“My name is Dee Starkey and I’ve been in Wichita most of my life.
My parents, Jim and Sally, were musicians and educators. Dad had a dance band would let me help set up stands at the Trig Ballroom, Lassen, Allis and Broadview Hotels. Mom was an early pioneer in music therapy and education for special needs children, teaching at the Institute of Logopedics, along with Betty Welsbacher and Marilyn Pirtle.
I suppose it says a lot about my upbringing that the favorite magazines at the Starkey house were Saturday Review and Down Beat.
Early on Dad said, ‘Learn the bass and gigs will always be there.’ He was right.
When he showed me on the piano, a Dominant 7th chord for the bridge to ‘I’ll Follow the Sun’ the world of music opened up, and for the last 50 years I’ve enjoyed singing and playing in a variety of idioms, teaching and working in music stores. Not unlike the old lady character in Bernstein’s Candide, I am easily assimilated.
I married my lovely wife Linda in 1979 and we returned to Wichita. I joined the family business, Jim Starkey Music Center, and Linda joined the WSU music and theatre faculty, where she is now director of the School of Performing Arts.
Over the last 30 plus years I’ve enjoyed being heavily involved in the Wichita Jazz Festival and performing in pit bands and numerous blues and jazz groups.
Since 2000 I’ve shied away from performing and enjoy spending more of my time on architectural and historical research, especially giving tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright house built for Henry J. Allen.
Retail mom and pop business these days is a challenge and an adventure but the joy we receive from being facilitators for folks, in enhancing their ‘active’ participation in music making makes it all worth the effort.
I’m inspired and encouraged by young musicians everyday, discovering new approaches and honoring the history and traditions.”
