[Allen Winters]: “My dad Al Winters, Sr (guitarist and band leader)… had his own bands from 1958-1997.
His first band was called Al and the Tru Tones. Which he had until 1965.
He changed the name to Al & the Exciters in which he played rhythm guitar with Vince Sanzone on bass, Joe Sanzone on lead guitar, and Will Tomlinson on drums. They played all the great places of the day…
Photo taken at Nina’s Oak Bar in Highlandtown
Joe and Vince left to start the Classic 5 band. Al Winters and his Exciters then was Al Winters on rhythm guitar, Al Baumgarner on lead guitar, Will Tomlinson on drums, and Don Jordan on bass
In 1974 Al Winters retired from playing music until 1979 when he started back playing music with his son Allen Winters. [At that time] it was Al Winters on rhythm guitar and his son Allen as lead singer and played drums. But Will Tomlinson returned on drums, and Joe Sanzone came back as did Vince Sanzone, both played off and on with the band. [Later] the band was Al Winters (rhythm guitar), his son Allen (lead singer and drums), Joe Hughes (lead guitar), and Don Jordan on bass. Joe Hughes was later replaced by John Linthicum on lead guitar and the band played many great places around the Maryland area, until Al Winters Sr was diagnosed with lung cancer and the band ended in 1997.
I would like to thank all of the great players that I had the pleasure to know and play with in the time that my dad started Al & the Exciters back up so we could have the pleasure to play music together father and son… I will never forget the great guys that played in my dad’s band from the early 1960s until 1997… Thanks to Vince and Joe Sanzone… And Will Tomlinson who started with my dad from 1965 till 1997… And all the other great players… Yours truly Allen Winters from Al & the Exciters band.”
Band information and photos courtesy of Allen Winters
Joe Sanzone, Allen Winters singing, drummer (?), and another one of my
dad’s long time players Lou Donnelly. This is around 1986
[More memories from Allen Winters]
My dad told me years ago he played in some nice places and some not so nice..
Mom would make band jackets for some of the places he played that had very strange names like the Kit Kat Club… Dad’s band jacket had cats and musical notes all over it, and the cat’s eyes on his jacket would move around when he would move. Mom told me that it was a big thing back then. He played Nick’s Musical Bar and she made jackets with musical notes all around.
My mom also made five different Elvis outfits. The band did some work with Mike El, and this is what made me start doing Elvis shows.
My dad gave a lot of guys and women a chance to play, for some it was their very first paying jobs. We had three sax players we had Mary Pat Hughes who played in the band, she was the best! We had a lot of players that came to us from Bert Zimmerman’s bands and Gene Vincentt’s bands. There were sax players Bob Clark, Scotty (name unknown), and the last sax player we had was very good his name was George Steinbeck…
George Betts, a great guitar player, came and played in the band. Mike Hoffman played bass. Lou Donnelly played drums and keyboards.
I was great friends with the bass player and his wife Kathy from the Hubcaps, and when they heard us play they gave us a lot of work… At one time we were playing six nights a week..
We would play weddings or bull roast or a private party and many times we played two jobs a day including a wedding in the afternoon, and clubs such as Anderson Lounge in the weekends.
It’s funny we were talking about John Linthicum. He had played in the band for three years, and everyone had Al & The Exciters band jackets, except John, so one night we were playing a Christmas party and John asked me “hey where is my band jacket?” I said “Well John, we didn’t think you would wear it.” (because he really didn’t like the name of the band and the music we were playing but he said one time “but I love the money you guys pay me!” LOL!). So we got a band jacket made for him and we made sure it was a black jacket LOL!
And we were playing a Christmas party in Joppa at Magnolia Fire Department and we surprised him and gave him the jacket and he was really shocked. He told my dad that out of all the bands he played in he never had a band jacket from any of those bands.
So just before John moved to Florida he was playing with a band at the Poplar Inn on Merritt Boulevard. I had not seen him since my dad passed away so I went to see him. He had no idea that I was going to be there. I had lost 205 pounds since I last saw John and I walked into the bar right in front of him coming in the door he looked right at me and didn’t recognize me, so I went to the back of the bar and was sitting at a table right next to his wife. And I asked her if she remembered me, and so we talked and she said don’t say anything to him. So when the band took a break he was sitting right next to me and didn’t know it was me. Then his wife asked John do you know this guy next to you? He looked at me and said no. So when I started talking he realized it was me.
He invited me on stage to sing a couple songs with the band. At the end of the night I walked over to say goodbye. And he said wait I minute I want to show you this… and he went out and came back wearing the band jacket that we had given him some five years before LoL. We had some great times together.
