i\e%. I Iis early nun ilillg
diversion is a Selinei sopi ano saxophone
lie- lioiight mnv some years ago.
"I can pi at lice lo niv heart's content,
without bothering anvone.” savs Van Vcl-
sor, whose lifelong passion is Dixieland
Inspired In Ins idol, Benny Goodman,
who practiced eight horns each day. Van
Velsoi c | nc lies die well-known j.i// music ian
when asked .il
мин
his approach lo his
music : "II von miss one dav ol practice, a
music ian knows die next dav. II you miss
i wo daw o! pi
.к
nee-, the audience can tell.”
Favorite classics like "Si. louis Blues.”
"After \iiii'u-(ic«ir” and That's a Plenty”
Herts line nigh Ills hoi II like clouds through
the skv
By 8 a. in., it's business as usual. Van Vel-
sor. a VOIII Iiliil tiS veals old. returns his
horn to iis c ase ami dons a clean, while
kihcoal. No mallei whal the day, he sports
a tradeinark Ixiwiir. am one ol some
7Г»
in his mlorhil wardrobe.
Van Velsoi s "i egnl.n joh" is doe toring.
I Iis spec ialiv hevond ja// is dermatology.
“This work is great, this is die best job I
could think ol having." savs Van Vclsor.
known lo some .Hound Wilmington ;is Dr.
Ja//. "I love people, and I plan to keep
working as long as I can.”
Nan Velsoi was the lirst dermatology
specialist in Wiluiiugton. He arrived itt
the N/.ilea Capital in 1952 courtesy of
t lie le N.iiii alter lieing assigned lo Public
Health Service to lullill military obliga¬
tions during the Korean War.
Van Velsoi 4 public health work went
well in Wilmington. I leeven si.
и
led a pri¬
vate tier uialalogv pi, ic lice on lire side*.
I he c limale and the Fishing agreed with
die impressionable voting docloi from
upsl.ilc New York. I le also built some spe-
c ial f riendships.
"I ran into. i group of fellows who liked
to play music he iciuciulrcns. “At first we
just got logeihei ai Prle Knight's photog¬
raphy studio. When I’ele sold the studio,
we went m "Skinny” Pennington's private
hangai al die ail poll. I here was a piano
in the back room. We weren't that good.
We just placed for fun."
Bv the time Van Velsoi completed his
military assignment, he was convinced
that long, haul New York winters were not
the criteria lor happiness. Since there was
no competition in Wilmington at that
lime. Iiiss|M'c ialiv pra< lie e ill dermatology
was I»cm lining. He had great friends and a
The Slutr/AuguM 1992
16
good life, lie- wrote the folks back home
lo say dial he was in North Carolina lostay.
By 1963. several music ians had conic
and gone from the informal ja// ensem¬
ble. Nail Velsor and four other men
became the tun lens of a group that is still
together, the Dixieland Society of the
Lower Cape Fear.
“We reallv got going in the 70s.” he
recalls. “We played loi panics, parades, lev
livalsand store o|>cnings. We even made an
album, h was alsc i a had album with a great
cover. Ii was made in my front office on an
oldi ecl-to-recl. We sold I.OOOol those suck¬
ers."
The Dixieland Soc iety lias lieen a sextei
sinc e 1978. The- sounds ol c larinet, trom¬
bone, piano, bass and chiiuis blend with
the soprano sax. of Van Vclsor. the leader
of the hand.
Albany (New York) Academy for Inns.
The veiling ja// .die ionado had bis
sights on following his lather's footsteps
as a college athletic director. The elder
Van Vclsor. the athletic director at Rcnv
selacr Polytechnic Institute in Troy. New
York, the oldest engineering college in
the country. M|iic!< tied those plans.
"My dad believed that all athletic direc¬
tors are thwarted den tors, since thev have
to patch up athletes," Nan Vclsor says. “He
insisted that I go into medicine.”
“Our star at
нас
lion is our piano plavrr.
Bill Me Dongle.” Van Velsoi says. The
remarkable Yaufxin Beach Kory tick¬
ler, a reined c i\il engineer, will have
93 candles to blow out on his next
birthday cake.
Van Velsor started bis musical ca¬
reer with < lassie al piano at age- 6. "I
took lessons loi eight years." lie says.
"My lather was vei v sii ic 1. 1 Ic- insisted
that I prac tice lor an hour every day.
Christinas was about the only clay of
the year that I didn't practice."
"Whe n I was N (
1938».
I had had
enough.” he continues. “I just could
not get with the c lassie s. About that
same time. Benny Goodman came
out. I loved Iiis music, and I knew I
wanted to pursue that. I got up the
courage to tell inv father I didn’t
want to play classical piano any¬
more. My dad said, "OK. you can’t
play worth a tool. anyway!"
So I lai ry Van Velsor spent his
high school days playing clarinet
and saxophone in the swing band at
lma.1 lilt.-
