Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

SOUSA, John Philip

(b 6 Nov. 1854, Washington DC; d 6 March '32, Reading PA) Bandleader, composer. He played violin in symphony orchestras, led USMC Band 1880--92, brass concert band for the rest of his life, the best-loved act of its kind: he hired first-class musicians and paid them well. Thanks largely to his first trombonist Arthur Pryor, his band helped spread the sound of ragtime all over the world. Sousa inspired untold numbers of kids to take up instruments; composed 'Stars And Stripes Forever', 'King Cotton', 'El Capitan' (title theme of his comic opera), 'Semper Fidelis' (Marine Corp hymn written at request of President Chester A. Arthur), 'The Thunderer', 'Washington Post March', many others. He disapproved of 'canned music'; about two dozen of his records were big hits 1895--1918, most cond. by Pryor, who went on to have his own bandleading/recording career.