CD-JRE – The Americus Brass Band

James Reese Europe’s
Harlem Hell Fighters Band

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

Track List

St. Louis Blues — W. C. Handy, arr. William Grant Still
(1926, Melrose Bros. Music Co. Inc. Chicago by permission of Handy Bros. Music Co.)
The Dark Town Strutters’ Ball — Shelton Brooks, arr. Harry L. Alford
(1917, Will Rossiter, Chicago)
That Moaning Trombone — Carl Bethel, arr. James McCabe
(1918, Jerome H. Remick & Co. NY & Detroit)
Good Night Angeline — Lt. James Reese Europe, Lt. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, arr. Herald Ivers
(1920, M. Witmark & Sons, NY)
Vocalist: Selwyn Gibson
Indianola — S. R. Henry & Dominic Savino (D. Onivas) arr. George F. Briegel
(1918, Jos. W. Stern & Co. NY)
Ja-Da! (Ja-Da, Ja-Da, Jing-Jing Jing!) — Bob Carleton, arr. Leroy Walker
(1919, Leo Feist, Inc. Feist Building, NY)
How ’Ya Gonna Keep ’em Down on the Farm? — Walter Donaldson, arr. William Schulz
(1919, Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. NY)
Vocalist: Jerry Wheeler
The Memphis Blues — W. C. Handy, ed. Bob Haring
(1914, Theron C. Bennett, 145 West 145th St. NY)
On Patrol in No-Man’s Land — Lt. James Reese Europe, Lt. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, transcribed by Patrick Mullen
(1920, M. Witmark & Sons, NY)
Vocalist: Jerry Wheeler
Russian Rag (Interpolating the World Famous, “Prelude,” by Rachmaninoff) — George L. Cobb, arr. F. Henri Klinkmann
(1918, Will Rossiter, Chicago)
Congratulations (Castle’s Lame Duck Waltz) — James Reese Europe, arr. J. Louis von der Mehden, Jr.
(1914, G. Ricordi & Co. NY)
The Hesitating Blues — W. C. Handy, arr. William Grant Still
(1916, Pace & Handy Music Co. transferred to Handy Bros. Music Co. Inc. 1545 Broadway, NY)

Personnel

Music Director – Richard Birkemeier
Cornets – Kurt Curtis, Pat Mullen, David Scott, Melissa Rodgers
Alto Horn – Mitch Mocilnikar
Trombones – Jerry Wheeler, Jeremy Swem, Loren Marsteller, Phil Keen
Baritone Horns – Brad Harris, Loren Marsteller
Tubas – Robert Krizo, Leigh Schwartz
Percussion – Ken Peters, Tim Catlin
Piccolo/flute – David Catalan
Clarinets – Will Vargas, Myles Davis, Lea Steffens, David Catalan, Brad Harris, Phil Krawzak
Saxophones – Ray Briggs, Phil Krawzak

Credits

Producer – Richard Birkemeier
Historical Consultant – Dr. Ray Briggs, Prof. of Music, BCCM
Recording Engineer – Nic Chaffee
Mastered at Woodshed Music, Long Beach, CA
thewoodshedmusic@gmail.com
Liner Notes – Richard Birkemeier
Cover design – Patrick Mullen
For Cambria Master Recordings – Lance Bowling

Special Thanks

Dr. Johannes M. Stosch, Director of the
Bob Cole Conservatory of Music
(BCCM) at California State University, Long Beach

The Chatfield Music Lending Library,
P.O. Box 578 Chatfield, MN 55923

Was the “Harlem Hell Fighters” Band
the first jazz big band?

That was the question everyone was asking in 1919. James Reese Europe (1880 – 1919), director of New York’s 369th Infantry band – the legendary “Harlem Hell Fighters, was interviewed by Grenville Vernon of the New York Tribune in March 1919 and asked to describe his concept of “jazz.” Europe explained that jazz is basically a performance style:

…accomplished in several ways, with the brass instruments we put in mutes and make a whirling motion with the tongue, at the same time blowing full pressure. With wind instruments we pinch the mouthpiece and blow hard. This produces the peculiar sound which you all know. To us it is not discordant, as we play the music as it is written, only that we accent strongly in this manner the notes which originally would be without accent. It is natural for us to do this [but] I have to call a daily rehearsal of my band to prevent the musicians from adding to their music more than I wish them to. Whenever possible they all embroider their parts in order to produce new, peculiar sounds.¹

And in 1968, respected jazz historian Gunther Schuller wrote that the introduction of these stylings in actual band performance as they were in Europe’s legendary, 1919 Pathé recordings, resulted in what he called, “the first big band.”²

The Pathé recordings made by Europe’s band in New York City in the spring of 1919 are among the earliest recordings made by African American band musicians and as Schuller wrote, represent an extremely important contribution to the history of jazz. These are the jazz stylings that the Americus Brass Band has recreated in their 2019 recording, The music of James Reese Europe’s Harlem Hell Fighters’ Band.

Europe’s recordings still exist and are available through Memphis Archives Records³ so one might ask why we felt the need to re-record them. The original Pathé recordings were made using the old wax-cylinder method and despite the modern digital reconstruction technologies employed by Memphis Archives, the quality still doesn’t reflect the live performance of James Reese Europe’s musicians.

The Americus Brass Band’s (ABB) mission has always been to accurately recreate historic brass band music for modern audiences using original instruments and authentic performance practices. Our goal is to bring that music back to life by making it sound as much like the original as is possible. The biggest hurdle to overcome in the re-making of the “Harlem Hell Fighters” recordings was actually finding the music. After surviving months in the trenches of France in WWI, Lt. Europe was murdered in 1919, less than a week after recording the final piece and it was generally believed that his musical arrangements, and the secret to the band’s style and sound had died with him.

Yet the jazz stylings, as Europe described them, are clearly evident in the recordings they made and when ABB music director Richard Birkemeier discovered that Europe’s band was actually playing mostly published standard band music and adding the “jazz” stylings in performance, we were ready to recreate the music of his band as it actually sounded.

Reconstructing this music required hours of analysis of the original recordings, comparing them to the printed music to determine what was published arrangement and what were jazz stylings added by Europe’s musicians. There were no scores for most of this music so each ABB musician had to make the appropriate adjustments to their individual parts at the recording sessions. The spontaneity of performance that resulted may have actually resulted in a more authentic interpretation of the music than might otherwise have been possible.

Finally, we tried to match Europe’s instrumentation as closely as we could. The instruments we employed were all from the period and included: 3 cornets, 3 trombones, baritone, tuba, alto horn, piccolo/flute, Eb clarinet, 3 Bb clarinets, alto sax, tenor sax, and percussion (snare, woodblock, various traps, bass drum & cymbals.

We feel confident that his CD, recorded on the 100th anniversary of the original Pathé sessions, brings the music of James Reese Europe and his Hell Fighters’ Band back to life. We hope you agree.

The Repertoire

Notes by Richard Birkemeier

W. C. Handy

The St. Louis Blues — W. C. Handy (1914), probably arranged by William Grant Still, Pace and Handy Music Co. New York City, 1916).

The “Hell Fighters” recording of this W. C. Handy classic is one of their most interesting efforts and the one specifically mentioned by Tim Gracyk as “the masterpiece” of the Pathé sessions.⁴ Both Gracyk and Reid Badger, Europe’s biographer, describe the arrangement as having been composed by Europe himself⁵ but this was certainly not the case.

William Grant Still-1936

Charles A. Prince’s band recorded this exact arrangement in early 1916 for Columbia Records, so it could not have been written by Europe. In fact, while not credited in the printed parts, the eminent ethnomusicologist Eileen Southern has concluded that William Grant Still made this band arrangement in 1916, when he was arranging music for Handy in Memphis.⁶ Still’s name DOES appear as arranger on Handy’s “Hesitating Blues,” also published in 1916, and combined with the fact that Still was conducting the Wilberforce College band at this time seems to make Southern’s case very strong indeed.⁷ And why not, William Grant Still is universally known today as one of the finest, if not the finest African American composer of the 20th century. Southern calls him “the Dean of Afro-American composers.”⁸

The arrangement of “The St. Louis Blues” recorded by Europe in 1919 and used the ABB in 2018 for this recording, was published by Melrose Bros. Music Co. Inc. (“by permission of Handy Bros. Music Co.”) in Chicago in 1926, ten years after Still wrote it. The Melrose Edition is a direct transcription of Handy’s original published sheet music but transposed up a 1/2 step to Ab, typical of many band arrangements. In his autobiography, Handy wrote that the song was influenced by the newly popular tango dance style: “When ‘St Louis Blues’ was written, the tango was in vogue. I tricked the dancers by arranging a tango introduction, breaking abruptly into a low-down blues.”⁹ In the Melrose arrangement, the introduction features the low brass Habanera rhythms of the tango and there are castanets in the percussion part. Interestingly, the Prince Orchestra recording (1916) for Columbia Records which is very faithful to the written music, leaves out the castanets. But Europe’s recording includes castanets throughout. After the stately introduction, the Melrose Edition continues the verse with the Handy-invented, 12-bar blues (both harmony and melody) with no hint of the tango or ragtime styles (and therefore no castanets). JRE’s recording however, continues the castanets all the way until the chorus. As was the case with all the band music of this time, the trombone glissandi are laboriously notated in the parts, but of course are played as smears. The B section of the verse (m. 33) abandons the 12-bar blues harmony and brings the tango rhythm back, complete with castanets playing a habanera rhythm. The chorus (m. 49) returns to the 12-bar blues and the tango influence disappears entirely, both in the published music and in JRE’s recording as well.

It is at this point where JRE begins to allow his musicians more freedom. The published arrangement repeats the chorus one time and then adds a DC, but without a fine anywhere in the arrangement. If the DC is taken, the entire piece must be repeated because there is simply no place to stop until the chorus. James Reese Europe, however treats the chorus in the way any later jazz musician would; he repeats it ad lib, and allows his musicians an opportunity to embellish and even improvise.

Europe repeats the complete chorus three times (six times in the cornet and woodwind parts which have repeat markings and 1^st and 2^nd endings). The first chorus features JRE’s solo cornetist, Frank De Broite imitating the great Herbert L. Clarke, playing the melody in a “classical” style. The only embellishment is provided by another cornetist who plays an unwritten tonic (Ab), flutter-tongued at the end of each phrase, seemingly making fun of the “prim and proper” cornet solo (this was probably played by Russell T. Smith, who went on to play 1^st trumpet for Fletcher Henderson). The ABB cornet soloist on this piece is Kurt Curtis, a professional trumpeter and conductor in California and Texas and former leader of the Disneyland Band in Anaheim. The trombones add insult to injury with a layer of prominent glissandi on the 2nd half of the cornet solo. The second chorus gives the woodwinds the melody and the brass move to the background, all except for one high cornet who adds an improvised 16^th figure in mute at the end of each phrase. But the third repetition is where things get a little crazy. The “Hell Fighters’ Band” is now playing all of their parts, both written and improvised when the very fine solo clarinetist (who’s name is unknown) begins to play an embellished and later, improvised melody over the top. This solo is definitely in the style of Wilbur Sweatman, the great early jazz clarinetist in New York City who probably inspired this performance.¹⁰ Re-creating this style is our clarinetist, Myles Davis, a hot young Disneyland musician. A careful listen to the “Hell Fighter’s” recording reveals an oboe (!) playing the final chorus. We chose to cover that part with a clarinet rather than hire an oboist for the recording. The piece builds to a grand climax and then ends, as Europe’s band usually did, with the solo clarinet’s improvised “bluesy” final cadence. This was NOT a part of the Melrose Edition but became sort of the band’s trademark. In most of the Pathé recordings Europe’s musicians end with a short improvisation on the old ragtime “Shave-and-a-haircut” tag, but in this case the soloist just offers us the “two-bits.”

The Dark Town Strutter’s Ball — Shelton Brooks, arr. Harry L. Alford, and published by Will Rossiter, Chicago (1917)

Shelton Brooks was one of the most successful Black songwriters in the era before jazz (he was actually African-Canadian) and he is best remembered today for his hit song, “The Dark Town Strutters’ Ball” which sold more than 3 million copies as sheet music. The arrangement that the “Hell Fighters’ Band” (both versions) recorded was written by Harry Alford and published by Will Rossiter in Chicago that same year. The (Eugene) Jaudas Society Orchestra recorded this same arrangement for the Edison Phonograph Co. in 1917. Their performance is very “straight” in rhythm but does add the slide whistle solos (not in the score) that JRE’s percussionist copied two years later. Wilbur Sweatman’s Jazz Band, a small combo with one clarinet, one trumpet, one trombone, piano, drums and tuba, also recorded the song for Columbia Records in 1918. This recording features a slower tempo with “jazzy” improvisation, swing rhythms, barnyard sounds and a tag ending.

Europe’s “Hell Fighter’s Band” recorded the arrangement pretty much as written, but the dotted rhythms are interpreted more loosely than on the Jaudas recording. The intro and verse are “as written” with the exception of the drum parts which feature a very loud bass drum attack at the beginning and wood block rather than snare and bass drums thereafter. Woodblock recorded much more clearly on wax than drums and is used liberally throughout all these recordings so ABB’s snare drummer, Kenny Peters, has used them here as well. But most notable, as was mentioned above, the players are beginning to “cheat” on the dotted ragtime rhythms and are almost “swinging.” JRE alters the arrangement on the chorus featuring woodwinds alone on the first repetition and of course, the famous slide whistle is ever-present during all the rests. The brass join on the repeat but Europe has them in mutes so that the woodwinds still dominate. The trio is played mostly as written, without mutes so the glissandi in the trombones are more prominent.

JRE alters the roadmap slightly at the DS al fine. He has the DS repeat back to the chorus and this time Frank DeBroite, comes to the fore with a highly embellished triple-tongued variation of the melody. While Frank plays in a very “legit” style, our solo cornetist Pat Mullen, can’t resist adding some bluesy inflections of his own that remind us of the jazz years that have intervened since. The chorus now repeats and the woodwinds add their part to Frank’s (and Pat’s) solo, but it doesn’t end there. Europe adds a third repeat with the whole band playing tutti and the trombones soaring over all with their enthusiastic countermelody, complete with their trademark glissandi. The piece ends with the “shave-and-a-haircut” tag mentioned previously.

That Moaning Trombone — Carl D. Bethel, arr. James C. McCabe. Published by Jerome H. Remick & Co. NY & Detroit (1918).

Carl Bethel was a respected band leader who played for Sousa’s and Pryor’s bands before creating several of his own professional groups, from the Steel Pier in Atlantic City to Venice, California.¹¹ Bethel may have composed this “Comic March One-Step” for the bands as they marched off to WWI. It is likely that JRE’s band played the piece regularly in France and it may be no coincidence that this arrangement was also recorded by Murray Pilcer’s Jazz Band in London a couple of months before the Pathé recordings were made in New York.¹² It was also a popular feature of Will Marion Cook’s American Syncopated Orchestra performances in 1919 and 1920.¹³

JRE’s recording follows the arrangement accurately with the exception of an extra repeat of the break strain and trio which they added. As in “The St. Louis Blues” arrangement previously mentioned, James McCabe’s orchestration also features trombone glissandi that are laboriously written out, note by note in the published parts. The most significant aspect of the “Hell Fighter’s Band’s recording is the very fast tempo. As slow as Murray Pilver’s recording is, JRE’s is impossibly fast, evidence that the band was completely familiar with the piece after many performances. The ABB’s recording, made at a live concert in 2017, is less frantic than the tempo of the Memphis Archive’s remastered original.

Good Night Angeline — Lieut. Jim Reese Europe, Lieut. Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, arranger Herald Ivers, published by M. Witmark & Sons, NY (1920).

Tim Brooks, in his Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 writes that the song was composed by Europe, Sissle and Blake in 1917 and that Noble Sissle recorded the song on Pathé in the summer of 1917. That recording was probably made by Pathé’s studio band of white musicians. Brooks states that Angeline “may or may not be a nod towards Sissle’s mother, Martha Angeline.”¹⁴ The song became a popular Tin Pan Alley love ballad which Sissle and Blake sang on Vaudeville after JRE’s death and later interpolated into their hugely successful musical Shuffle Along, where it was sung (and later recorded) by the Four Harmony Kings.¹⁵

The ABB recording is the arrangement by Herald Ivers that was published by Witmark in 1920 and sold as an instrumental fox trot. We altered the arrangement slightly to accommodate the two verses and two choruses of the song which introduces the fine young LA-based jazz singer, Mr. Selwyn Gibson on the vocals.

Indianola Foxtrot March or One Step — S.(Stephen) R. Henry & D. Onivas (Dominic Savino) arr. George F. Briegel, Published by Jos. W. Stern & Co. NY (1918).

Dominic Savino (Onivas was his pseudonym which is Savino spelled backwards) was a conductor at Pathé Records in New York City during the war years and composed this piece as an “Instrumental Novelty” fox trot march or one step in 1917. Tim Gracyk says the song “tells the improbable tale of a Native American going overseas to ‘Tomahawk Kaiser Bill’.”¹⁶ Both the Victor and Edison Military Bands, and Wilbur Sweatman’s Jazz Band recorded the piece in 1918. The Sweatman recording is notable in that it features a very jazzy improvised style with some swing, and the tag ending. (See Wilbur Sweatman’s Jazz Band (1918)

The “Hell Fighters Band” plays the piece almost exactly as it was arranged by George F. Briegel. The most significant departure from the score was the addition of mutes in the cornets at mms. 18 &19 and the prominent flutter-tonguing in the cornets at the trio. Several (but not all) of the musicians also deviate from the rhythm during the trio with syncopated anticipations to the written down-beat attacks. And the ABB follows suite one hundred years later.

Ja-Da! (Ja-da, Ja-da, Jing-Jing-Jing!) Jazz Fox Trot — Bob Carleton, arr. Leroy Walker, Published by Leo Feist, Inc. Feist Building, NY (1919)

The original sheet music for “Ja-Da” was published in 1918 by Leo Feist, Inc., New York with the proceeds to support the war effort. In fact, the composer published his name as Bob Carleton USNRF (United States Naval Reserve Force). It quickly became very popular and has since become a jazz standard.

The music employed for the Pathé recording was arranged by Leroy Walker but as usual, Europe allowed his musicians to alter the rhythms to make them more syncopated. In addition, he added choruses at the end for embellishment and in this case, improvisation. From the intro on, the band adds syncopations in many places and frequently swings straight eighth-note rhythms, making them sound very much like the dotted rhythms that precede them. Another important alteration to the arrangement was the addition of the echos to the melodic phrases which are an important part of the original song, but strangely missing in Walker’s arrangement. Another major departure from the arrangement is the addition of a loud flutter-tongued high F performed by the cornet at the end of the phrase in the trio. Finally, as in his previous recordings, JRE opens up the DS repeat of the chorus for embellishment and improvisation. For the first repetition the woodwinds carry the melody by themselves. On the repeat, the brass join in mutes. The full band continues with a third repetition and the solo clarinet, LA Freelance musician Will Vargas in the ABB recording, begins to improvise a la Wilbur Sweatman. And on the final, forth repetition, the full band plays in the style that will eventually be called “Dixieland” jazz. As usual, the piece ends with a solo clarinet tag and final cadence.

How’ya Gonna Keep’em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree) — Walter Donaldson, words by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis, arr. William Schulz, Published by Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co. NY (1919). Sung by Jerry Wheeler.

One of the most popular songs of 1919, How’ya Gonna… was recorded by the Hellfighter’s Band as two-step march but with Nobel Sissle singing the chorus on the DS. JRE made few other adjustments to Schulz’s published arrangement with the exception of emphasizing the woodwinds on the repeat of the chorus by muting the cornets. In addition, the drummers added the clever galloping horse, wood block part on the break strain, not included in the original arrangement. Our recording features Jerry Wheeler on 1^sttrombone AND vocals.

The Memphis Blues — W. C. Handy, edited by Bob Haring. Published by Theron C. Bennett, 145 West 145th St. NY (1914).

As most jazz aficionados know, The Memphis Blues, also known as Mr. Crump, is the earliest published blues song, composed by W. C. Handy in 1912. It was composed as a campaign song for a mayoral election in Memphis, TN. The first recording of the Haring arrangement was by the Victor Military Band in 1914. It is in a very straight, literal style (it is marked “slow drag”) but they really drag it! The recording differs somewhat in detail but is clearly the edition that the ABB employed. Prince’s Band recorded the piece the same year for Columbia Records and their rendition is the same Haring edition plus a DS and added “barnyard” noises. The Hell Fighters Band recorded the same edition five years later and made more substantive changes to the “roadmap.” He repeated the chorus six times (three times through the written section of 24 bars) each featuring a short, two-bar, improvised “break” on the hemiola. The first features the woodwinds with flutter-tongue cornet punctuation, the second features the solo cornet on the “break,” the third adds a jazzy trombone glissando, the fourth a solo clarinet, the fifth is a military-style bugle call, and finally, the solo trombone adds his “lick” at the end. The arrangement ends at that point with the by now-expected, “Shave-and-a-haircut” cadence.

On Patrol in No-Man’s Land — Lieut. James Reese Europe, Lieut. Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake. Sheet music published by M. Witmark & Sons, NY (1919) Transcribed by Patrick Mullen. Sung by Jerry Wheeler.

Lt. James Reese Europe

Published with the sheet music original of “Good Night Angeline” in April of 1919, “On Patrol…” was actually composed while Lt. Europe was serving as an officer with the 369th Infantry in France. Reid Badger wrote in A Life in Ragtime that Lieutenant Europe was the first African-American officer to lead troops in combat in WWI. He was also very likely the first to cross no man’s land and participate in a raid on the German lines.¹⁷

Later, in June of 1918, Lt. Jim and his machine gun company were attacked by poison gas. Europe was overcome and immediately, evacuated to a field hospital. Sgt. Noble Sissle and another musician from the band immediately visited him and …as they approached Europe’s cot, Sissle reported the two soldiers could hear him “coughing one of those dry-hacking painful coughs,” but when they came around the partition they found the lieutenant sitting upright and writing in a notebook propped against his knees. When he looked up through his big, shell-rimmed glasses and saw it was us, a big broad smile swept over his face, and instead of him telling us how seriously he was gassed, as we had expected, or how his physical condition was, the first thing that he spoke up and said was: “Gee, I am glad to see you boys! Sissle, here’s a wonderful idea for a song that just came to me, in fact, it was [from the] experience that I had last night during the bombardment that nearly knocked me out.”¹⁸ The song, whose chorus he had just completed, was called “On Patrol in No Man’s Land.”

Our modern edition was transcribed from JRE’s published sheet music because the band arrangement seems to have been lost. Pat Mullen, a cornetist in the Americus Brass Band, crafted the transcription, carefully following the instrumentation of the recording complete with the original battle sound effects and vocalizations by the musicians. The song is again offered by Americus bandsman, trombonist Jerry Wheeler.

Russian Rag (Interpolating the World Famous, “Prelude,” by Rachmaninoff) — George L. Cobb arr. F. Henri Klinkmann. Published by Will Rossiter, Chicago (1918)

Whatever inspired George Cobb to compose a piano rag based on the introduction to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C# minor, Op. 3 No. 2 will forever be a mystery. But it turned out to be his greatest “hit.” This band arrangement is true to the original and is one of the most challenging pieces in the Hell Fighters Band’s book. JRE plays the “ink,” only adding an extra DS back to the break-strain before playing out to the end a second time. The final section features the trombone section in a particularly enthusiastic set of glissandi. Purists will note that the ABB recording re-scores the rather prominent oboe countermelody on the chorus. The piece ends with the signature “shave-and-a-haircut,” but this time it’s repeated three times, the first by the oboe(!), the second by a low register clarinet, and the third by the trombone. JRE must have been quite proud to have an oboe in the band and featured him regularly on these recordings but we have chosen to cover the parts with muted cornet or Eb clarinet. One also notes that the ABB does not increase (dare we say “rush”) the tempo as the piece progresses. We feel this is a more dignified and less hurried interpretation of the piece.

Congratulations (Castle’s Lame Duck Waltz) James Reese Europe, arr. J. Louis von der Mehden, Jr. Published by G. Ricordi & Co. NY (1914)

James Reese Europe’s association with the famous dance icons Irene and Vern Castle, is well known. He served as their music director for several years before WWI and they credited him for his help in the creation of the fox trot dance. In fact, Europe composed several rags and fox trots for the Castles including this lovely “lame duck” waltz, which he titled “Congratulations.” This piece was originally composed for dance orchestra but was transcribed for concert band by J. Louis von der Mehden, Jr. in 1914. Von der Mehden was a respected cellist and composer in NY City in the early 20th century and worked for several record companies including Pathé, but Congratulations was not included in the Hell Fighter’s recordings of 1919 and it is not known if the band ever actually played this arrangement, either in France or in concert after the war. Congratulations was composed in two parts, as many waltzes were, but the Americus Brass Band has chosen to record only waltz #1.

The Hesitating Blues — W. C. Handy, arr. William Grant Still, Published by Pace & Handy Music Co. transferred to Handy Bros. Music Co. Inc. 1545 Broadway, NY (1916)

As was previously mentioned, William Grant Still is widely regarded as one of the most influential African American composers of classical music the 20th century and as a young man, he made his living composing and orchestrating blues songs for W. C. Handy. Still was working for Pace and Handy Music Publishers in Memphis, TN the summer of 1916 when he arranged Handy’s “Hesitating Blues” for band. This collaboration must have been successful because in 1919, Handy offered him a permanent staff position with the company in New York, where he remained until 1934.¹⁹

James Reese Europe followed the arrangement’s “roadmap” with the exception of an added repeat back to the trio. The trio features the Eb clarinet in a very prominent version of Handy’s melody but Europe’s solo clarinetist plays a more embellished, mostly improvised version. The ABB’s Lea Steffens transcribed the recorded solo and reproduces it brilliantly here, also on Eb clarinet. Also of note is the Hell Fighters Band’s driving interpretation of the eighth-note figures, especially in the trio. The trombones are particularly noteworthy as they push the band vigorously forward to the exciting conclusion of the piece. This is truly the perfect piece to conclude this important compilation and a great way to remember James Reese Europe and his amazing band. One hundred years later, this music is still as fresh and alive as it was in his day.

Lieut. Jim Europe’s
369th Infantry (“Hell Fighters”)
band personnel²⁰

Cornets – Frank DeBroite (bio. in Reading Room section of this web site), Russell Smith, Pops Foster, Jake Porter
Trombones – Ward “Dope” Andrews, Amos Gilliard, Raphael Hernandez, Herb Flemming
Woodwinds – Elige Rijos, Antonio Gonzales, Jesus Hernandez, Arturo Ayala, Pinkhead Parker
Percussion – Steve Wright, Herbert Wright, Whitney Viney, Karl Kenny
Vocals – Noble Sissle
Other possible personnel – Piccolo Jones (flute & piccolo), Calvin Jones, Lee Perry, and Alex Jackson.

The 369th Infantry “Harlem Hell Fighters” Band

James Reese Europe’sHarlem Hell Fighters Band