Wild West Music of Buffalo Bill’s Cowboy Band

Compact Disc Album recorded in 1995

CD and downloadable versions available from Summit Records.
Individual tracks available on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

Track List*

  1. Star Spangled Banner* — Edward Beyer
  2. See, the Conquering Hero Comes* — G. F. Handel
  3. Introduction of the Congress of Rough Riders of the World* — Buffalo Bill
  4. Gilmore’s Triumphal March — Thomas Preston Brooke
  5. Color Guard March — T. H. Rollinson
  6. Offenbachiana: Selections from Offenbach’s Operas — Jacques Offenbach
    • Bluebeard
    • La Perichole
    • La Belle Helene
    • Genevieve de Brabant
    • La Jolie Parfumeuse
    • La Grande Duchesse
    • Orpheus
  7. Marche Russe — Louis Ganne
  8. Buffalo Bill’s Equestrian March — William Paris Chambers
  9. Sweeney’s Cavalcade — William Paris Chambers
  10. Albion: Grand Fantasia on Scotch, Irish, and English Airs — Ch. Baetens
    • Blue Bells of Scotland
    • Garry Owen
    • Charlie Is My Darling
    • Annie Laurie
    • British Grenadiers
    • Last Rose of Summer
    • Minstrel Boy
    • Home Sweet Home
    • Tulloghorum
    • God Save the Queen
  11. The Two Bills’ March and Two Step — William Sweeney
  12. Buffalo Bill’s Farewell March and Two Step — William Sweeney
  13. Wyoming Days — Karl L. King
  14. Grass Dance* — Plenty Coups Singers from Pryor, Montana
  15. On the Warpath — Karl L. King
  16. The Passing of the Red Man — Karl L. King
  17. Gallant Zouaves — Karl L. King
  18. Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground — Walter Kittredge

*Tracks marked with asterisks are currently not offered for sale by Summit Records. The original Compact Disc is now out of production but these are listed here for continuity with the originally published CD.

Recorded by
The Americus Brass Band

Director – Richard Birkemeier
Bb and Eb Cornets – Kurt Curtis and Dave Wailes
Bb Cornets – David Scott, Pat Mullen and Tim Catlin
Eb Alto Horns – Mitch Mocilnikar, Mike Steffens and Paul Klintworth
Trombones – Brad Harris, Richard Spitz and Phil Keen
Baritone Horn – Loren Marsteller
Eb Helicon – Leigh Schwartz
Percussion – Ken Peters and Jim Lorbeer
Note: all musicians were performing on period instruments.

Woodwinds

Piccolo – Greg Bishop and Lawrence Kaplan
Eb Clarinet – Al Rice
Bb Clarinets – Jim Foschia, Lea Fiedler Steffens and Al Rice

Produced by
Dr. Michael L. Masterson
and the
Buffalo Bill Historical Center – Cody, WY.

Recorded, edited and mastered by
Bryan Shaw, Digital Bros. Costa Mesa, CA

Production and editing assistance
Kurt Curtis and Richard Birkemeier

Tonmeister
Jeff Reynolds

Recorded at Bridges Auditorium
Pomona College, Claremont, CA
October 16 and 17, 1995.

This music, all original to the era, was actually employed in the Wild West Show. It is long since out of print and The Americus Brass Band wishes to thank the Chatfield Brass Band Lending Library of Chatfield, MN, the Circus World Museum of Baraboo, WI and C.L. Barnhouse Music Publishers, Oskaloosa, IA for providing the copies for this recording.

These recordings are dedicated to the memory of Dr. Michael L. Masterson (1950 – 2023), the original producer.

Liner Notes

written by Dr. Michael L. Masterson

…for no one who has ever heard the melody wafted from their sky parlor in the grandstand can say that they ever heard sweeter music, and if the commendation of kings and queens go for aught, Buffalo Bill’s cowboy band is equaled by few and excellent by none. — New York Press, 1895

Cowboy Band music and the Wild West show were a perfect fit. According to Wild West programs,1In the Strobel Collection at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming. the Wild West show acts visually celebrated the frontier taming process that “smoothed the way for millions to follow.” In their musical support of the show, the Cowboy Band, with their ordered marches, patriotic songs, popular selections, classic overtures, and other exciting band arrangements, aurally smoothed the often rough and rugged edges of folk, ragtime, Indian, and other music to make them culturally acceptable and even thrilling to the American and European audiences (that also numbered in the millions). This recording features versatile selections that are energetic, dramatic, virtuosic, relentlessly cheerful, occasionally pompous, and sometimes culturally inconsiderate. As played by the Americus Brass Band, however, the music is always engaging, revealing in its performance many attitudes of the Wild West era. Wild West artifacts, posters, films, histories, programs, and other memorabilia have been studied and observed by interested people for decades, but with this recording of Cowboy Band music, more than a hundred years after Buffalo Bill’s Wild West folded its tents, modern civilization in the twenty-first century can better understand the total sensory impact of that famous nineteenth century cultural spectacle — Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

Musical Selections

  1. Star Spangled Banner, taken from Recollections of the War: A Grand Medley of Old War Songs, 1885. Edward Beyer. (1830-?). Prefaced by a musical “commence firing,” this song, now the American national anthem, was the official, ritual opening of the Wild West show.
  2. See, The Conquering Hero Comes. G. F. Handel (1685 – 1759), from the Squire’s Cornet Folio, 1876, arranged by Froelich. This piece was taken from Handel’s oratorios, Judas Maccabeus and Joshua. As reported by newspapers of the day, it was played during the opening presentation of performers as Buffalo Bill himself galloped into the arena past the Indians, Rough Riders, cavalry, cowboys and other performers, to receive cheers, accolades, and often a standing ovation from the audience. This music bestows on Cody a heroic stature of biblical proportions.
  3. Buffalo Bill himself introducing a portion of the Wild West show taken from an old Berliner recording: “Permit me to introduce to you a Congress of Rough Riders of the World.”
  4. Gilmore’s Triumphal March, 1886. Thomas Preston Brooke (1854 – 1932). The Cowboy Band often played for more than just the show itself. Over the years, the Wild West performing schedule allowed for other musical pursuits, especially when the show established a residence in a long-term location, in particular at the London Exposition in 1887. From concert program information collected by 1887 Cowboy Band horn player Andrew Link, the Cowboy Band played regularly in London near the American Exhibition. A newspaper ad disclosed: “An Afternoon and Evening Concert, 3:30 ’till 5:30 and 6:30 ’till 9:30 will be given each Sunday by the Lower Grounds and Orchestral Band, and by the Cowboy Band, at the Aston Lower Grounds.” Both Color Guard March by Thomas H. Rollinson and Selections from Offenbach’s Operas were originally played on November 6, 1887. November 20 found the Cowboy Band performing Gilmore’s Triumphal March by Thomas P. Brooke along with another opera medley. Other concerts from the series included the entire Recollections of the War: Grand Medley of Old War Songs along with Sousa marches and other pieces. The playing on programs in Europe of standards from the “classic” repertoire along with new American band music demonstrates the Cowboy Band’s versatility, virtuosity, and ability to provide familiar music to their old world audiences and also educate them about new world sounds.
  5. Color Guard March, 1885. Thomas H. Rollinson (1844 – 1928).
  6. Offenbachiana: Selections from Offenbach’s Operas. Jacques Offenbach (1819 – 1880), E. Boettger, arranger, 1884. Bluebeard, La Perichole, La Belle Helene, Genevieve de Brabant, La Jolie Parfumeuse, La Grande Duchesse, Orpheus.
  7. Buffalo Bill’s Equestrian March, 1903. William Paris Chambers (1854 – 1913).
  8. Marche Russe, 1901. Louis Ganne (1862 – 1923), arr. Louis-Philippe (L.P.) Laurendeau (1861 – 1916), 1901. The Cowboy Band often tried to capture the ethnic spirit of the Wild West performers with their music. This march let the audiences know in sound that the Russian Rough Rider performers were entering the arena.
  9. Sweeney’s Cavalcade, 1903. William Paris Chambers. Chambers, a famous turn-of-the-century cornet virtuoso and composer, wrote these two pieces specifically for Cowboy Band director William Sweeney to use in the Wild West show—likely for riding acts given the descriptive titles.
  10. Albion: Grand Fantasia on Scotch, Irish, and English Airs, 1908. Ch. Baetens, arr. M. E. Meyrelles. Blue Bells of Scotland, Garry Owen, Charlie Is My Darling, Annie Laurie, British Grenadiers, Last Rose of Summer, Minstrel Boy, Home Sweet Home, Tulloghorum, and God Save the Queen. Listed in the 1913 program as one of twenty-nine possible pieces to play in the opening concert preceding the Two-Bills’ Show, this medley overture, like the previous one of Offenbach’s music, demonstrates Buffalo Bill’s and the Wild West’s close cultural ties to Europe. They traveled there for four extended stays in the Wild West’s thirty years. Albion is the name for the British Isles used by the Greeks and Romans. This collection of famous folk, popular, and patriotic songs from the islands develops themes in symphonic ways, again demonstrating the quality playing of both the Americus Brass Band and the original Cowboy Band.
  11. The Two Bills’ March and Two Step, 1910. William Sweeney (1856 – 1917). Sweeney likely did much arranging and composing during his almost thirty years as Cowboy Band director, but only two published marches of his remain in Wild West archives. The Two Bills’ March and Two-Step was dedicated to Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill who toured together for a few years at the time of the 1910 copyright, and Buffalo Bill’s Farewell March and Two Step was published in 1911 during Cody’s final tour. According to former circus band director William G. Pruyn both of these contrapuntal, ragtime-influenced pieces often accompanied the Grand Entry.2Phone call with Mr. Pruyn, August 17, 1995
  12. Buffalo Bill’s Farewell March and Two Step, 1911. William Sweeney.
  13. Wyoming Days, 1914. Karl L. King (1891 – 1971). King’s Wild West music included such marches as this one, written for the cowboy riding act. The Wild West was a noisy show represented by the yelling and gun shots heard in this music.
  14. On the Warpath, 1915. Karl L. King. This piece reveals dominant cultural attitudes about Native Americans common to the times. A so-called Indian characteristic number, it uses stereotypical Indian sounds still heard in old western movies and at athletic events. This specialty march was used during the 1914 Sells-Floto Grand Entry of performers, and again in the Wild West portion of the show, “a thrilling spectacle of past and present.” Publicists reported that this new number “was very well received.”3Gordon M. Carver, “Sells-Floto Circus 1914 – 15,” in Bandwagon, Fred D. Pfenning, Jr., ed. (Columbus, Ohio: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society, Nov.-Dec., 1975), pp. 22-29.
  15. Grass Dance. The Plenty Coups Singers from Pryor, Montana: Gordon Plain Bull, Samuel Plain Feather, and Phyllis Plain Bull. The Wild West arena was often filled with authentic Native American music as well as band music. Music like this Grass Dance occurred during the Indian acts as they demonstrated some of their lifeways for European and American audiences. Show Indians from the Wild West show actually passed songs like this from tribe to tribe as they returned to their homes after the show season. In this Crow tribe version of the dance no words are used, but it follows a regular grass dance song pattern of repeated phrases in fours. This style of music with its secure drumming and textured singing continues at contemporary powwows.
  16. The Passing of the Red Man, 1916. Karl L. King. This brief programmatic concert piece that musically considers the fate of American Indians during the nineteenth century, was dedicated “To my esteemed friend, Col. Wm. F. Cody, ‘Buffalo Bill’.” Cody enjoyed this mini-overture in particular. Merle Evans reported that Buffalo Bill “used to come to the bandstand during the (pre-show) concert with the Wild West show and ask me to play it for him.”4Don Russell, The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill, (Norman, Oklahoma: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1960), p. 459. Passing of the Red Man musically depicts the interplay between the Red Man and White Man on the frontier during the nineteenth century. After a provocative introduction evoking fateful possibilities of things to come, the stereotypical Indian characteristic music familiar to the times begins, but is taken over by White Man music in the second section. A musical battle between the two themes ensues, but as in the reality of the times, the White Man music wins. The music ends like it began however, quietly, encouraging thoughtfulness regarding the possible consequences of the nineteenth century battle for the frontier West.
  17. Gallant Zouaves, 1916. Karl L. King. Composed for the amateur, military precision Zouave drill teams prevalent at the turn of the century, this march includes an excerpt from the famous military song, The Girl I Left Behind Me, in the woodwind parts at the trio.
  18. Tenting Tonight On the Old Campground. Walter Kittredge, arr. W.S. Ripley, 1910. Affected deeply by the Civil War like so many of his generation, this moving tribute to the soldiers of that era is reported by many sources to be Buffalo Bill’s favorite song. Cody died early in 1917. His long-time friend and band leader, William Sweeney, died later that year. This florid, concert-style arrangement, created fifty years after the war, with its bugle calls, fast-moving woodwind parts, and excerpts from the Star Spangled Banner, evokes the post-Civil War “winning of the West,” the decorative notions of Victorian aesthetics, and the grandiose, mythic Wild West show. It becomes a tribute to Buffalo Bill’s life as an American hero and fitting end to this recreation of the music of Buffalo Bill’s Cowboy Band.

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