Doc DeHaven was born June 30, 1931 at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Edith and Doc DeHaven, Sr. who played saxophone and clarinet professionally in New York with the Bunny Berrigan Band among others. Doc started playing piano in the fifth grade before switching to trumpet in the seventh grade. He attended elementary school at Marquette School in Madison and high school at Central High in Madison, graduating in 1949. Doc then attended the University of Wisconsin School of Music for one year before entering the United States Air Force for two-and-a-half years.
While in the service at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Doc played in the Special Services Band. At Tinker Field in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, he played in the 512th Air Force Band. After the service, he returned to the University of Wisconsin to complete his degree in Music Education.
Doc started his own band in 1955 at the Campus Inn on State Street in Madison. His combo then played stints at the French Villa and the Shuffle Inn on South Park Street and Mallards Bar on Wilson Street.
Then, in October of 1956, Doc and his combo started what was to become a fourteen year engagement at the Pirate Ship on Fairchild Street. Playing there three nights per week, this long engagement is a record in the Madison area for a band.
After that, the combo played stints at Maxine's French Quarter on East Washington Avenue, the Top Hat in Middleton, the Edgewater Hotel, the Seven E Supper Club in DeForest, the Athens Restaurant on State Street, the Westside Business Mens' Association, the New Orleans Char House on University Avenue, the Signature Lounge at the Inn on the Park, Union South on North Randall Avenue, Hansen's Jazz Restaurant on Raywood Road in Monona, Nakoma Golf Club and the Madison Club. Doc played for the Badger Football Bashes at Union South for twenty-four seasons and he has played at the Concourse Hotel in Madison for four football seasons. For the past eight years Doc has been a sideman with the Brad Pregeant Jazz Band at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Madison.
The Doc DeHaven Combo has won "The Best of Madison" contest for the best local Jazz and Dance Band for the years 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994. He also won the Isthmus' Best Jazz Band in 1992. Doc was awarded "The Jazz Personality of the Year" award in 1990 by the Madison Jazz Isthmus Festival. He was also honored with "A DeHaven Family Tribute Night" by Ronnie Bailey and Madison cable station WYOU-TV in 1985. Doc has had feature articles written about him in the Mississippi Rag, Wisconsin State Journal, Capital Times, Mad City Music Mirror, Isthmus, Madison Music Collective and Madison Magazine.
Doc has also sat in with the Gene Krupa and Jack Teagarden Bands when they were in the area.
Starting in 1962, Doc's combo cut several LP's and 45's on the Cuca Label. The albums are: Doc Swings (A Little), Just Off State Street, The Earl of Madison, Dixieland Treasures and Doc DeHaven on Location. A CD, The Best of Doc DeHaven, was recently released as a compilation of these LP's. In 1991, on the Neophonic Productions Label, he recorded a new CD, There is No Greater Love, with his daughter, Kelly. In 1996, on the same label, he recorded Jazzscapes, a mix of different jazz venues in the Madison scene.
Doc has been a professional musician for over forty-five years. Besides his many public venues, he has played countless private parties and occasions. He married in 1956 and raised six children and he now has ten grandchildren. He taught high school for thirty-two years at Deerfield and Monona Grove High Schools. In 1973, Doc started his own business, the Doc DeHaven Booking Agency and in 1979 he set up the Erle Smith-Doc DeHaven Music Clinic Scholarship Fund in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin Foundation to honor his clarinetist, Erle Smith. Currently, the account is valued at $63,000 at the present time. Each year interest earnings are drawn out for tuition for students attending the Summer Music Clinics at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1982, when the scholarships were first offered, the account has paid over $23,500 to students attending these clinics.
Currently, Doc is still playing local gigs and giving private lessons.