Leader, ALFRED BARKER
Conductor, T. H. MORRISON
Marches and Waltzes
The great days of John Philip Sousa were in the nineties and for a few years after the turn of the century. He had made a name as a conductor of the Marine Band at Washington and again with his own band which he formed in 1892. Thereafter, he toured all over the world and blazed the trail for the dance bands of today.
In 1903 Sousa took his band to
Paris. Debussy was present at the performance and wrote: One must really be singularly gifted to conduct this music. Thus, Mr. Sousa beats time in circles, or he shakes an imaginary salad or sweeps up imaginary dust and catches a butterfly out of a contrabass tuba.'