Arthur Pryor, Trombone Soloist Of The Sousa Band

Arthur Pryor, Trombone Soloist Of The Sousa Band

Arthur Pryor, Trombone Soloist Of The Sousa Band
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Composer: Arthur Pryor
Composer: Arthur Clifton
Composer: Lyn Udall
Composer: Caroline Luderssen
Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Composer: Stephen [1] Foster
Composer: Stephen [Composer] Adams
Composer: R. S. Ambrose
Composer: Johnson
Composer: Tito Mattei
Composer: Lover
Composer: Egbert van Alstyne
Composer: Gaspard Kummer
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Composer: Robert G. Morse
Composer: Teresa Clotilde Del Riego
Composer: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Composer: Ernest R. Ball
Performer: Sousa Band
Performer: Pryor Band
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1997-09-30
Music Label: Crystal Records
Soundtracks:
  1. Blue Bells Of Scotland
  2. Intermezzo-Forever
  3. We Won't Go Home Until Morning
  4. Stay In Your Own Back Yard
  5. Parisian Melodies
  6. Prince Of Pilsen: Message Of The Violet
  7. Little Nell
  8. Stabat Mater: Cujus Animam
  9. My Old Kentucky Home
  10. The Patriot-Polka
  11. Stabat Mater: Inflammatus
  12. Love's Enchantment
  13. The Holy City
  14. One Sweetly Solemn Thought
  15. Nancy Brown: Congo Love Song
  16. Non E Ver
  17. Love Thoughts Waltz
  18. The Low Back'd Car
  19. Navajo
  20. Sergeant Brue: Dearie
  21. Aida: Celeste Aida
  22. Come Down From The Big Fig Tree
  23. Oh, Dry Those Tears
  24. Pagliacci Selection
  25. Love Me And The World Is Mine
  26. Polka Fantastic

Music reviews of Arthur Pryor, Trombone Soloist Of The Sousa Band

Music Review: Important Historical Recordings: the First Great Trombonist!
Rating: 5 Stars

This CD is a compilation of only a very few of the literally thousands of recordings Arthur Pryor made as a trombonist during a span of about 20 years. Since they date to the earliest days of recording technology--all of the works here are from 1901-1911--the sound quality is terrible compared to our modern recordings. Although all sorts of manipulations were used to improve the sound, including the combining of two different copies of the same recording, there is still a significant amount of hiss, crackle, and pop--it's more like a bowl of Rice Crispies than a newly recorded CD. If you can think of it like listening to an old Victorola it has a certain amount of charm, but surely some listeners will be immediately put off by the distortion, which admittedly lessens in the later works. Add to this the logistical problems of recording at the turn of the last century--only a limited amount of players could gather around the equipment--and it becomes clear that we aren't really hearing what an audience member at the time would have heard during a live performance of Sousa's Band. In fact, the band comes off quite poorly here--in The Blue Bells of Scotland they can barely keep up with Arthur Pryor, and their ensemble playing is poor in many places to an extent that's hardly credible for what was widely believed to be the best band in the world.

But of course one doesn't buy a CD like this to hear the accompaniment, or to listen to the sound quality. The only reason is to hear Arthur Pryor, surely the first great trombone soloist, in what is a wonderful piece of turn-of-the-century Americana. Pryor was the son of a bandmaster and learned to play all sorts of instruments (violin, cornet, alto horn, string bass, and valve trombone!) at an early age and was given his first slide trombone some time after his 11th birthday. He became a trombone virtuoso in the face of overwhelming difficulties--not only did a kick from a mule result in partial paralysis of his face, but also the trombone he'd been given was damaged and could only use the first two positions. In overcoming these seeming adversities through an astonishing work ethic he developed many of the features which made his performance so special: his characteristic constant shimmery vibrato created by "waving" his jaw; and an amazing embouchure (lip muscle strength) which allowed him to play every chromatic pitch using only those two positions (normal trombone technique employs 7!). Pryor revolutionized trombone technique and set a new standard, not only at home in America, but also abroad during his many European tours with the Sousa band and his own ensemble. One of his trombones, covered in engraving and with the characteristic unusually small bore he favored, can still be seen on display at the Interlochen School of the Arts outside of Traverse City, Michigan.

Featured on the CD are 26 Pryor performances, a few with piano, 10 with the Sousa Band, and 12 with Pryor's own ensembles. The music ranges from Italian opera arias (Verdi's Celeste Aida) to American popular songs of the day (Foster's My Old Kentucky Home) and contains a good portion of Pryor's own compositions and arrangements. Among my favorites are Pryor's The Patriot-Polka and Polka Fantastic, both clever pieces with amazing trombone performances. A real oddity is We Won't Go Home Until Morning (known to me as The Bear Went Over the Mountain) "played in four octaves"--it's exactly what it says it is. After a short piano introduction, Pryor plays the melody unaccompanied and unadorned in a high octave, then an octave lower, another octave lower, and finally in pedal tones. The whole thing has a real carny atmosphere, as if P. T. Barnum were hiding just around the corner. Van Alstyne's Navajo also captures this air of a time long gone, when Americans were wide-eyed and innocent and the world was never far from a Saturday afternoon near the bandstand.

Of special note are the unusually thorough notes in the programme booklet. Daniel E. Frizane supplies terrific biographical notes, from which I gleaned much of the information above; articles about the recordings and the Arthur Pryor performances are supplied, as well as an engineer's note describing the equipment and techniques used to restore the recordings. It's clearly a labor of love from all concerned.
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