Monday, Dec. 8, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.
As a boy, Robert W. Bashford had a passion for music and anything mechanical, especially cars and airplanes.
He took up the saxophone and clarinet at age 8, but by the time he went into the Army Air Corps near the end of World War II, the lanky, 6-foot-3 Kansas native wanted to be a pilot.
"At military flight school, they couldn't find a pair of size 12 AA training shoes for Bob, so he told them, 'Just put me in the band,' " Carole Bashford, his wife of 31 years, said. "His destiny was set, and he always said he felt fortunate to have the career in music that he had."
Bob "Bash" Bashford, a Las Vegas Strip musician for 40 years, who as a tenor saxophonist backed up entertainment legends including Billy Eckstine, Wayne Newton and many others, died Nov. 30 at a local medical center. At his request, his age was not released, but he was in his late 70s.
The cause was lung cancer, his wife said, noting Bashford never smoked.
There will be no services for the Las Vegas resident of nearly 42 years, who also was an avid vintage auto collector and co-founder of the local Buick Club.
"He was a wonderful saxophonist and a guy many of us really admired," said Frank Leone, president of the Musicians Local 369, who worked with Bashford in the orchestra at the old Dunes in the 1960s.
"He was a low-key guy, who, when needed, could double on a number of instruments, including the flute and clarinet."
Bashford also played the alto and baritone saxophones, piccolo and oboe, and also performed in orchestras at the Riviera, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, Bally's and the Flamingo.
The stars he backed up at Las Vegas resorts included Dean Martin, Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis, Engelbert Humperdinck and Anthony Newley. Bashford's saxophone is featured on recordings with, among others, Newton, Perry Como and on Jones' album, "Live in Las Vegas at the Flamingo."
Born in Wichita, Kan., Bashford was the only child of Western Union employee Chester Bashford and the former Lulu Lyon, a secretary for an oil company.
As a youngster, Bashford won several local music medals, including the Wichita Cooperative Club Award. As a teen at Wichita North High School, he appeared on radio station KANS to do a saxophone solo.
Bashford attended Wichita State University and played professionally with an orchestra in Chicago before going into the Army Air Corps. During his service years, Bashford played in the Air Force Band.
In the 1950s, he went on tour with an orchestra for the "Ice Capades."
Prior to coming to Las Vegas in 1962, Bashford went to General Motors school in Flint, Mich., to learn the automotive trade in case his music career hit a sour note.
That happened in the early 1990s after many Strip resorts opted to go to tape-recorded music in their showrooms. At that time, Bashford opened Bob's Automotive to earn a living between the dwindling numbers of local hotel gigs.
Early in his Las Vegas career, Bashford backed up Eckstine at the Dunes, then toured with Eckstine, performing at Basin Street West in San Francisco.
His last performance in a band was in July at the Italian American Club. On Oct. 26, a tribute was held for Bashford at the Las Vegas Hilton, where the Jimmy Wilkins Band, with whom Bashford once played, performed at the event.
In addition to his wife, Bashford is survived by two sons, Bobby Bashford and Cliff Sistrunk, both of Las Vegas; a daughter, Lesley Bashford of Las Vegas; a granddaughter Stacey Piche of Huntington Beach, Calif.; and a great-grandson, Cody Piche of Huntington Beach.
archive
