Antoine Joseph SAX – known as Adolphe – was born in Dinant, Belgium, on November 6, 1814, the son of Charles Joseph Sax, instrument maker to the king of The Netherlands. At 14, Adolphe Sax built his own clarinet of fine wood and soon was winning prizes at Europe’s new indus¬trial expositions. Sax was a rare young genius: an innovator whose hands were as facile as his mind.

When the Brussels Exposition denied his instruments a gold medal in 1841, Sax decided to seek his fortune elsewhere. He headed for Paris, penni¬less but rich in ideas. His favourite brain¬child was a matched family of valued brasses. These “saxhorns” were the ancestors of the tubas, flugelhorns, and baritone horns heard in modern bands.

The saxophone may have been born when Sax, while puttering in his shop, fitted a bass clarinet mouthpiece and reed onto an ophicleide, a big bugle-type horn with keys instead of valves. At any rate, by 1842 he had made a bass saxophone, pitched in the key of C. It drew praise from Hector Berlioz, the renowned French composer, who transcribed some of his own music for a demonstration concert with Chamber winds on February 3, l844, and the first time a saxophone was heard in public with Sax himself as soloist.

The saxhorns and saxophones attracted the attention of the French Army, who gave Sax the exclusive contract to outfit their bands. Established music firms couldn’t compete with his superior craftsmanship and modern production methods, so they organized to ruin him, but the charge did not hold up in court.

Sax patented his saxophones, by now an entire family on March 20th 1846. But even his most important friends could not protect the instrument maker from the jealousy of the entire industry, which paid musicians to boycott Sax’s products. Other problems ensued.

After 860 when his patents expired, anyone could copy Sax’s instruments. Deprived of revenues from his inventions, Sax slipped back into poverty. In 1870 his Army contracts were cancelled and his factory went under. Bankrupt he survived as a bandmaster at the Paris Opera until his death at 79 on February 1894.

Early saxophones were all French, Evette Shaeffer and Buffet Crampon. In the US Elkhart Indiana known as “Music City” boasted several firms whom manufactured saxophones including Conn, Buescher and Martin. In later years when the dance band craze began the Selmer saxophones was the instrument of choice of many of the performers.

Saxophones were first employed in military bands, where it was a voice of compromise between brass and woodwinds. The warmth and tonality of the instrument, particularly the alto and tenor, were mainstays in all of the French military bands beginning with its first introduction. But it took several years before it went into full usage in Britain.

Photographs of the Guards bands beginning in 1900 and later indicate that saxophones had not come into use. In the USA, the instrument was adopted by both school and military bands as early as 1880. Other countries such as Canada were very slow to move off the mark and the instrument did not make a showing until shortly before the First World War.

Today every band from High School to the professional level including community bands has full sections of Eb Alto (divided parts 1-2) with Tenor sax as well as Eb Baritone. Saxophone.

The solo qualities of the instrument were recognized shortly after it was introduced. The founders of the tradition of the classical saxophone include French military musician, later world concert performer Marcel Mule. American Cecil Leeson became one of the world’s most prestigious saxophonists as well. Sigurd Rascher a German born concert performer came to the USA in 1939. His amazing sound and magnificent technique made him into a household name.

No article on the saxophone would be complete without the mention of the world’s first modern saxophonist- Charley Parker. He left a legacy that significantly enhanced the instrument’s tradition. Several generations of great players have emerged including Saxophone Colossus Sonny Rollins and the man whom many call the “Last Messiah,” John Coltrane. The man considered to be the present day ‘public marketer” is the personable and magnificent Bradford Marsalis.

The great military bands pf the USA, including the United States Marine band, have strived to keep the memory and tradition of Adolphe Sax alive by developing wonderful saxophone quartets. The brainchild introduced by Adolphe  Sax was indeed an  instrument of the ages.

The United States Merchant Marine Academy band
“GEORGE COHAN’S OWN”

Contributed by Jack Kopstein

During World War II, Maritime Training Facilities were placed in strategic locations around America. These stations included Pass Christian, Mississippi, San Mateo, California, Fort Trumbull, Connecticut, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn and Kings Point. At the larger locations, professional musicians were recruited to form marching, concert, and dance bands to play for the hundreds of seafarers in training. In 1943, the present Academy at Kings Point was established. With it, a 45 piece professional band, made up of the finest New York City musicians, was recruited and played for thousands of cadets during their intensified wartime training at the Academy. To this day, the raised platform in the mess hall at the Academy, where the present Regimental midshipmen officers sit, and the radio broadcasting booth are vestiges of that professional band. Their duty each day during the war was to play for the entertainment of the troops at all mess sittings and play additional music for dances on weekends, which was broadcast live over WCBS radio. After the war, the professional band was disbanded and music at the Academy became the responsibility of midshipmen. This program had varying degrees of success until 1971, when a full-time Director of Music was appointed and the band members were placed into their own company.

Since that time, the band has represented the Academy at all Presidential Inauguration Parades, as well as the Miss America Pageant, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Cotton Bowl Halftime Show on New Years Day, and countless other national events. In 1994, a 35-piece ensemble boarded the ocean-liner Queen Elizabeth 2 and traveled across the Atlantic to Normandy, France for the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, while entertaining the WWII veterans on board.  In June, 2000, the band flew to New Orleans and represented the Academy and U.S. Merchant Marine at the Opening Ceremonies of the D-Day Museum.

A  singular honor was bestowed upon the band in 1999 by the descendants of the “Man Who Owned Broadway,” the late Mr. George M. Cohan. The Band was instrumental in helping the local community and Park District of Great Neck save his former residence, which was slated for demolition.  Mr. Cohan was honored with a Congressional Gold Medal in 1936, in recognition for two patriotic compositions which have become synonymous with America: “Over There” and “A Grand Old Flag.” Helen Ronkin Lafaso and Ms. Mary Ronkin Ross, the grandchildren of Mr. Cohan, formally thanked the band for their support and gave the band the honour to be called, “George M. Cohan’s Own” for “now and in the future.” Thus, Kings Point became the first Federal Academy Band with an officially bestowed title.

The Band’s membership changes twice each year as the sea splits change. Thus, every fall and every spring a new band is effectively born. Due to this unique rotation, the band is never the same twice.

(website information) contributed by jack Kopstein

In honor of Independence Day, our contributing writer Jack thought it would be nice to give a short history of American march music. The following is an informative article he found for us to present.

A Short History of Marches

The origins of European and American march music can be traced to the military music of the Ottoman empire. The martial purpose of the music was to regulate the functioning of armies in the field by communicating orders, and keeping time during marching and maneuvers. The extensive use of percussion, such as cymbals, was also used for psychological effect as their use, especially in Western Europe, was unknown and had the capacity to frighten opponents. Indeed, the subsequent use of cymbals and other such percussive instruments in European ‘classical’ music was a direct importation from the Ottomans. In the early 1700s Europeans were first exposed to this type of music and interest would continue to build into the early 1800s when a vogue for Turkish marching bands swept through Europe. Pieces displaying this Turkish influence can be found in the works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven with a notable example being “Turkish March” by Beethoven (part of Op. 113): Overture and incidental music for Die Ruinen von Athen.

The origins of march music began before the Gunpowder Age during which armies would maintain their troops’ morale by marching with music playing, whether that be from the beat of a drum or fife. American march music showed during the Revolutionary War and earlier wartime conflicts, in which a fife and snare drum would play while the troops marched to battle. This is why it can be said that march music is a military’s music.

While the tradition of soldiers playing music while marching into battle had ended soon after the American Civil War (mid 1800s), military bands continued to perform marches during related ceremonies and other events. This actually spawned a whole new tradition of playing marches as a source of entertainment.

Marches and the Concert Band
Around the late 1800s and early 1900s, most towns, organizations, theaters and even companies would have their own band. These bands, currently known today as community bands, would perform their music at special events much like the military band, but would often play at simple scheduled concerts and tours (such as the traditional gazebo concerts). By this time, published marches were plentiful due to prolific composers such as John Philip Sousa, Karl L. King and Henry Fillmore. Marches became a staple in the repertoire of these concert bands and can hence explain how the popularity of the march spread so rapidly across the world.

Marches and the Circus
Marches were further popularized with performances by circus bands. During the same period of the community band/concert band, circuses such as the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Circus would have live music being performed by their own bands. The marches played were often a special variety of the march known descriptively as “Screamers”, “Two-Steps”, and “Cakewalks”. These marches served the purpose of exciting the crowd while circus acts were taking place.

Marches and the Marching Band
Again, during the same period college marching bands were also beginning to form. March composers would often dedicate marches to university bands. Marches were performed during half-time shows and pep-rallies. Marches were indeed heard everywhere.

The John Philip Sousa Revolution
American composer John Philip Sousa did indeed strongly revolutionize the march. His overall prolific writing of said quality marches added that much to its popularity. According to Sousa researcher Paul Bierley, Sousa’s marches were gems of simplicity and understatement, with rousing counterpoint and overall energy. Sousa also is said to have standardized the traditional march form. American march music was forever immortalized with Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, a patriotic march which became the official march of the United States of America.

March Music Composers
Most march composers come from the United States or Europe, and have some sort of musical background to them. The most popular march composers existed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, mainly because modern march dedicators are hard to come by. The following is list of march music composers whose marches are frequently performed in the United States.
• Russell Alexander (1877-1915)
• Kenneth Alford (1881-1945) “The British March King”
• Edwin Eugene Bagley (1857-1922)
• Hermann Louis Blankenburg (1876-1956)
• W. Paris Chambers (1854-1913)
• Charles E. Duble (1884-1960)
• Henry Fillmore (1881 – 1956) “The Trombone King”

A full article on this topic can be found by clicking here

ALTISSIMO FEATURE ARTICLE

24 Notes That Tap Deep Emotions
Jari A. Villanueva

Altissimo is proud to present the history of “Taps.” We are pleased to provide this article with the permission of the author, Jari A. Villanueva (pictured below). Please access his website

TAPS
Of all the military bugle calls, none is so easily recognized or more apt to render emotion than the call ‘Taps.’ The melody is both eloquent and haunting and the history of its origin is interesting and somewhat clouded in controversy. In the British Army, a similar call known as ‘Last Post’ has been sounded over soldier’s graves since 1885, but the use of Taps is unique with the United States military, since the call is sounded at funerals, wreath-laying, and memorial services. Up to the Civil War, the infantry call for “Lights Out” was that set down in Silas Casey’s (1801-1882) “Tactics,” which had been borrowed from the French. The music for Taps was changed by Union General Daniel Butterfield for his Brigade (Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac) in July, 1862. Daniel Adams Butterfield (31 Oct. 1831-17 July 1901) was born in Utica, New York and graduated from Union College at Schenectady. He was the eastern superintendent of the American Express Company in New York, when the Civil War broke out.

Despite his lack of military experience, he rose quickly in rank. A Colonel in the 12th Regiment of the New York State Militia, he was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of a brigade of the V Corps of the Army of the Potomac. The 12th served in the Shenandoah Valley during the Bull Run Campaign. During the Peninsular campaign Butterfield served prominently when during the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, despite an injury, he seized the colors of the 3rd Pennsylvania and rallied the regiment at a critical time in the battle. Years later, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for that act of heroism.

As the story goes, General Butterfield was not pleased with the call for ‘Lights Out,’ feeling that the call was too formal to signal the days end. With the help of the brigade bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, Butterfield wroteTaps to honor his men while in camp at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia following the Seven Day’s battle. These battles took place during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. The call, sounded that night in July, 1862, soon spread to other units of the Union Army and was even used by the Confederates. Taps was made an official bugle call after the war. The highly romantic account of how Butterfield ‘composed’ the call surfaced in 1898 following a magazine article written that summer. The August, 1898 issue of Century Magazine contained an article called “The Trumpet in Camp and Battle” by Gustav Kobbe, a music historian and critic. He was writing about the origin of bugle calls in the Civil War and in reference to Taps, wrote:

“In speaking of our trumpet calls I purposely omitted one with which it seemed most appropriate to close this article, for it is the call which closes the soldier’s day-‘Light’s Out’. “I have not been able to trace this call to any other service. If it seems probable, it was original with Major Seymour, he has given our army the most beautiful of all trumpet-calls”

Kobbe was using as an authority the Army drill manual on infantry tactics prepared by Major General Emory Upton in 1867 (revised in 1874). The bugle calls in the manual were compiled by Major (later General) Truman Seymour of the 5th U.S. Artillery. Taps was called “Lights Out” in these manuals since it was to replace the “Lights Out” disliked by Butterfield.

The title of the call was not changed until later, although other manuals started calling it Taps because most soldiers knew it by that name. Since Seymour was responsible for the music in the Army manual, Kobbe assumed that he had written the call. Kobbe’s inability to find the origin of “Light’s Out” (Taps) prompted a letter from Oliver W. Norton in Chicago who claimed he knew how the call came about and that he was the first to perform it.

Norton wrote: Chicago, August 8, 1898
“I was much interested in reading the article by Mr. Gustav Kobbe, on the Trumpet and Bugle Calls, in the August “Century.” Mr. Kobbe says that he has been unable to trace the origin of the call now used for Taps, or the “Go to sleep”, as it is generally called by the soldiers. As I am unable to give the origin of this call, I think the following statement may be of interest to Mr. Kobbe and your readers. During the early part of the Civil War I was bugler at the Headquarters of Butterfield’s Brigade, Meroll’s Division, Fitz-John Porter’s Corps, Army of the Potomac. Up to July 1862, the Infantry call for Taps was that set down in Casey’s Tactics, which Mr. Kobbe says was borrowed from the French. One day, soon after the seven days’ battles on the Peninsular, when the Army of the Potomac was lying in camp at Harrison’s landing General Daniel Butterfield, then commanding our Brigade, sent for me, and showing me some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope, asked me to sound them on my bugle. I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night and was heard far beyond the limits of our Brigade. The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighboring Brigades, asking for copies of the music, which I gladly furnished. I think no general order was issued from army headquarters authorizing the substitution of this for the regulation call, but as each brigade commander exercised his own discretion in such minor matters, the call was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac. I have been told that it was carried to the Western Armies by the 11th and 12th Corps when they went to Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, and rapidly made it’s way through those armies. I did not presume to question General Butterfield at the time but from the manner in which the call was given to me, I have no doubt he composed it in his tent at Harrison’s Landing. I think General Butterfield is living at Cold Spring, New York. If you think the matter of sufficient interest and care to write him on the subject, I have no doubt he will confirm my statement.”

-Oliver W. Norton

The editor did write to Butterfield as suggested by Norton. In answer to the inquiry from the editor of the “Century”, General Butterfield writing from “Cragside”, Cold Spring, under the date of August 31, 1898 he wrote:

“I recall, in my dim memory, the substantial truth of the statement made by Norton, of the 83rd Pa., about bugle calls. His letter gives the impression that I personally wrote the notes for the call. The facts are, that at the time I could sound calls on the bugle as a necessary part of military knowledge and instruction for an officer commanding a regiment or brigade. I had acquired this as a regimental commander. I had composed a call for my brigade, to precede any calls, indicating that such were calls, or orders, for my brigade alone. This was of very great use and effect on the march and in battle. It enabled me to cause my whole command, at times, in march, covering over a mile on the road, all to halt instantly, and lie down, and all arise and start at the same moment; to forward in line of battle, simultaneously, in action and charge etc. It saves fatigue. The men rather liked their call and began to sing my name to it. It was three notes and a catch. I can not write a note of music, but have gotten my wife to write it from my whistling it to her, and enclose it. The men would sing, “Dan, Dan, Dan, Butterfield, Butterfield” to the notes when a call came. Later, in battle, or in some trying circumstances or an advance of difficulties, they sometimes sang, “Damn, Damn, Damn, Butterfield, Butterfield”. The call of Taps did not seem to be as smooth, melodious and musical as it should be, and I called in some one who could write music, and practiced a change in the call of Taps until I had it suit my ear, and then, as Norton writes, got it to my taste without being able to write music or knowing the technical name of any note, but, simply by ear, arranged it as Norton describes. I did not recall him in connection with it, but his story is substantially correct. Will you do me the favor to send Norton a copy of this letter by your typewriter? I have none.”
-Daniel Butterfield

On the surface, this seems to be the true history of the origin of Taps. Indeed, the many articles written about Taps cite this story as the beginning of Butterfield’s association with the call. Certainly, Butterfield never went out of his way to claim credit for its composition and it wasn’t until the Century article that the origin came to light. There are however, significant differences in Butterfield’s and Norton’s stories. Norton says that the music given to him by Butterfield that night was written down on an envelope while Butterfield wrote that he could not read or write music! Also, Butterfield’s words seem to suggest that he was not composing a melody in Norton’s presence, but actually arranging or revising an existing one. As a commander of a brigade, he knew of the bugle calls needed to relay troop commands. All officers of the time were required to know the calls and were expected to be able to play the bugle. Butterfield was no different he could play the bugle but could not read music. As a colonel of the12th N.Y. Regiment, before the war, he had ordered his men to be thoroughly familiar with calls and drills. never went out of his way to claim credit for its composition and it wasn’t until the Century article that the origin came to light. There are however, significant differences in Butterfield’s and Norton’s stories. Norton says that the music given to him by Butterfield that night was written down on an envelope while Butterfield wrote that he could not read or write music! Also, Butterfield’s words seem to suggest that he was not composing a melody in Norton’s presence, but actually arranging or revising an existing one. As a commander of a brigade, he knew of the bugle calls needed to relay troop commands. All officers of the time were required to know the calls and were expected to be able to play the bugle. Butterfield was no different he could play the bugle but could not read music. As a colonel of the12th N.Y. Regiment, before the war, he had ordered his men to be thoroughly familiar with calls and drills.

What could account for the variation in stories? My research shows that Butterfield did not compose Taps but actually revised an earlier bugle call. This sounds blasphemous to many, but the fact is that Taps existed in an early version of the call Tattoo. As a signal for end of the day, armies have used Tattoo to signal troops to prepare them for bedtime roll call. The call was used to notify the soldiers to cease the evening’s drinking and return to their garrisons. It was sounded an hour before the final call of the day to extinguish all fires and lights. This early version is found in three manuals the Winfield Scott (1786-1866) manual of 1835, the Samuel Cooper (1798-1876) manual of 1836 and the William Gilham (1819?-1872) manual of 1861. This call referred to as the Scott Tattoo was in use from 1835-1860. A second version of tattoo came into use just before the Civil War and was in use throughout war replacing the Scott Tattoo. The fact that Norton says that Butterfield “composed” Taps cannot be questioned. He was relaying the facts as he remembered them. His conclusion that Butterfield wrote Taps can be explained by the presence of the second Tattoo. It was most likely that the second Tattoo, followed by “Extinguish Lights”, (the first eight measures of today’s Tattoo), was sounded by Norton during the course of the war.

It seems possible that these two calls were sounded to end the soldier’s day on both sides during the war. It must, therefore, be evident that Norton did not know the early Tattoo, or he would have immediately recognized it that evening in Butterfield’s tent. If you review the events of that evening, Norton came into Butterfield’s tent and played notes that were already written down on an envelope. Then Butterfield “changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me.” If you compare that statement while looking at the present day Taps you will see that this is exactly what happened to turn the early (Scott) Tattoo in Taps. Butterfield as stated above, was a Colonel before the War and in General Order No. 1 issued by him on December 7, 1859 had the order: “The Officer’s and non-commissioned Officers are expected to be thoroughly familiar with the first thirty pages, Vol. 1,of Scott’s Tactics, and ready to answer any questions in regard to the same previous to the drill above ordered” Scott’s Tactics include the bugle calls that Butterfield must have known and used. If Butterfield was using Scott’s Tactics for drills-then it is feasible that he would have used the calls as set in the manual. Lastly, it is hard to believe that Butterfield could have composed anything that July in the aftermath of the Seven Days battles which saw the Union Army of the Potomac mangled by Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Over twenty six thousand casualties were suffered on both sides. Butterfield had lost over 600 of his men on June 27th at the battle of Gaines Mill and had himself been wounded. In the midst of the heat, humidity, mud, mosquitoes, dysentery, typhoid and general wretchedness of camp life in that early July, it is hard to imagine being able to write anything. In the interest of historical accuracy, it should be noted that it is not General Butterfield who composed Taps, rather that he revised an earlier call into the present day bugle call we know as Taps. This is not meant to take credit away from him. It is only to put things in a correct historic manner.

Following the Peninsular Campaign, Butterfield served at 2nd Bull Run, Antietam and at Marye’s Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg. Through political connections and his ability for administration he became a Major General and served as chief of staff of the Union Army of the Potomac under Generals Joseph Hooker and George Meade. He was wounded at Gettysburg and then reassigned to the Western Theater. By wars end, he was brevetted a brigadier general and stayed in the army after the Civil War, serving as superintendent of the army’s recruiting service in New in New York City and colonel of the 5th Infantry In 1870. After resigning from the military, Butterfield went back to work with the American Express Company. He was in charge of a number of special public ceremonies, including General William Tecumseh Sherman’s funeral in 1889. Besides his association with Taps, Butterfield also designed the system of Corps Badges, which were distinctive shapes of color cloth sewn on to uniforms to distinguish units. Butterfield died in 1901. His tomb is the most ornate in the cemetery at West Point despite the fact that he never attended. There is also a monument to Butterfield in New York City near Grant’s Tomb. There is nothing on either monument that mentions Taps or Butterfield’s association with the call. Taps was sounded at his funeral.

How did it become associated with funerals? The earliest official reference to the mandatory use of Taps at military funeral ceremonies is found in the U.S. Army Infantry Drill Regulations for 1891, although it had doubtless been used unofficially long before that time, under it’s former designation “Extinguish Lights.” The first use of Taps at a funeral was during the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia. Captain John C. Tidball of Battery A, 2nd Artillery ordered it played for the burial of a cannoneer killed in action. Since the enemy was close, and worried that the traditional 3 volleys would renew fighting, Tidball had the bugler sound Taps as a tribute to the fallen man. The custom, thus originated, was taken up throughout the Army of the Potomac, and finally confirmed by orders. This first sounding of Taps at a military funeral is commemorated in a stained glass window at The Chapel of the Centurion (The Old Post Chapel) at Fort Monroe, Virginia. The window, made by R. Geissler of New York, was dedicated in 1958 and shows a bugler and a flagstaff at half mast. The window design is based on a painting by Sidney King. In that picture a drummer boy stands beside the bugler. The grandson of that drummer boy purchased Berkeley Plantation where Harrison’s Landing is located.

The site where Taps was born is also commemorated. In this case by a monument located on the grounds of Berkeley Plantation. This monument to Taps was erected by the Virginia American Legion and dedicated on July 4, 1969. The site is also rich in history, for the Harrison’s of Berkeley Plantation included Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison-both presidents of the United States and one a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It must be pointed out that other stories of the origin of Taps exist. A popular one is that of a Northern boy who was killed fighting for the south. His father, Robert Ellison a Captain in the Union Army, came upon his son’s body on the battlefield and found the notes to Taps in a pocket of the dead boy’s Confederate uniform. When Union General Daniel Sickles heard the story he had the notes sounded at the boy’s funeral. There is no evidence to back up the story or the existence of Captain Ellison. As with many other customs, the 24 notes that that comprise this solemn tradition began and continues to this day and although Butterfield merely revised an earlier bugle call, his role in producing those 24 notes gives him a place in the history of music as well as the history of war.

Jari A. Villanueva is a Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force Band at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington DC. A graduate of Peabody Conservatory and Kent State University, he is currently working on an exhibit to be opened at Arlington National Cemetery and research on what will hopefully result in a work entitled “Day is Done, The History of Bugle Calls in The United States With Particular Attention To Taps.”

Contributed by Jack Kopstein

FREDERICK NEIL INNES
(1854-1926)

As the saying goes, some are born great, some achieve greatness, while others have it literally thrust upon them.  Frederick Neil lnnes achieved his greatness at a young age. When most young boys are playing with marbles, he was already playing trombone in the Life Guards Band of London England, where his father before him was a cornetist in the same band.  lnnes really started his musical career at age eight as a chorister in the choir of St. Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, London, England.  Besides the trombone, he studied violin, piano and harmony at the London Conservatory of Music.

It has been said that Innes did for the trombone what the great Paganini did for the violin.   As the latter created a school of violinists, Innes did likewise for trombone players; his trombone exercises and various tutors for trombone became the panacea for an instrument.  Innes was born in London, England, on October 28, 1854.  As a young man, his thought was that the trombone should take a more prominent place as a solo instrument.  He went in for more sensational methods to bring this about in a one-man campaign.  He was always an innovator even in his later advent into the musical society of America where he arrived in 1874 in Boston.

He played one season in the Howard Street Theatre, but he left suddenly for a return to Europe, in the latter part of 1875.  He was then twenty- one and beginning to dazzle the public with his brilliant trombone playing.  He went directly to Paris, where he vas engaged as special trombone soloist at the Follies Bergere, which was a new medium in this city.  Heretofore the trombone had never been used in such a spectacular manner.  The newspaper, Le Temps, characterized Innes as the greatest and newest thing in music to hit Pads in many years.  After one season at the follies Bergere, he went to Hamburg, Germany, where he was engaged as soloist with the Hans Halle Orchestra.  For a time he played solos with the famous Parlow Orchestra in Berlin.  He also played at the Winter Garden with Lauber and his orchestra and toured Europe’s principal cities as soloist.  It was during his engagement in St. Petersburg, Russia, that Innes met the young Czar of Russia, who was musically inclined.  The Czar so admired Innes that he honoured him by presenting him with a walking stick, having on it the coat of arms, set in rubies and diamonds.  After the mentioned tour of Europe, Innes returned to Paris, where he resumed playing at the Follies Bergere.

There is an interesting story told about how Innes happened to return to America.  In 1879 and 1880, Jules Levy was at his peak as a soloist and was being featured with Gilmore’s Band at Manhattan Beach. The story goes that Pat Gilmore was slightly jealous of the attention Levy was getting, so he sailed for Europe in fall of 1879, in quest of someone to trim the sails of the high flying Levy.  When he arrived in Paris, he was told of a young trombonist who was playing at the Follies Bergere.  Quoting a written account:
“Gilmore went to the Follies Bergere to hear Innes play, and was astonished by this young man’s virtuosity.  It had never occurred to him before, to use a trombone soloist as competition for Jules Levy, but after hearing lnnes play, this was something different.  He sent his card around with an invitation for lnnes to join him at another cafe in Paris.  As Gilmore was very convincing, it wasn’t long before he had convinced Innes that he should come to America to become trombone soloist of Gilmore’s Band.”

Innes arrived in New York, during the summer of 1880, going directly to Manhattan Beach, where Gilmore’s band was engaged in summer concerts. The following day Innes was programmed as soloist, following Jules Levy’s playing of his own “Whirlwind Polka”, after which Innes rose to play the same identical solo much to the astonishment of the audience, and to the genuine embarrassment of Mr. Levy. In fact, he was furious.

For one whole week, Innes continued playing, if humanly possible, any number that Levy might play.  The entire New York music scene was talking about the battle of the “Blasters” out at Coney Island.  The newspapers played it up, consequently great crowds traveled to Manhattan Beach to see and hear the goings on.  Mr. Levy was getting madder by the minute, but Gilmore was in his glory.  It was during the above mentioned engagement that Levy played a new solo written by Aronson, entitled the “Sweet Sixteen Waltz”, in which Levy injected his own extemporaneous Cadenza made up of everything he could do on the comet.

lnnes had been tipped off that Levy was going to do.  When his turn came to play, he also had something up his sleeve.  Innes had written a new solo for the trombone, entitled “Sea Shells Waltz” with a minute and one-half cadenza.  He arose to play his solo, playing with all of the skill he possessed.  Some of Levy’s followers had complained to the management about this rivalry.  Mr. Gilmore decided that Innes could play anything he wished, including Levy’s solos, but it was to be played on separate programs from Levy.  This one summer engagement gave Fred lnnes tremendous publicity, which even Gilmore had not anticipated.

Interspersed with his playing in Gilmore’s Band, he made one tour with the Mapleson Opera Company, then under the direction of the composer Arditi and at least two summer engagements with Baldwin’s Band at Point of Pines in Massachusetts.

Inries played with Gilmore’s Band until the spring of 1887, when he went to San Francisco to accept a solo engagement at the Exposition being held in the Golden Gate Park.  According to our research, we find that Innes was to play with the local band.  It seems he and the band were to be sponsored by the Market Street Railroad Company, but when Innes arrived in San Francisco, the comptroller had absconded with the money for the musicians and had left California, leaving a flock of creditors in his wake.  Innes talked with the Exposition president (a prominent banker,) a Mr. PB Cornwall, about his difficulties, who in turn conferred with the Board of Directors.  Out of this came the organization of a concert band to play at the Exposition under the direction of Mr. Innes.  He received permission to send east for a number of prominent musicians to fill positions in his band and to play several engagements at the Exposition; this was the beginning of his career as a bandmaster.  After the close of the engagement, he returned to New York, where he temporarily took over leadership of the Thirteenth Regiment Band of New York.  After a few months he organized his own traveling band and began booking engagements across the country.

Innes had always dreamed of having a purely Symphonic band, playing the classics only, but he was also a practical man and knew that the public was not ready to accept the concert band as a Symphonic organization.  He filled his programs with the classics, but he also had them interspersed with lighter music and presented many noted operatic singers.  Misses Lillian Nordica, Schumann-Heink and Alice Nielson appeared with the Innes Band.

Many of the finest musicians in the band business played at one time or another with the Innes Band, between 1887 and 1920, namely; Ben Bent, Herbert Clarke, Bert Brown, Bohumir, Kryl, I V. Short, Richard Shuebruk, Pechin and Keneke on cornet; Mantia and Manzia, euphonium; Leo-Zimmerman, Chas. Randall and Ernest Clarke trombone; Alexander Selmer, Nonito and Schreuers,  Jacob Epstein clarinet.  The personnel changing from year to year.

One of the first engagements that the Innes Band filled was in the playing of concerts at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, where his new band was received with great enthusiasm.  His first major engagement was at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893.  His band played at numerous Expositions including the Omaha Exposition in 1898, the Buffalo Exposition in 1910, St. Louis Exposition in 1904, and the San Francisco Fair in 1915.  The last important engagements of the lnnes Band were the Cotton Exposition in Waco, Texas, and the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.

In 1914, Innes moved to Denver, Colorado, where he succeeded Mr. Al. Sweet as conductor of the Denver Municipal Band, continuing in this capacity until 1916, when he opened his Music School; however he continued to contract outside engagements with his concert band until 1920.  Innes remained in Denver until after his wife’s death in 1923.  He moved to Chicago in 1923, where he became head of the Conn Band School.  In late 1926, he was stricken with heart trouble and died in a Chicago sanatorium on December 31, 1926. He was buried beside his wife in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A writer was fortunate enough to have conversation with Mr. Innes during the summer of 1926 in his office at the Conn Band School.  He told of the many fine performers who had played under his direction and other facets of the then dying band business.

Innes Band’s never recorded for any phonograph company. Mr. Innes never liked the idea of using small bands for recording sessions.  Neither would he allow even the mention of cutting and revising of standard overtures and selections to fit on a 10 or 12 inch disc
Innes composed several Orchestra Suites, also one Romantic Opera entitled, Ambassador.  He wote a descriptive Overture called California, and one grand march entitled Triomphale.  He also wrote a number of two step marches, one the best known being, Prince Chaffning.  His most notable solo compositions were Sea Shells Waltz, Phenomenal Polka and the Charmer Polka.

Henry Woelber once had this to say of Innes:
“Innes had very few intimates; little is known of his early history in England.  No person’s attitude here on the part of his America friends ever attracted his intimacy other than to call forth a general good comradeship and light talk.  Although a man of courage and rare intellect, he loved to frolic, and in spite of more or less adversity, he smiled; but behind that smile was plenty of sadness, disappointment, and sorrow.”

The following note appeared in the International Musician, many years ago. Quoting:
“in 1913, lnnes led the annual master bar concert given by the Boston Musicians Mutual Relief Society.  After the rehearsal he strolled through the West End to have, perhaps, his last look at the old Howard Street Theatre where he had played in 1874.  Then to the Charles River embankment Pausing he sighed: ‘Yes, there is the same old rooming house, with its back piazza, and pleasant memories of my canoeing days, and swinging in the old hammock in the moon light.’  Older men, later, realized why Innes was so fond of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.  Masters of melody, and verse, find opportunities everywhere, for their genius.”

Contributed by Jack Kopstein

The following two vinyl recordings found in a Canadian Collectors catalogue are two of the most valuable and interesting recordings ever made in Britain. *Unfortunately, these recordings are not available on our website.

Masters of the March Volume 1
(Rodney Bashford and Leo Stanley)
Band of the Royal Corps of Signals / Droit DR91
Conducted by: Lt. Col. RB Bashford OBE and Major G. Turner MBE
Information below appears on both records

So many thousands of marches have been written that good march tunes are not easy to come by. Most of the successful ones sound simple, and it is this simplicity that makes them difficult to write. John Philip Sousa (the American march king) said that a good march must make a man with a wooden leg step out.

A large proportion of the march repertoire used by the British Army is of foreign origin but in this series we pay tribute to the British march writers past and present. The aim is to offer the listener a cross-section of a composer’s works, and some of the marches are appearing on record/cassette for the first time. Where possible two writers of contrasting styles appear on each recording and when appropriate the composer is invited to conduct his own works, thus ensuring an authentic interpretation.

The style of march writing has changed over the years. Many written in the mid 20th century depend inevitably and unavoidably on the cliché but had strong melodic lines with traditional harmonies. The titles rarely had any influence on the musical content and in the main would have been equally successful under other names. Recent contributions are more adventurous in harmony and rhythm and if written for specific occasions composers often draw on appropriate well known themes cleverly weaving them into their original thoughts.

Side One – Leo Stanley
Alamein / With Might and Main / March of the Commandos / The Partisans / Guard of Honour / The Mechanical Horse / Swift and Sure / Great Occasions

Side Two – Rodney Bashford
Marche Militaire / Foxhunters March / Splice the Mainbrace / Tyrol Troop / The Galloping Major / The Queen’s Company / Cavalry Walk-  Cavalry Ride – Cavalry Trot / The Light Division / The Inkerman March

Masters of the March Volume 2
(JH Howe and Kenneth Alford)
Regimental Band of the 1st Bn The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise’s) / Droit DR 92
Conducted by: Major JH Howe MBE and WO KG Lamb FVCM BBCM
(Major Howe Bio is taken from record cover)

Jimmy Howe comes from a Brass Band family. A native of North East England, he began his musical career playing the cornet in local colliery bands. In 1933, he joined the Royal Scots as a band boy, and served with his regiment in Palestine in 1938, and also in France at the outbreak of World War Two. Captured at Le Paradis, he was a prisoner of war in Poland and organized a Stalag Ban with instruments obtained through the British Red Cross which helped to sustain the morale of the men in captivity.

After the war, he studied at Kneller Hall and was appointed bandmaster of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1949, serving with them in Hong Kong, British Guyana, Berlin and the United Kingdom. In 1956, he took the Band to Helsinki, playing at the British Industries Fair.

He was commissioned Director of Music to the Scots Guards in 1959 and was subsequently appointed senior Director of Music Household Division in 1970. The following year he was awarded the MBE for his services to Army Bands.

Since his retirement from the Army in 1974, he has conducted many leading Symphony Orchestras and the radio programme Friday Night is Music Night and Melodies for You. He is still active as a guest conductor and adjudicator of music festivals making appearances in the USA, Canada, and Europe. As well as the marches on this album, he has compositions of light music to his credit, also many arrangements of popular works are to be found in the military and brass band repertoires. He is a Vice-President of the national ex-Prisoner of War Association and an active member of the Dunkirk Veterans  Association.

Side 1 – Kenneth Alford
Holyrood / The Mad Major / Dunedin / Old Panama / Cavalry of the Clouds / The Vanished Army / Colonel Bogey on Parade
Side 2 – Jimmy Howe
Fairfield / Pride of Princess Street / The Civic / Balmoral Castle / Pentland Hills / Stalag March / Glasgow Fair / The Corner FlagCOnt