THE NEW YORK TIMES

American Newspaper Marches for Band, Theater Orchestra, Mandolin Orchestra, and Piano.

The Advocate Brass Band - George Forman, Director

The New Walnut Street All-Star Orchestra - George Forman, Conductor

The Louisville Mandolin Orchestra - Jim Bates, Conductor

Hayward Mickens - Solo Piano

Tracks on this release:

1. The Joplin Globe, J. B. Kreyer
2. The Telegram, O.R. Farrar
3. The Kansas City Star, Allesandro Liberati
4. The Boston Traveler, George L. Tracy
5. The Boston Post, George L. Tracy
6. The New York Ledger, James E. Magruder
7. The New York Herald, Monroe Rosenfeld
8. The New York Times, Gustave d'Aquin
9. The Pittsburg Leader, Affelder/Fleishman
10. The Pittsburg Press, W. L. Rohbock
11. The Pittsburg Gazette, Carl Bruno
12. The Philadelphia Record, Hans Engelmann
13. The Philadelphia Record, G. DeStefano
14. The Call, Egbert Van Alstyne
15. The Cincinnati Post, WIlliam C. Stoess
16. The Chicago Record, A.F. Weldon
17. The Washington Times, Frederick Innes
18. The Enterprise, W.F. Burrell
19. The Herald, John W. Casto
20. The Reporter, James M. Fulton
21. The Register, Thurlow Lieurance
22. The Lexington Herald, R.B. Griffith
23. The Waconia Patriot, Peter J. Gepson
24. The Washington Post, John Philip Sousa

Album notes:

Today's listener tends to associate marches almost exclusively with bands. Such was not the case at the turn of the century. As popular music, marches were played by all sorts of instruments and instrumental ensembles. Sousa's Washington Post, for example, was available in editions for band, theater orchestra, piano solo, piano four hands, piano six hands, mandolin and piano, mandolin and guitar, guitar solo, zither solo, zither duet, zither trio, banjo solo or duet, and banjo and piano.

Mandolin orchestras were also common in the 1890's and played newspaper marches. Brought to America by Italian immigrants as early as the late 18th century, the mandolin gained widespread popularity beginning in the 1880's. Individuals learned to play the mandolin for their own personal enjoyment, and frequently gained enough proficiency to join the mandolin clubs which flourished on college campuses and in cities throughout the northeast and midwest. Mandolin orchestras roughly duplicated the string section of a symphony orchestra by adding the lower pitched members of the family (mandolas, mandocellos, and mandobases) to the soprano voice of the standard mandolin. Guitars provided additional body to the ensemble. Often numbering twenty or more instrumentalists, mandolin orchestras played all sorts of music, including marches, rags, dance pieces, and orchestral transcriptions.

This recording includes newspaper-related music for a variety of ensembles as well as solo piano. In addition to seven marches played by the Advocate Brass Band, the New Walnut Street All-Star Orchestra provides examples of six marches, the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra lends its magical sound to five pieces, and pianist Hayward Mickens offers his interpretations of six marches. Each piece is a snapshot of a bygone era, a snippet of Americana which can spark the listeners imagination today just as it did a century ago.

- Notes by George Forman

Available from:

Brass Band CD
c/o The Advocate-Messenger
P.O. Box 149
Danville, KY 40423-0149

Production notes:

Recorded at the Norton Center for the Arts, Danville, Kentucky
Produced by George Forman
Recording and digital editing by David Henderson, DBG Sound
Design by Trapp Communications, Inc.
© 1998 The Advocate-Messenger