Stanford Freese
(1945 – )
Inducted in 1995
Stan Freese calls himself “The Most Unknown Tuba Player in the World”, and yet he has probably taken the tuba to more exotic places than anyone else. Freese has played at the Great Wall of China, performed in Japan, played at The Kremlin, in the honky-tonks of Nashville, and marched with Pete Fountain at the Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans. Stan grew up in Edina, Minnesota. Early in his career, he was Band Director at Edison High School in Northeast Minneapolis. For a number of years, Stan did a music comedy act with accordionist Skeets Langley. Stan worked for Walt Disney from 1971 to 2016. He was a Band Director for Disney World when it opened in Florida, and was Show Director of Bands at Disneyland in California. Stan’s job involved occasional visits to other Disney parks in Tokyo, Orlando, and Paris to do fine-tuning of the live-music presentations there. Freeze also did seven years of playing tuba on the Hee-Haw television broadcast along with writing country lyrics for the show. He most recently worked with The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena and Knott’s Berry Farm in Anaheim, California. Stan plays in a Dixieland band and also fronts a Blues band, which he calls his “party band”.
