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Just picked up The Spectacular Sound of Sousa record from a shop and was wondering who's in the band/tuba section. My research attempts have come up with nothing thus far. Thanks.

Here's an article— follow down to the comments, one of which mentions several of the tuba players that played in the band... wtuba

http://militarymusic.com/blog/2009/09/j ... l-lavalle/

I have a picture of the band in performance with the tubas standing out front obviously being featured.Fred Pfaff, Abe Torchinsky, Joe Tarto For Sure and there's a guy with a top action Martin or Conn who could very well be very well be Bill Bell. Fred spent his last 20 or so years here in Central Florida. He and Joe Tarto were regulars and the other two spots were probably filled by the best available guys, Harvey Phillips, Don Butterfield et al. Uncle Markie played the band near the end when they carried one tuba. Him. Mabye he'll jump in on this. He'd know better than most.Ed

Ed:

Please post the photo to which you refer. We would love to see it.

Randy, I don't know how to post pictures but I'll try to get some intelligent life form to help me. If I fail, I'll copy it and send it to you. Regards, Ed

Ed, if you have a scanner or can get someone to scan, it's pretty easy. Below your reply box is a tab "upload attachment". The photo has to be a certain size maximum is the only issue. Otherwise, find a photo sharing site, post it there, and share the link here. That would be a great picture to see!

Ed Firth was kind enough to send me a hard copy of the photo below:

I bet they were playing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acruyj3Eh9M" target="_blank

There were quite a few Band of America tuba players; I might have been one of the last. The radio/TV show band had quite a few people come through it. Joe Tarto was always there, and so was Fred Pfaff until he retired to Florida in the early 1950s. Many of Bell's students got a shot at it, including Don Butterfield, Abe Torchinsky, Joe Novotny and others although I don't think Bill Rose ever did the show. I think Fred Exner may have done Lavalle's Band too. Joe and Lavalle were old friends from their days with Vincent Lopez - Lavalle was a clarinet/alto guy named Joe Usifer before he got into numerology and changed his name. Nelson Rockefeller was a benefactor to Lavalle - Rocky liked musicians, backed the Claude Thornhill band too.

Andy Seligson preceded me in the "one tuba player" version of the touring Band of America. I worked with Andy in the Ringling Band in Madison Square Garden in 1977. Great player.

The band nearly went out of business at the end of the 1950s; Lavalle managed to have the band work at a theme park in the Bronx called Freedomland - kind of a Magic Kingdom in the Bronx. When the 1963-64 World's Fair opened, the Cities Service Oil Company revived the Band of America on a two car motorized bandwagon, which would pull up into a semicircle, and the band would play a little concert. Lavalle could and did beat a band to death - Bob Harley remembered playing the Carnival of Venice four times a day! Lavalle would have the band play WHILE THE CARS WERE MOVING; bumping along etc. Joe Tarto played this gig, too.

By the time I came long it was Paul Lavalle and the Band of America - no more Cities Service. They changed the name to Citgo and hired Ed McMahon as spokesman and sacked the band. Rumor was Lavalle got paid in company stock - which wouldn't surprise me.

Lavalle's profound ignorance of band literature coupled with a knack for playing what the public liked and a real flair for showmanship made working for him a unique (and learning) experience for me. He was a Joe Schillinger student and was pretty smart about getting a big sound out of a group. I have fond memories of him standing in front of the band playing "Dizzy Fingers" on clarinet with his squeaker Portnoy mouthpiece - trying to breathe wearing a girdle so he looked good in profile in his bandmaster jacket. Lavalle was a driven man, and if you worked for him you were expected to give everything you had all of the time.

Thanks Mark, I was hoping you'd shed some light on this topic. Who do you think is playing the top banger in the picture.( it came from what Lee Richardson called Fred Pfaff in a box that I got when he passed away). All the Best to you, Ed

Could be Harvey Phillips. He owned a Martin. Or maybe Fred Exner - the face is obscured by the bell. During one of my last conversations with Harvey we compared notes on our Martins. Exner's old horn is owned by Paul Scott who posts here frequently. Paul is a true Martin Maven.

Mark Heter