Episode 4 – Interview with Dr. Kirby Jolly: The Old Bethpage Village Brass Band

In Episode 4, we talk with Dr. Kirby Jolly about his time with the Old Bethpage Village Brass Band, how it has evolved over the years, and his view of the mission of the band. Dr. Jolly tells us some stories about his time performing with the Goldman Band. His wealth of experience with 19th century brass band music is vast, and we enjoyed the opportunity to pick his brain!

Episode Structure:

0:00 Introduction

1:30 – Corrections

2:50 – Interview with Dr. Kirby Jolly; Musical background and his time in Syracuse, NY

6:55 – Dr. Jolly’s Experience with the Goldman Band

11:17 – Dr. Jolly’s association with the Old Bethpage Village Brass Band, history and operation of the Old Bethpage Village

21:50 – About the OBVBB instruments

25:50 – About the OBVBB repertoire

28:10 – About the OBVBB uniforms

31:10 – About OBVBB performances

33:00 – The OBVBB’s mission

37:15 – The OBVBB performance frequency and variety

38:35 – About the Ken Burn’s documentary soundtrack

40:10 – Other OBVBB recordings and notable performances

45:08 – Civil War music reenacting environment

50:10 – Final remark from Dr. Kirby Jolly

53:25 – Closing

55:05 – Featured Album


Additional Notes from Dr. Jolly After the Interview:

Dr. Jolly actually started playing in the 4th grade, not the 6th grade. He started playing solos in the 6th grade. “Columbia Polka” was an early state contest piece that he played. This solo had triple tonguing in it!

Dr. Jolly was a very active performer, he never thought he would be leading a band such as the Old Bethpage Brass Band. He played Broadway shows and performances in the Catskills. He also had the opportunity to play first trumpet in the New York Military Band.

Dr. Jolly was primarily a trumpet player until he needed to purchase a cornet for the Goldman Band. He has now played more solos on cornet than on trumpet!

Dr. Jolly performed on an Eb Bach Stradivarius trumpet for his Haydn Trumpet Concerto performance with Goldman Band at Lincoln Center.

Dr. Jolly gave 2 lectures around 1972 at the National Trumpet Symposium as a Conn clinician. Rafael Mendez dropped out and Dr. Jolly took his lecture slots.

His dissertation is available on microfilm at Ann Arbor: 1971 “Edwin Franco Goldman and the Goldman Band”. Goldman was a huge commissioner of band music and is under-appreciated.


Links to things we mentioned in the episode:

Dr. Kirby Jolly short bio

Edwin Franko Goldman and the Goldman Band

Guaranteed Notes – Erdman Brothers

Old Bethpage Village Restoration

The Yankee Brass Band

Ken Burns Civil War Soundtrack


Featured Album: The Yankee Brass Band – The American Brass Quintet Brass Band

Listen to/purchase the album:

Amazon

Spotify

The album was originally released as an LP in 1981, and was re-released as a CD on 7/2/1992. Recording took place at Vanguard’s 23rd Street Studio (Masonic Temple), New York, and was published by New World Records. The album was made possible by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. The American Brass Quintet Brass Band made its debut in November of 1981, and performed on 19th century instruments that were in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dorthy and Robert Rosenbaum, and many others. This is their premier recording, and 2 more followed. Players included the American Brass Quintet, and 9 additional professional players (12 brass and 2 percussion). Instrument quality was varied for the recording. The flatest instrument was the Seltmann E-flat tuba and the rest of the band tuned down to that instrument. All 3 alto horn players were french horn players, but they chose to adjust to alto horn mouthpieces for a more desireable timbre. The majority of the players used modern reproductions of period mouthpieces. Most of the music on the recording was either found in New York or written by a composer living in New York.

Robert Sheldon performs on the recording on 3rd Eb alto horn. Sheldon previously appeared in this segment of the show during the Frederick Fennell episode.

  • He provided a handful of period instruments to Fennell for the recording project
  • He restored a number of period instruments for the project as well
  • Sheldon was a museum specialist in the Division of Musical Instruments at the Smithsonian Institution. 
    • He was also the leader of the Washington Saxhorn Ensemble

The liner notes contain a 17-page excerpt from Jon Newsom’s essay entitled “The American Brass Band Movement” from the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress in 1979.

Sheldon: “For this recording the American Brass Quintet BRass Band made us of nineteenth century instruments in the performance of this music. The use of such instruments helps approach a sort of timbre and aesthetic that suits the music and aids the performer. But musicians playing these instruments today bring to the performance an experience based on a century’s worth of changing musical styles, study in conservatory situations unknown to the old bandsmen, and repertoire including jazz, early music, and avant-garde. Therefore, our musical results from using nineteenth century brass are bound to be different from those achieved by nineteenth century bandsmen whose musical experience was likely to have been limited to the period itself.” [21, liner notes]