The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa

Author: Paul Edmund Bierley

The ultimate reference on America's marching band marvel

Cloth – $125

978-0-252-03147-2

Paper – $32

978-0-252-07781-4

Publication Date

Paperback: 01/01/2010
Cloth: 01/01/2006

Series: Music in American Life

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About the Book

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) is an American icon. Most famous for his military marches, the composer-bandmaster led a disciplined group of devoted musicians on numerous American tours and around the world, shaping a new cultural landscape. Paul Edmund Bierley documents every aspect of the "March King's" band: its history, its star performers, its appearances on recordings and radio, and the problems members faced on their 1911 trip around the world. Enhanced by more than 120 images and photographs, The Incredible Band of John Philip Sousa also contains six statistical appendixes detailing where the band played, a complete list of musicians, instrumentation of the band, program listings, and a discography.

* Publication of this book was supported by a grant from the Henry and Edna Binkele Classical Music Fund.

About the Author

Paul Edmund Bierley is the world's leading Sousa authority. He is the author of The Works of John Philip Sousa, John Philip Sousa, American Phenomenon, and other books on Sousa and band music.

Reviews

"The premier Sousa authority, Bierley caps his forty-year career with this admirably comprehensive tome on his--and many Americans'--favorite subject. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice

"Solidly researched, the book provides a view of music in American life not found in other studies of Sousa or the period. Highly recommended."--Library Journal

"A remarkable array of carefully arranged and meticulously detailed data. . . . Bierley opens doors to new arenas of American music research. . . . With this remarkable book, Sousa research is now ready to really begin."--Nineteenth-Century Music Review

"If your personal library is missing this book, you cannot have a complete music section."--Circus Fanfare

Blurbs

"This is the first major scholarly work to minutely detail the four-decade-long existence of the greatest and most influential concert band ever. A magnificent resource brimming with intriguing and detailed information, it is one of the best books ever in the field of band scholarship."--Craig B. Parker, professor of music history, Kansas State University

Awards

Received the 2007 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research, under the heading of “Best Discography.”