The Dodge City Cow-Boy 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
- Star Quick Step — Alfred Squire, 1872 (Squires Cornet Band Book)
- Did Did Polka — S. Morley Boyer, 1875 (A. Squire)
- Concertino in E-flat — Ernst Sachse 1871 (G. W. Stratton) Ed. H. M. Lewis, Mitch Mocilnikar, Alto Horn
- The Old Chisholm Trail* — Cowboy Song, Sung by Eric Love and Mark Torreso
- Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie* — Cowboy Song, Sung by Eric Love and Mark Torreso
- See the Conqu’ring Hero Comes — G. F. Handel, 1871 (A. Squire)
- Recollections of the War — Edward Beyer 1883 (Jean White, Boston)
- Camptown Races — Stephen Foster, 1850 (F. D. Benteen), arr. Leigh Schwartz
- Descriptive Potpourri: The life of Creede — Charles William Bennett c. 1900 (unpublished. This version is from the manuscript in the Sinclair Cowboy Band archive at the Autry Museum of the Wild West.), Narrated by Mark Torreso
- Goodbye, Old Paint* — Charley Willis (N. Howard “Jack” Thorp, 1921), Sung by Eric Love and Mark Torreso
- Vaillance Polka Militiare — Joseph Ascher 1872 (Squire’s Cornet Band Olio No. 2)
- Review Quick Step — H. E. Crammatti, 1868 (Stratton’s Military Band Journal, No. 120)
- Git Along Little Dogies* — Cowboy Song, Sung by Eric Love and Mark Torreso
- Home on the Range* — Brewster M. Higley, Daniel E. Kelley, c. 1872, Sung by Eric Love and Mark Torreso
- Helter Skelter Gallop — Carl Faust, 1862 (A. Squire)
*Though they are included on the CD, Summit Records has made these selections available separately on streaming services.
Personnel
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 and Mike Steffens
Valve Trombone – Brad Harris
Tenor Horn – Richard Spitz
Baritone Horn – Loren Marsteller
Bb Bass Horn – Phil Keen
Eb Helicon – Leigh Schwartz
Drums – Ken Peters and Jim Lorbeer
Vocals – Mark Torreso and Eric Love
Note: all musicians were performing on period instruments.
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 15th and 18th, 1995.
Liner Notes
from the published CD
Dodge City, as any history buff knows, was one of the most notorious towns in the “Old West.” A major rail-head on the Chisholm Trail, Dodge was the scene of the legendary exploits of such figures as “Doc” Holliday and “Bat” Masterson. Cowboys, fresh off the trail, drove their herds down Main Street, then spent their hard-earned money at saloons like the Long Branch. And Indian Territory began a scant ten miles west of town.
In the middle of al this “wild west hoopla,” a group of young cowboys formed a brass band. A local cattle rancher, saloon owner, and Deputy Sheriff named Chalkley M. Beeson conceived the idea, hoping that a band would help sell Dodge City beef. He dressed his musicians in traditional cowboy costume, complete with Colt 45’s, provided them with the finest instruments available, and proudly called the group The Dodge City Cow-Boy Band. The band achieved nationwide recognition at the National Stockman’s Convention held in St. Louis in 1884. Their unique blend of traditional brass band music with cowboy hats and six-guns captured the imagination of all who attended.
Ten years after the band was founded, a young cowboy/musician named Jack Sinclair joined the band. He later purchased the band’s music, instruments, and name and moved to Pueblo, Colorado.
The Cow-Boy Band set out on its “World Tour” in 1892, a two year venture that lasted six months. They did, however, play at several major venues including Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the Chicago World’s Fair. The band capped off the 19th century with a tour of duty in the Spanish American War.
Chalk Beeson died in Dodge City in 1912 after being thrown from a horse, and Jack Sinclair died of a heart attack in 1929 in Pueblo, but the Dodge City Cow-Boy Band history has been preserved at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Los Angeles and the Boothill Museum in Dodge City.
Musical Commentary
by Richard Birkemeier
The Dodge City Cow-Boy Band was in many ways, a typical brass band of the period such as could be found in any of a thousand cities and towns across the United States in the 1880’s. For a detailed description of the history of this iconic band, check out the “Reading Room” on this website.
The Cow-Boy Band’s repertoire featured the popular songs, marches, opera selections and patriotic songs that comprised the standard brass band repertoire of the era. Cowboy songs like “Goodbye Old Paint” and “Git Along Little Dogies,” that we now associate with the ‘old west’ were simple work songs sung by young men doing a difficult job on the range. Even if that music had been known to the general public (and it was not), it would not have been considered appropriate to include in the band concerts that represented the “highest” culture available on the frontier.
The “Did Did Polka,” “Helter Skelter Gallop” and “Camptown Races” were popular songs from the saloons of Dodge City, where most of the band’s musicians worked. Nineteenth century audiences also loved solos by members of the band. The Concertino by Ernst Sachse was actually written for the Eb Cornet, but might have been played by any instrument in the band. Opera selections remained staples of the brass band repertoire from before the Civil War until well into the twentieth century. The Dodge City Cow-Boy Band played several operatic pieces on every concert and often featured vocal soloists as well. Handel’s “See the Congu’ring Hero Comes” was a popular selection and was Buffalo Bill’s theme song in his Wild West show.
Another type of music that was a particularly important part of the Dodge City Band’s repertoire in the 1890s was the “descriptive potpourri.” The band played several such extended suites, two of which were “Recollections of the War” and “The Life of Creede.” Both pieces tell stories through music: the first, a battle in the Civil War; the second, a miner who strikes it rich in Colorado. “The Life of Creede” (also known as “A Miner’s Luck)” was the centerpiece of the Cow-Boy Band’s repertoire in the 1890’s. The band’s leader, Jack Sinclair, commissioned the music along with an expensive set of eighteen, beautifully painted, “oleo” back-drops that were rolled down behind the band during the performance. Each oleo portrayed a scene being performed by the bandsmen so that by the end of the piece, the audience had experienced a visual as well as musical treat. The Descriptive Potpourri was certainly an inspiration for the movies that would soon follow. But brass bands played marches and patriotic music more successfully than any other genre. The “Review Quick Step” and “Vailliance Polka Militaire” were marches left over from the Civil War era but were still popular with audiences.
The Cow-Boy Band’s instruments were also representative of the era. The application of the French piston valve was a major improvement in brass instrument design that otherwise hadn’t changed much since the Civil War. Piston valved cornets, valved trombones and the helicon bass horn represented the most “up-to-date” instruments in the Cow-Boy band’s inventory.
There is little question that brass bands like the Dodge City Cow-Boy Band played an important role in bringing desperately needed artistic culture and entertainment to the frontier. What is less known is that in 1915, Jack Sinclair brought his Cowboy Band to Los Angeles and their concerts may have influenced a whole new entertainment industry based on the concept of the “romance of the west,” the Western Movie.
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