The United States Military Academy Band, West Point, New York (album)

Background

The West Point Band (U.S.M.A. Band) has a consistent tradition of high level musicians coming from the best professional groups and music schools in the country to include the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, University of North Texas, University of Indiana, Berklee College of Music, Eastman School of Music, and others. These musicians serve in the United States Army stationed at the United States Military Academy in a permanent duty "Special Bands" assignment and receive the immediate rank of NCO (Staff Sergeant with special MOS). This U.S. Army unit has a long and distinguished tradition dating back to 1778; it is the U.S. Army's oldest active band and the oldest unit at the United States Military Academy. It was officially named The West Point Band in 1817.

The two groups recorded on the CD are entirely separate as concertizing units and having no crossover of musicians from ensemble to ensemble; this helps to retain a very high level of both ensembles' musicianship and expertise. They do combine into a marching band for Cadet reviews/activities and many other ceremonial military functions as per the unit's SOP. The Concert Band and the Jazz Knights have appeared in numerous high level military and patriotic ceremonies, public concerts, sporting events and radio and television broadcasts. They performed at the dedication of the Erie Canal, at the Chicago and New York World's Fairs, and for the funerals of Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin D. Roosevelt as well as the inaugurations and burials for numerous presidents. Additionally, the Concert Band and Jazz Knights have collaborated with some of the finest musical ensembles in the country, including the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Pops; they have also been showcased in Carnegie Hall and featured on The Today Show, 60 Minutes, Dateline NBC as well as on documentaries on the History and Discovery Channels. During the time of this CD recording, the concert band and marching band were featured on the Songs of the Civil War CD (for Columbia Records) and television program; 1991/1992 telecast on PBS. The band also played the military honors for President Richard Nixon's burial (New York stretch before flight to Yorba Linda, California). The Jazz Knights were featured on the A&E Network as part of the Boston Pops 4th of July Celebration during this time (for two years).

Track listing

All tracks written by various artists listed.

About the music

When he assumed command in 1990, LTC Frank G. Dubuy wanted artistic documentation on a unique CD of the entire musical unit in terms of the two concertizing ensembles. One of the elements Dubuy saw lacking with the U.S.M.A. Concert Band and Jazz Knights is the fact there was no good recording of the recent U.S.M.A. groups (early 1990s). Dubuy met with the command staff about music to be recorded and picked the best possible works reflecting the present state of the groups and history embedded into the West Point Band music library and lineage.

The Concert Band recorded the opening and third movements of the Nelhýbel Concerto for Winds and Percussion as an important tribute to, and documentation of Václav Nelhýbel's close association to the West Point Band. Nelhýbel as well as Robert Russell Bennett, Morton Gould, Darius Milhaud, Percy Grainger, Henry Brandt and several other important wind band composers have written for the West Point Band over the last 150 years. The two Sousa works contrast the famous march style of the composer (Fairest of the Fair) against his programmatic music (Beneath the Southern Cross). The set of concert band recordings is rounded out with the Haydn Concerto for Oboe (Allegro Spiritoso) and the Peter Buys work Huntingdon Municipal Band March.

The entire set of eight charts the Jazz Knights recorded for these sessions were written and arranged by the three staff writers for the ensemble: Jim Perry, Jack Cooper and Paul Murtha (with an original tune by the guitarist Rob Helsel).

Recording sessions

The U.S.M.A. Concert Band

The Jazz Knights

Production

Print music from the CD