Don Lucki of Elk Grove, Illinois has been playing music for over fifty years and has performed with Li'l Wally & the Lucky Harmony Boys, Joe Walega & his Happy Hearts, Li'l Richard, Marion Lush & the White Eagles, and many others. Still very active on the music scene, Don Lucki plays trumpet with several groups playing everything from polkas to pop to Dixieland to big band. Appearing on numerous radio and television shows, Lucki also hosted a syndicated radio program for a number of years. However, he is probably remembered best for his stint as leader of The Naturals, a group that established themselves both regionally and nationally and created a sound that is still being emulated today.

PAJ:Everyone in polkas knows you from The Naturals of Chicago, but what other bands were you with before and after The Naturals?

DL: That's a very kind and complimentary thing to say but I don't know how much truth there is in that statement. Because of the fact that I never put my name as such in front of the band's name; it was just called “The Naturals.” During the same era, three other well-known groups in Chicago called themselves by just a band name: The Hi-Notes, The Ampolaires, and let's not forget The Harmony Kings. I started my first group called The Moondusters while in high school. We played all kinds of music including polkas but decided to zero in on polka music shortly after it was formed. That band became The Naturals and continued for about a year. Then I left my own group for a group that played all styles of music. Shortly after that, Li'l Wally, who had been singing for quite awhile at picnics, approached me because he was forming a steady group of his own and really liked the new kind of trumpet style I had developed. He was—and is—quite a salesman, and I joined Wally in early 1950. It was what I think I can call Wally's first solid sustaining group. He already had two of the finest players who also were very different players than anyone around. In retrospect, it was a very pivotal polka band in ability and sound. I think everyone knows that and where it started. The other two members were the great concertinist Casey Siewierski and the excellent clarinetist Eddie Noga, then myself and, naturally, the “Master Showman Vocalist” himself, Lil Wally. It really was quite a group. The songs and the recordings we did in 1950 are still being played by almost every polka band around. That style set a kind of standard and the tunes became classics. I left for the Army in 1953, and when I returned in 1955, I started The Naturals group—that was the one that played countless gigs, radio and TV shows and recordings. As to other bands, the list is kind of endless and includes Steve Adamczyk, Johnny Bomba, The Hi-Notes, Joe Pat, Wesoly Stas, Casey Siewierski, Don Jodlowski and one of my very favorite bands of all, The Chicago Polka All Stars, which included two of the finest players anywhere: accordionist Eddie Penway, the leader of The Hi-Notes, and clarinetist Steve Jankowski, leader of The Whispering Knights. Both musicians were positively a joy to play with. Later, I played for a long time with Li'l Richard for whom I arranged and played on eight of his albums and Joe Walega for whom I also did a couple of albums. After I left my Network job as a national radio personality for eight years, my old friend Marion Lush asked me to join him to help him run his group for about a year on the road in 1991, which I did. A few others included George Stevens, Jersey Polka Richie, and now I do some work with The Pensionaires, Casey Homel, plus some with my own group and others.

PAJ: How did you get your start in polka and how long have you been playing?

DL: My dad was a drummer, and every once in a while would take me on a gig to play with him. He took me on Division Street in Chicago and introduced me to a younger musician friend of his who he used to book on gigs years before. His name was Adam Wiater. Boy, he could knock the windows out of a joint that he played at! He was, at the time, playing with Casey Sierwierski. I met both of them for the first time there. Later Adam played with Eddie Zima's band. Adam had me sit in with him for a few tunes. After that, I'd go sit in with them whenever I could and any other groups that would allow me to so I could learn my craft all up and down Division Street. They called it Polish Broadway. I started playing trumpet at 9 and went pro at 14-15 ... I'm 67 now so that makes it 52-53 years of playing.

PAJ: The instrumentation make up of The Naturals gave them a unique musical identity that is still highly recognizable today. Was that instrumentation planned or did it just happen out of the musicians that were available?

DL: I planned it that way because I had in mind the sound that I wanted. I really loved the music and the free-wheeling kind of Dixieland style polka music that I helped create musically with Li'l Wally's guys, but [the style] from way back when. I also always dug the great, more-organized music being played by the big Eastern bands, and the fine arrangements they played. One of my favorite big bands, and there were many, was Gene Wisniewski's. My favorite small group was The Connecticut Twins. Although they all swung—and they were great—many times the soul was missing. There were many good players and] good charts, but for the most part, when you're reading, it's a lot harder to put that soul in it. I sure hope that doesn't make me new enemies; no offense meant whatsoever. So I tried to incorporate both: well-written arrangements that still had that drive and soul of playing from the heart — but organized — and created a style that combined the best of both worlds. I'd like to think that I succeeded.

PAJ: How many albums did The Naturals record? Which is your personal favorite?

DL: That's a tough one. I think we did 10 or 12. There were a couple of half albums with another band or combination of bands. Well for favorites, I think—because it was our first album and set a new style—The Naturals Dynamic Polka Band, and the Polka Bandstand had lots of great tunes. Also, the Sweet 16 album. It's very difficult for me to choose one because on some of the albums there were two or three really good tunes on them, and the tunes would be more favorites than the whole album. In my career I have recorded over 50 albums that, for the most part, I did the arranging and trumpet playing on. Plus many 45s, and yes even 78s. 78s! What's that? [Laughs].

PAJ: What is your most memorable moment with The Naturals?

DL: Well it's been a long while since lots of those things happened. As far as memorable things, it was probably that first album I mentioned and perhaps our first TV show on WGN-TV, the Ron Terry Polka Show. Wow, that was heavy! Polkas on TV? And me and the band doing it on television? Wow! I already had my own radio show, but TV? That was in 1957, I believe. I can't even tell you how excited and nervous I was! That was memorable.

PAJ: Other than those you mentioned earlier, who else influenced your musical style and involvement in polka music?

DL: The one person that did influence me the most—because of what I heard that I had never heard before—was one of the most talented natural musicians I've ever know. I liked polka music, but I think my head and heart were more into Harry James and the big bands and Swing and Dixieland. Polkas were what my dad played. I was walking down the street toward my house with my horn case in hand and a guy pulled over to the curb and said “Hey kid ... you play trumpet?” He was in a big black Buick I think and I cautiously said “Yeah, so what?” To make a long story short it was Chester “Hoot” Filipiak who later played drums with The Hi-Notes for years and then was on the road with Marion Lush for about ten years. Later, he also was on all the Polka All Star Albums and a few that I did with Casey Siewierski. We talked and he said he was trying to form a group and we agreed to go to a picnic to hear his friend play with the Polkateers Polka band. To get to the point, we went and when I heard what his friend was playing on trumpet I could not believe my ears and what was happening inside of me. That guy knocked me out, and I was hooked; he was playing polkas like I never heard a trumpet player play polkas before in my whole life. I really believe that he was the very first one to ever play that kind of technical style trumpet. Strangely enough, he only did one or two records in his whole life — even though for years he was on the road with Marion Lush, so that style was never recorded by him or heard by anyone via recordings. It's even more ironic that he never even did one record with Lush. I was totally into developing that kind of polka trumpet playing and remember listening to polka music all the time and practicing—many times eight hours a day—until I took part of his technical playing and the drive and power that Adam Wiater had, and a couple things that I liked about Andy Day's horn playing with Eddie Zima's band — and naturally my own ideas — mixed 'em all together and: ”Voila!” A new style. The interesting thing is that after I did that, I had the opportunity — that my good buddy never had — to be heard on the many recordings I did with Li'l Wally. He was the guy that started The Hi-Notes along with Eddie Penway. He's now with the Big Band in the sky. Bless him! Francis “Lefty” Lewandowski.

PAJ: What brought about the demise of The Naturals?

DL: I left the group in 1967 to take advantage of a golden opportunity to go into radio full time at the major station in town, WIND. I had gone to Columbia College in Chicago and received my BA in speech and the communication arts—Radio & Television–and had for a long while been doing my own radio show, and was also the program director of WOPA in Oak Park, Illinois. I have since been playing music all these years but have also been in major radio for 43 years. The band played all kinds of music doing private jobs, but after awhile were not as involved as they were in the polka field. The polka thing slowed quite a bit. And so that they were not playing as many polka-related gigs. They went pretty strong as a band until 1987 then disbanded after 32 years. Two of the original members are still around: Joe Swiderski, accordionist, and Chester Kowalczyk, bassist. Both have retired from playing.

PAJ: Who do you feel has been the most influential person in the promotion of Polish style polkas over the past 50 years and why?

DL:No matter what I say here, it's going to ruffle a whole lot of feathers. So I will just name a couple of them who in my mind have done that. Frankie Yankovic got national attention and made people who were not involved in polka music, listen for the first time and start to like and enjoy it through records and movies. In the promotion of Polish-style polkas, I would have to say Li'l Wally and Eddie B. {Blazonczyk} have been the most visible and biggest promoters because of their tremendous activity as musicians and bandleaders, and their record companies and recordings and live appearances and general public acceptance.

PAJ: In your opinion, have polka organizations like the IPA and USPA accomplished their objectives to promote polka music to the fullest extend that they are able?

DL: I don't have facts and figures, nor have I done extensive research to be able to give an educated answer to that. But, I don't think whatever they have done has been anywhere near enough. And in my head I can hear “them” saying: “Yeah, well I haven't seen anything you've done for it.” There are many things that could be done. It's not easy for sure, but they have to get a lot more creative and inventive to build, entice and sell it differently then they are doing to start to develop many more younger people into liking and dancing polkas. Look, “they” got the kids into liking Swing, right? This is just another product. Maybe we have to go about doing it another way. The leaders have to get together and bang heads to come up with something—or better yet—a few somethings. Advertising execs do it all the time. Are we above that? It's going to die if we don't somehow start trying to expand our audience. Think of and work on the main goal, and not some small individual want or need for what? Power? Title? Ego? To be the president of, or vice president of ... what? Nothing? Think goals and main objectives. Think big, not small, because small will turn into NOTHING.

PAJ: How do the polka bands of today compare with those from the era of The Naturals?

DL: Well one of the biggest things was, that then, almost no matter what band you heard you would know after just a little while who was playing—and their name—by their unique sound. Try it today. This is not just my opinion: unless you've heard their recording before and know by that, or, you happen to know who the singer is, you probably won't know. Where is the individuality? The creativity? If you have a band you should strive to be different. How many copies can we have? Work at it! Think up something new! Try to do it right! Wrong chords is different, but not acceptable! Find your own! If you work at it, you can do it. Set you own style! In the big polka bands of yesteryear, many had the same instrumentation, but because of what they did and/or how they did it, they had their own sound. I used to say to my buddy Lefty, “Wow! Two trumpets is a gas,” because we didn't have that in Chicago. Today, I'm sorry, I can't say that anymore because that's all there is practically ... two trumpets, with a bellow shaking accordion from start to finish and a concertina playing the tune with the horns, and amps cranked to the max ... wrong! The drive should never be through the whole tune. This is my simple, old, personal opinion. Everybody's entitled to their own, but just listen for once with an open mind.

PAJ: What could today's polka bands do differently to further promote polka music?

DL: Try to work together to promote it. Many times today you see too much jealousy and small thinking people, sometimes even hate. We are all in this together. Competition is healthy, but when those other feelings are present, we will never be able to advance polka music. Think of it this way: the polka field is a small pie. If one promoter or band is running an affair, many times two or three affairs will be taking place on the same day; not smart. If all of them were working together to get the job done and helping each other — whether they liked each other or not — this would be the right way. The smart way would be to keep communication lines open between all parties so that if an affair was being run on a particular date by one group, the other group or party could move up or pull back their date. In this way each group would have that affair that day all to themselves, and all the other groups or promoters should help promote that particular event each time for each affair, for each promoter. Impossible? I don't think so. Think of it. Would it be better to have a small piece of a small pie, the available polka public, or have the whole small pie for yourself? It would benefit all involved to do this: the group, the promoter and the polka public, who wouldn't have to choose which affair they would attend.

PAJ: What else can Polish Americans do to get more people on the dance floors?

DL: How about if we really strongly encouraged people to bring at least one new person with them to each affair who is not into polkas—a first timer—for half price or something? Then the fans would be helping all of us and themselves to expand our audience and keep it alive.

PAJ: There have been several discussions on the use of Polish lyrics in today's polka music.

DL: How would you feel if Polish vocals were not part of polka music? I think Polish vocals are fine, but at the same time it will not have the same impact on the people that don't understand the language, the general public. It drastically decreases your already small audience, which is not something we should be doing to try to involve a bigger audience. Polish vocals do have their place, though, but they should be more thoughtfully used. Take, for instance, Bobby Vinton's “Melody of Love.” It used Polish lyrics, but also gave the English translation, letting the listener in on what the heck he was singing about. If we want to expand our audience and expose and get them interested in polka music, this has to be more than a consideration. He sold a lot of records with that tune and helped him make a comeback.

PAJ: Where do you see polkas headed for the future?

DL: Unless we all help to expand our audience with new people of all ages and nationalities, working together and working smarter, I don't see almost any future. When the small audience we have now—the majority of which are senior citizens—pass on ... Perhaps polka music will never die, but dwindle to such a small group that it will not be a viable business that promoters or musicians get make money doing. It will just be a wonderful happy kind of music that its small band of followers play for their own enjoyment, either with their records or musicians who still love it and play for their own and other polka lovers' personal pleasure. Let's face it, it's a business, and if the business people can't make money with it, it will become a hobby.

PAJ: Would you like to add any closing comments?

DL: I'd like to thank the Polish American Journal for this opportunity to voice my opinions in this interview. My hope is it provided everyone with some worthwhile reading and some polka history, at least from my individual vantage point as a musician and a person who has seriously dedicated the last 53 years of his life to playing and writing and recording Polka music. Long live polka music and it's fans. Thanks very much.