On October 17, 1966, Rufus Harley appeared on the TV game show I’ve Got a Secret with Steve Allen hosting. His secret was that he played jazz on the bagpipes, an instrument he had taken up after watching the Black Watch pipers in John F. Kennedy’s funeral procession in November 1963. Harley was a trained saxophonist, oboist, trumpeter and flutist, so the panel’s guesses were not unreasonable: flute, oboe, clarinet and, at one low point, a sweet potato. Bess Myerson asked whether it was how well he played that was unusual, and he answered yes, definitely. Allen then dismissed the saxophone as too easy a secret. Harley closed the segment with a Latin-tinged “Feeling Good” alongside his rhythm section. His second Atlantic LP, Scotch & Soul, had been recorded that April, and its cover pictured him with the pipes and a tenor saxophone at his side.
Cover of Rufus Harley’s <em>Scotch & Soul</em> (Atlantic SD 3006, 1966). Album cover shown for identification; not Creative Commons or public domain. Image from the English Wikipedia file page.
Sources: Wikipedia — Rufus Harley: I’ve Got a Secret appearance, October 17, 1966; Kennedy-funeral inspiration; Atlantic recordings , Open Culture — Rufus Harley, the First Jazz Musician to Make the Bagpipes His Main Instrument, Performs on I’ve Got a Secret (1966) , Wikipedia — Scotch & Soul: recorded April 1966, Atlantic SD 3006, Harley’s second album , Vice — What the V10N2: Harley on watching the Black Watch pipers at Kennedy’s burial
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