A highly sought-after jazz tuba player, Mike Walbridge was born in Los Angeles in 1937. Thanks to his father's extensive classic jazz record collection, Walbridge fell in love with the genre as a child and took up the trumpet. After joining his high school band, he was persuaded to switch to the sousaphone, and his life's course as a musician was set. Following his graduation he joined the Chicago Stompers, and after a stint in the military service, he became a member of the Original Salty Dogs in the 1960s (he still continues to play with the group) as well as heading up his own large band specializing in swing music from the 1920s and 1930s, the Chicago Footwarmers Hot Dance Orchestra.
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