It had long been the dream of leading members of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) to “get to” Carnegie Hall and to prove that serious wind band compositions are worthy of performances in America's major concert halls, in every way equal in artistic merit to orchestral compositions. In spite of being warned that New York City was not really a “band” town, Gary Hill and the CBDNA executive board decided to hold their biennial meeting there in February 2005. Dubbed “A Wind Band Celebration,” the program included concerts by some outstanding musical organizations, sessions on research and music education, and special forums. One special event was to have been a dialogue with Loren Maazel, conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and Gunther Schuller, an icon of American music. Regrettably, the dialogue was canceled when Mr. Maazel decided he did not wish to address band directors after all. Another special event was a roundtable of music critics discussing the future of concert music. The organizers' hope had been to encourage the critics to write reviews of the concerts being presented as part of the conference. Considering that one of the New York Times critics admitted outright that he knew nothing about wind music, and the others proved to be similarly ignorant, nothing much came of the session. This admission did not prevent the critics from telling the assembled band directors what they were doing wrong, however. And even though the concerts included original wind works by such established composers as Aaron Copland, David Del Tredici, Morton Gould, Percy Grainger, Karel Husa, Witold Lutosławski, Peter Mennin, W. A. Mozart, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, and Charles Wuorinen and premieres of works by John Corigliano, Richard Danielpour, Michael Daugherty, Donald Grantham, and Bright Sheng performed by such outstanding groups as the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Goldman Band, and wind ensembles from Texas A&M, Ithaca College, New England Conservatory, Rutgers, and the Universities of Louisville, Michigan, Southern California, and Texas, not one single concert was reviewed. On inquiring about this omission, one CBDNA officer was apparently told that the New York Times does not review school concerts, and yet during the conference several local school orchestral concerts were reviewed. So much for breaking into the New York concert scene. The prejudice against bands and wind music continues in the mainstream media!

Despite these disappointments, the research sessions were a great success. A special committee chaired by Frank Cipolla “decided to focus attention upon historical developments affecting the wind band in and around New York City in the period 1830–1950, composition analysis, and recent music education and wind band development” (iv). Seven of the essays, “intended as a cameo view of events and people who have helped shape the notable development of wind bands in a particularly important locality during an especially significant period of expansion of a young nation” (i), were edited by Cipolla and Donald Hunsberger and recently published as part of the latter's Wind Library series. They cover a wide range of fascinating subjects.

Starting with the nineteenth century, George Foreman painted a vivid picture (with eleven excellent and informative illustrations) of “The Remarkable Monsieur Jullien and His Grand American Tour.” Based on his own extensive research, Foreman presents many new facts about this flamboyant showman (full name: Louis Antoine Jullien) who “set America on its ear with his tour of this country” and “influenced the pioneers of the American concert band.” Foreman is to be commended for his efforts in bringing this mostly forgotten and neglected personality to life, a man who “played an important role in nurturing a popular appreciation of concert music through his London [and American] promenade concerts” (15). John Graziano's essay deals with “New York Bands in the Nineteenth Century.” Graziano is codirector of the Music in Gotham project that is attempting “to trace every musical event that took place in New York City (i.e., Manhattan) between 1862 and 1875” (46). The project has unearthed a treasure trove of new information on Manhattan's musical scene, especially the great number of bands active in the city at the time. The 1875 Fourth of July celebrations, for example, featured fifteen bands at various places around the city. Thomas Adkins, Allen and Harvey Dodworth, Claudio Grafulla, Frederick Helmsmüller, Napier Lothian, Joseph Noll, James Shelton, and Richard Willis are only a few of the many important bandmasters active at the time. Their bands provided support for military activities, entertained nightly at Castle Niblo's, Tivoli, and Vauxhall Gardens; gave concerts at the Academy of Music, the Apollo Musical Saloon, and Central Park; participated in Hudson River cruises; welcomed and serenaded visiting dignitaries such as Jenny Lind and Monsieur Jullien; and provided dance music for society balls. In short, wherever there was music, there were bands. In addition to dances and marches, they performed opera overtures and excerpts, movements from symphonies, and novelty numbers. One wonders how much more information will come to light when the Gotham project is completed!

Three essays deal with the dawning of the twentieth century: Tim Brooks's discussion of “James Reese Europe and African-American Bandleaders of the World War I Era,” Jonathan Elkus's presentation on “Charles Ives's Manhattan,” and Laura Rexroth's story of the meeting of “Duke Ellington and Percy Grainger: Black, Brown, and ‘Blue-Eyed English’.” James Reese Europe is not only a major figure in jazz but also in the development of jazz dance through his association with Vernon and Irene Castle. Giving special attention to their recordings, Brooks provides a brief history of Europe's accomplishments while especially stressing his famous “Hell Fighters' Band” and their performances in France during the war. He then goes on to discuss other prominent black bandmasters of that time: Will Vodery, Tim Brymn, and Egbert Thompson. Brooks accompanies his essay with some important illustrations. Similarly, illustrations of famous buildings are prominently featured in Elkus's essay on Charles Ives's Manhattan. Using many quotations from Ives's own writings, Elkus describes the various places Ives lived after his move to Manhattan in 1898 and the works he composed while there. Laura Rexroth in turn explores the significance of the “little-known meeting of two unlikely-matched musical masters” when “Duke Ellington and his orchestra performed for a class taught by Percy Grainger at New York University” on 25 October 1932 (76). It is not known who initiated the meeting, but Grainger was an advocate of jazz and so would certainly have been amenable. In preparing his class for the visit, Grainger compared Ellington to Bach and Delius, “the three greatest composers who ever lived” (78). Rexroth goes on to compare Ellington and Grainger, noting similarities in their music and compositional philosophies.

The final two essays deal with the Goldman Era. Ronald Holz discusses “Edwin Franko Goldman and Erik Leidzén: Music Partnership and Friendship, 1933–1956.” Using photos, illustrations, and musical examples, Holz gives a “brief overview of the relationship between Edwin Franko Goldman and Erik Leidzén [that] helps frame and summarize an important period in the development of American band music. Goldman's great achievement in American wind band history was in providing a grand balance in his programming enhanced by an aggressive commissioning project” (104). It is a fascinating relationship, and Holz does much more than give a “brief overview,” even proving that some of Goldman's published compositions were actually composed by Leidzén. Paul Bryan, on the other hand, is very personal in his essay titled “My Life in, around, and out of New York—Like a Moth Drawn to a Shining Beacon (the Road to New York—a path often and well taken)” (117–34). Bryan, emeritus professor of music at Duke University, writes about his interest in bands in his youth and how he was drawn to New York and its activities through radio broadcasts, the New York Times, and visits to the city. His interest was also furthered through visits of famous New Yorkers such as Goldman, Leidzén, and Morton Gould, all of whom guest conducted the University of Michigan Band when Bryan was a student. Stationed at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, from 1942 to 1946, Bryan came into contact not only with many musicians who would later join major orchestras, but also with Thor Johnson, who, in addition to being the bandmaster of the post band, organized the Fort Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, which hosted such guest soloists as Zino Francescatti, Dusolina Giannini, Morton Gould, Eugene List, and Eleanor Steber; one memorable performance featured Lincolnshire Posy, with Percy and Ella Grainger in attendance. Years later, Bryan invited Grainger to Duke University, where they performed Posy and the Grieg Piano Concerto with Grainger as soloist. Other famous people whom Bryan met over the years include the composers Vittorio Giannini, Norman Dello Joio, and Jan Meyerowitz; Bryan commissioned original works for band from all of them. He also speaks of his New York teachers, including Wayne Lewis, Simone Mantia, Donald Reinhart, and Gardell Simon, and his many fond memories of Carnegie Hall, Pennsylvania Station, Radio City Music Hall, the Stage Door Canteen, and Chinese and Italian restaurants. His was a full life, and he tells an engrossing story.

So, although the conference has come and gone without achieving the results for which it had hoped, this little volume of research papers proves that the effort was certainly not in vain. Thank you, Gary Hill, the CBDNA Executive Board, and especially Frank Cipolla and Donald Hunsberger!