Violin master shares his art

March 25, 2007
When Ron Kilde was 5 years old, a local violin teacher, who was "hustling for students," approached Kilde's father with a compelling proposal.
In desperation born of the economic disaster of the Great Depression, the teacher offered a money-back guarantee on violin lessons.
"He said if my dad wasn't satisfied in six months, he'd refund his money," Kilde said.

To protect his investment, the teacher came to Kilde's house every day for an hour-long lesson.
"My mom would sit with me for another hour or hour and a half every day," Kilde said.
Needless to say, the teacher did not have to return the lesson fees, and by the time Kilde was 6, he was playing concerts for the likes of the Crown Prince of Denmark.

Considered a prodigy by his teacher, Kilde continued lessons until the end of high school.
"He was the only teacher I ever had," Kilde said. Just after high school, Kilde was discovered by the famous radio personality and Big Band leader Horace Heidt.

Heidt was best known for his band Horace Heidt and the Musical Knights, that performed all across the country as well as on radio and television. One of Heidt's radio show gimmicks was a talent competition.
"It was like an early version of 'Star Search,' " Kilde said.

Kilde won the competition five times, eventually losing in the quarterfinals in the Hollywood Bowl "by one point on the applause meter."
After touring with Heidt's band for nearly a year and a half, Kilde was drafted.
Upon his discharge, he threw in his musical lot with up-and-coming jazz musician Billy Tipton.

Today, Tipton may be best known for the deathbed discovery that the man who had toured with Kilde for seven years was actually a woman.
"That was the biggest shock of my life," Kilde said. "We were like family.

I had absolutely no idea."
"It was hard for women in jazz in those days," Kilde said. "Evelyn and her Magic Violin was an all-girl orchestra, but there weren't many others around.

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During the Tipton Trio days, Kilde played with Duke Ellington and later toured with Henry Mancini's orchestra.
"I didn't ever like playing violin in an orchestra again," Kilde said. "Henry Mancini was such a stickler for playing just his way, and I didn't like playing like that.

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Kilde took up the bass instead and was soon under contract with the Spokane Symphony.
"I had to learn to play classical bass real quick," he said. He also received a teaching credential from Washington state and taught bass in public schools for a time.

After running a bar for several years where he played five hours of classical music every night -- "I went broke but had a lot of fun" -- Kilde took a 10-year hiatus from playing violin. By 1972, Kilde had landed in Salem and was selling vacuum cleaners.
"One night I was at Boon's Treasury, and a bluegrass group was playing," he said.

"I said, 'I can play one of those things,' and whipped off one of the hoedowns." Kilde and his violin have been on the music scene ever since.
Every Saturday, Kilde and his trio, Paul La Freniere on trumpet and Larry Fleetwood on guitar, play a "live rehearsal" at downtown's Cascade Baking Co.

"Larry and I were practicing together a couple of times a week," Kilde said. "But we needed a place to play with an audience, so we went to (the bakery)." That was five years ago.

More recently, South Salem High School freshman Casey Nosiglia has been playing with the group at the bakery.
"We went in there a couple of years ago and thought they were just great," said Nosiglia's mother, Julie Masters. After Casey became interested in jazz, "he just showed up there one Saturday with his violin," she said.

Kilde eventually invited Nosiglia to work with him on Saturday afternoons. The 15-year-old plays with the trio and then plays "two or three hours" with Kilde afterward.