Gilbert Ellman, 84, Big Band musician, Naperville's own 'Mr. Music'
Matthew Kruk
Big Band musician, Naperville's own 'Mr. Music'
GILBERT 'GIL' ELLMAN | 1925-2010: Shop of educator, inventor became
suburban fixture
May 4, 2010
Gilbert Ellman, a big band musician who went on to start a music
business in downtown Chicago and then Naperville, has died.
He was 84 and died Friday night at his home in Naperville, surrounded by
family.
Mr. Ellman played alto and tenor sax, flute and clarinet in Chicago
ballrooms such as the Trianon on the South Side and the Melody Mill in
North Riverside. He played in orchestras backing performers including
Patti Page, Milton Berle, Phil Silvers and future President Ronald
Reagan.
He opened Ellman's Music Store at 218 S. Wabash in 1958, moved it to Van
Buren Street and then, in 1963, to Main Street in Naperville, where
Ellman's Music Center became a fixture. The center recently moved to
bigger space on Fifth Avenue, where his musician sons Michael and Peter
now carry on the family tradition.
"Gil was 'Mr. Music' for Naperville. He played in the municipal band and
got so many kids into music," said Naperville Mayor George Pradel. "He
didn't 'toot his own horn,' and that's kind of a play on words: He didn't
say how great he was and yet he was. He played with some really big
orchestras years ago, but he just focused on making music a way of life.
We're going to miss him."
Mr. Ellman was quick with a one-liner to bring a smile to a friend or
customer's face.
Even in recent years, using a wheelchair and unable to blow his sax,
he'd whip out his harmonica and play, to the delight of grandchildren or
a child in the booth next to him at a restaurant, said his daughter,
Susan.
Born to a German father and an Austrian mother in Chicago's Gage Park
neighborhood in 1925, Mr. Ellman fell in love with music when his
parents scraped together the money to buy him a horn.
"It was hell for his parents to get the instrument in the first place,
so he felt he owed it to them," said his son, Peter.
Perhaps that's why he was so focused on making sure students had access
to instruments, whether they could afford it or not.
Mr. Ellman became a concert master at Tilden High School. He graduated
in 1943 and started his first business at age 18: a Berwyn shop that
serviced radios and other electronic equipment.
During World War II, he was a member of the Coast Guard Band. Then, he
apprenticed as a repairman with Leo Cooper in Chicago and worked as a
repair technician for Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman when they brought
their big bands to Chicago. He also managed the Band Instrument
Department for Carl Fischer Music in Chicago.
A fan of true big band music, Mr. Ellman disliked the commercialized
version: "He was offered a job with Lawrence Welk, but he said he didn't
want to play 'That Mickey Mouse stuff,' " his wife, Joan, said.
Mr. Ellman had the lungs of a horn-blower and the mind of an inventor.
He started the Aristocraft Bongo Factory -- with business partner Jim
Tadra -- and sold thousands of bongos internationally. He invented and
patented musical accessories, as well as Volksboat lightweight speed
boats and Hiker walking sticks.
Mr. Ellman taught musical instrument repair at DePaul University, what
was then called Illinois State College and Vandercook University.
He met his wife on a trip he arranged for DePaul music students in 1956.
She was a student who liked to play the baritone horn and the French
horn. They married in 1959 and they kept making music together, playing
in the Naperville Municipal Band.
She got a little nervous last year when she dropped him off at his high
school reunion. At 84, using a wheelchair after a heart bypass, he
wasn't up for all-night jam sessions. So, when midnight came and went,
his wife said she wished she'd gotten a cell phone number from one of
his classmates. But he soon arrived home, driven by other members of the
Class of '43, saying he had a great night.
He faithfully attended his son Peter's Tuesday night performances at
Jilly's in Naperville and kept up his membership of the Chicago
Musicians Union Local No. 10208 for more than 60 years.
Mr. Ellman served as vice president of the Naperville Chamber of
Commerce for three terms, as well as co-chairman of the town's Last
Fling celebration.
In addition to his wife and three children, he is survived by eight
grandchildren. Visitation will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday at
Beidelman-Kunsch Funeral Home in Naperville. A mass will be offered at
9:30 a.m. Saturday at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Naperville.