The Early American Brass Band Podcast

by Chris Troiano, Stephen Cannistraci

The EABB Podcast focuses on providing information about past and current Early American (19th-century) brass bands through interviews, lectures, and musical recordings. Each episode will have a topic (specific bands, bandleaders, instruments, composers, etc..) or guest (historian, bandleader, active musician) that the participants will talk about. The participants can be any combination of host, co-host, and guest. The goal of ...   ...  Read more

Podcast episodes

  • Season 3

  • 50 - Interview with Dr. Gordon "Buddy" Cooke: The Bugle in the United States

    50 - Interview with Dr. Gordon "Buddy" Cooke: The Bugle in the United States

    Episode 50 is our fantastic conversation with Dr. Gordon "Buddy" Cooke, author of the Anthology of Bugle Music. Buddy, Chris, and Stephen talk about the reserach that went into creating this book, as well as the history of how the bugle has been used in the United States military and civilian life. You can now support the show on Patreon and Teespring! The show is made possible by the support of listeners. Visit our website for more free resources and show notes for every episode. You can get in touch with us on social media, and by emailing eabb.podcast@gmail.com Music in this episode comes from The West Point Band Hellcats, and The 8th GM Regiment Band from George Mason University. Episode Structure: 2:16 - Buddy's musical background 7:03 - Field music at West Point 13:17 - Distribution of field musicians throughout the Army's history 16:55 - Differences between bugles and trumpts, their uses 22:37 - The keyed bugle in the military 28:37 - Non-field music written for bugles, civilian uses for bugles 35:19 - Sousa's drum and bugle manual, the Marine Corps version of Taps 38:35 - Buddy's book "Anthology of Bugle Music", how the idea for the book started 43:42 - Challenges involved with researching and publishing a book 52:18 - Manual of French and European bugle calls 56:05 - Favorite bugle march and call 1:00:43 - Value of learning about field music 1:04:28 - Where you can find more about Buddy and his "Anthology of Bugle Music" 1:07:09 - Featured Album: "A Day in the Life of the West Point Hellcats"

  • 49 - Interview with Dr. Joseph L. Jefferson: Shout Bands in the United States

    49 - Interview with Dr. Joseph L. Jefferson: Shout Bands in the United States

    Episode 49 is our fantastic conversation with Dr. Joseph Jefferson about Shout Bands in the United States, an under-researched topic and not well known part of brass history in the United States. Dr. Jefferson devoted his doctoral research to Shout Bands, and talks with Chris and Stephen about the history and tradition of these musical ensembles. You can now support the show on Patreon and Teespring! The show is made possible by the support of listeners. Visit our website for more free resources and show notes for every episode. You can get in touch with us on social media, and by emailing eabb.podcast@gmail.com Music in this episode comes from various Shout Bands and The 8th GM Regiment Band from George Mason University. Episode Structure: 3:13 - Dr. Jefferson's musical background, how research interest in Shout Bands began 7:54 - Shout Band similarities and differences to Salvation Army and Moravian traditions. Learning by rote 21:09 - House of Prayer timeline 24:03 - Similarities and differences to early New Orleans Jazz tradition 26:55 - Structure of Shout Bands 30:42 - Music Shout Bands play, and the function of that music 36:56 - Feasibility of Shout Bands in the academic setting 41:37 - Musicians who have come from the Shout Band tradition 51:10 - Dr. Jefferson's research, and others who have researched Shout Bands 54:32 - Where you can find more about Dr. Jefferson and his research

  • 48 - Interview with Dr. Joel Crawford: Reflections on Early Band Performance

    48 - Interview with Dr. Joel Crawford: Reflections on Early Band Performance

    Episode 48 features recording engineer Dr. Joel Crawford. Dr. Crawford is a former cornetist with Saxton's Cornet Band and author of "Performance Practice of Brass Band Music of the American Civil War: A Perspective from Saxton's Cornet Band". In this episode, we discuss Dr. Crawford's experiences playing with Saxton's, how he thinks it affected his musical career, how he would record an early American brass band, and much more! You can now support the show on Patreon and Teespring! The show is made possible by the support of listeners. Visit our website for more free resources and show notes for every episode. You can get in touch with us on social media, and by emailing eabb.podcast@gmail.com Music in this episode comes from Saxton's Cornet Band (Lincoln and Liberty, Too!) and The 8th GM Regiment Band from George Mason University. Episode Structure: 2:49 - How Joel became involved with Saxton's Cornet Band and early American brass band research 5:20 - Advice to listeners on how to become with early American brass bands in their area 7:10 - Why Joel chose to write his dissertation on Civil War brass bands 8:20 - Joel's current recording engineer career 10:30 - How early American brass band experience influences current recording engineer career 16:10 - Experience recording early American brass bands 18:50 - Describing the tonal sound of an early American brass band 21:10 - The benefits of playing in an early American brass band 27:00 - Thoughts on how Fennell recorded the Eastman Civil War cd and bell direction 34:05 - An overview of Dr. Crawford's doctoral dissertation on Civil War brass bands and their performance practices 42:30 - Experiences growing up in a community band scene 45:15 - Any particularly special nuggets of information or newly discovered research included in the dissertation 50:00 - Wax cylinder recordings 54:40 - The follow-up possibilities for Dr. Crawford's research 1:00:28 - Plug Opportunity 1:02:00 - Featured Album: "Grand Pianola Music" by the UC College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Wind Symphony

  • 47 - Interview with Kenneth Serfass: The Antebellum Marine Band

    47 - Interview with Kenneth Serfass: The Antebellum Marine Band

    Episode 47 is our conversation with Kenneth Serfass, leader of The Antebellum Marine Band, and Ulysses S Grant reenactor. In the episode we discuss Kenneth's time in the Marine Corps, what led him to start The Antebellum Marine Band, their notable performances, and how he started reenacting as Ulysses S. Grant. You can now support the show on Patreon and Teespring! The show is made possible by the support of listeners. Visit our website for more free resources and show notes for every episode. You can get in touch with us on social media, and by emailing eabb.podcast@gmail.com Music in this episode comes from "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, and The 8th GM Regiment Band. Episode Structure: 2:49 - How Kenneth became interested in American history and Ulysses S. Grant 7:36 - How Kenneth became involved in the reenacting hobby, how his experiences reenacting planted the seed for The Antebellum Marine Band 22:55 - Appearance and history of the 1800's Marine Band 32:05 - What got Kenneth excited about founding the Antebellum Marine Band 36:53 - How Kenneth started reenacting as General Grant, stories from appearances as Grant 40:07 - Filming as General Grant for the History Channel 47:40 - Advice for starting a band 49:13 - Notable performances with The Antebellum Marine Band 57:05 - What it's like being a period 19th century band in Gettysburg 1:06:32 - How reenacting has influenced Kenneth's bandleading 1:09:27 - Where you can find out more about Kenneth and The Antebellum Marine Band

  • 46 - Interview with Kenneth Brungess: Gold Rush Brass Bands

    46 - Interview with Kenneth Brungess: Gold Rush Brass Bands

    Episode 46 is our conversation with Kenneth Brungess, author of Gold Rush Maestro: The Journal of August Wetterman, and researcher of California Gold Rush era brass bands. In the episode we discuss the history of gold rush bands, the music they played, occasions they played for, and much more. You can find out more about Kenneth by visiting http://californiagoldandbrassworks.com. Show notes for this episode can be found here: https://eabbpodcast.com/episode-46-interview-with-kenneth-brungess-gold-rush-brass-bands/ You can now support the show on Patreon and Teespring! The show is made possible by the support of listeners. You can get in touch with us on social media, and by emailing eabb.podcast@gmail.com Music in this episode comes from the Gold Rush Cornet Band, the El Dorado Brass Band, and The 8th GM Regiment Band. Episode Structure: 3:22 - Kenneth's musical background 7:15 - Kenneth's interest in the California gold rush, recreating the Columbia Brass Band in image and music 14:44 - Musical landscape of the California gold rush 21:42 - Makeup of California gold rush bands, types of music played 27:20 - The people of the California gold rush bands 32:34 - Difference between Cowboy Bands and Gold Rush Bands, types of occasions for which these bands played 37:27 - Repertoire, repurposing popular music of the day 38:29 - Musical example "Oh Susanna!" 44:35 -Activities of California bands during the Civil War 49:42- El Dorado Brass Band 57:20 - The Gold Rush Cornet Band 1:04:16 - Kenneth's 19th century instruments 1:06:30 - Where you can find more about the bands Kenneth has researched, his book, and the Featured Album 1:10:00 - Featured Album: Motherload! Musical Nuggets from the 1850's, '60s & '70s