Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIII, no. 3 (Fall 1997)
National Conference Update
"Everthings's up to date" -- including plans for the Society's 1998 annual conference --
"in Kansas City." Hosted by the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri-Kansas City
(UMKC), the meeting is scheduled for 18-22 February 1998, and will take place at the Downtown
Marriott in the heart of hte city's oldest business district. We will be joined in several special
events and morning sessions by two regional divisions of the College Band Directors National
Association, a groups whose dedication to artfully performed American music complements our own.
Senior luminaries in the band world such as Frederick Fennell (Sonneck's 1991 Honorary Member) and
H. Robert Reynolds will conduct at a Sonneck/CBDNA American Music Collage Concert Thursday evening
in UMKC's White Recital Hall. Works by award-winning composers Libby Larsen (Sonneck's 1998
Honorary Member) and Karel Husa, both of whom will be on hand, are to be featured on that concert.
MUSA's forthcoming, historic edition of Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever" will provide a coda for the
evening. Exhibits from UMKC's Special Collections Library including manuscripts of Amy Beach and
Paul Creston will be on display in the lobby, and Sonneck's own specialists Adrienne Fried Block and Shirley
Bean will serve as guides to the exhibits.
Kansas City and jazz are perpetually linked for good reason; the city made its greatest contribution to the
history of jazz between the world wars, when home town boy Bennie Moten first defined a southwest, or
Kansas City, style of orchestral jazz. Moten's famous pianist, Count Basie, continued the Southwest tradition
in his own orchestra after Moten's death. A constellation of jazz stars including Andy Kirk,
Coleman Hawkins, Julia Lee, Lester Young, Mary Lou Williams, Big Joe Turner, and one of bebop's
creators, Charlie Parker, called Kansas City home during their formative and heyday years. Only
in 1997 has the city's jazz legacy been commemorated in a way befitting its significance, by the opening
of the Kansas City Jazz Museum the first weekend in September. The $26.6 million-dollar project comprises
the Jazz Museum and Visitors' center, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and the new Gem Theater in the
historic 18th and Vine district.
After the opportunity to tour that new facility and research area, Sonneckers will have the rare chance to witness
a fusion of four venerable Kansas City jazz talents when senior jazzmen Jay McShann (noted bandleader
who hired young Charlie Parker) and Claude "Fiddler" Williams (Andy Kirk and Count Basie
bands) join tenor saxophonist Harold Ashby (Ellington Band, 1968-1975) and trumpeter Harry
"Sweets" Edison (Basie band, 1937-1950) for a concert Friday night. No venue could be more convenient
to the conference hotel than the beautifully-renovated Folly Theater, the Marriott's next-door neighbor.
As the Folly's contribution to Brooklyn Academy of Music's "Lost Jazz Shrines" project, this concert,
"Celebrating the Kansas City Style," is sure to be a popular event in town. Be an early "Bird" when returning
your conference registration materials to ensure a seat for this landmark performance, or get a "jump"
on your ticket purchase by calling the Folly Box Office at (816) 474-4444 (M-F, 10:00 am-5:30 pm) and ordering
now! Be sure to mention the Sonneck Society's special ticket prices, $22.00 for front orchestra/balcony,
$20 for rear orchestra/balcony.
Program chair Karen Ahlquist assures us the program's offerings will be memorable, including an organ/choir
session at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, four blocks' distance from the hotel. Presentation topics will run the
gamut from American bossa nova to the Kansas City Jazz Museum, ragtime dance (with live demonstration),
Schubert in America, cultural theory, and politics of all sorts. Saturday morning, Honorary Member Libby
Larsen will address the Society and CBDNA in a plenary session entitled "The Revolution in Sound Since 1948."
That evening, be sure to bring your speakeasy attire for the banquet entertainment, Kansas City's Rhythm Club
Orchestra, specializing in authentic 1920s dance music. A quick foxtrot refresher course will signal the
switch from dinner to dancing.
Kansas City is among the least stressful travel destination cities of its size. Kansas City International Airport
services all major domestic airlines (Jim Hines has arranged reduced fares with Southwest Airlines; mention
Identification Code JO268 to receive a 10% reduction on regular fares). Ample and affordable shuttle service
extends the easy airport atmosphere to the Marriott's door. For a more scenic trip across the country, take the
Amtrak and arrive a few blocks south of the hotel at the Kansas City's Union Station, soon to be renovated into a
multi-million dollar science center. All conference activities will be in the Marriott with the exception of Thursday
night's concert at UMKC (a ten-minute ride). On Friday afternoon, you will have a choice of tours: the Truman
Presidential Library and Home in Independence, the 18th and Vince district/Jazz Museum, the Nelson Atkins Museum of
Contemporary Art and Design, or pilgrimages to the gravesites of Charlie Parker and/or Virgil Thomson. Food options
in the Downtown area are varied in menu and price; many restaurants will be an easy walk even if February weather is a
little brisk.
The Local Arrangements Committee, chaired by Kay Norton, is working to ensure all Sonneck members, from students to
seniors, are well-served in Kansas City. Saturday's one-day registration will provide a chance for American music lovers
in the area to become acquainted with the Society. Rumor has it five gallons of Benjamin Franklin Orange Shrub will appear
sometime during the conference. All things considered, the Kansas City conference will be one you won't want to miss.
Visit our conference web site at http://www.iberia.vassar.edu/sonneck/confers.htm
for updated news between now and February. If you have questions regarding the conference, please contact
Kay Norton at the Conservatory of Music, 4949 Cherry, University of Missouri-Kansas City, KC, MO 64110, or at
knorton@cctr.umkc.edu.
Interest Groups Presentations in Kansas City
American Music in American Schools and Colleges
For the past two years, the group has been preparing a presentation on American music to be given at the
NASM conference with the goal of putting the word "American" in the NASM standards. Larry Worster and
Anne Dhu McLucas will report on that meeting. Several other speakers on the topic of American Music in
American Schools will present and there will be discussion among the attendees.
--Larry Worster and Dianna Kay Eiland
Music Theater
"Lost, Forgotten, or Otherwise Obscure"
Do you remember "Show and Tell" from grade school? Those attending this year's musical theater interest
group session are invited to bring with them information on a show, song, performer, or anyone or anything
else associated with the American musical theater which may not be generally known. Presentations should be
brief, 2-3 minutes. Observers welcome!
--Bill Everett and Tom Riis
American Band History
The American Band History Research Interest Group meeting will feature presentations by two speakers:
Dr. Lavern Wagner, Quincy University, professor emeritus, and Marcus Nieman, Fine Arts Consultant of the
Medinah (OH) County Schools and founder and conductor of the "Sounds of Sousa," who will present results of
their recent research. Dr. Wagner will lecture on "The General Benjamin Grierson Collection of Manuscript
Band Music." Marcus Nieman will present "John Philip Sousa--Then and Now: Preserving the Legacy."
--Phyllis Danner
Musical Biography
Writers of biographies face copyright and/or permission questions. The more contemporary their subjects,
the more complex and insistent these questions become. This year's session will offer guidelines for
identifying and answering such questions. The speakers will be Judith McCullough, Senior Editor of the
University of Illinois Press and Robert M. Copeland.
--Adrienne Fried Block
Popular Music
This year the Popular Music Interst Group will focus on problems and opportunities in teaching
popular music at the university level. Several members will make presentations on courses
they have taught.
--John Covach
Twentieth-Century Music
The Twentienth-Century Interest Group will have an informal discussion concerning the matter of current
interest and research among its membership. We will discuss which of our current enthusiams might best
translate into more formal future sessions.
--Louis Goldstein
Music of Latin America and Caribbean
"The Festival of Santiago"
In the 12th century, as Catholic Spain becan to expel the Muslims occupying her territory since the 8th
century, elaborate pagents were held in the Spanish Court in celebration. Soon after, these celebrations became
popular entertainment in the marketplace. After the American Conquest, reenactment of the battles against the
Moors were staged by Indians everywhere in Latin America and by African slaves of the Spanish Caribbean.
Primarily inteded as a demonstration of Christian power, it is today a colorful week-long religious-secular
carnival in Puerto Rico.
--Henrietta Yurchenco
Research on Gender and American Music
Guest Speaker, Libby Larsen.
--Kay Norton
Folk and Tradition Music
Lunch meeting and open Sacred Harp singing sessions.
--Ron Pen
Research Resources
Organizational Meeting.
--George Boziwick
Historiography
Organizational Meeting.
--Paul Charosh
Gospel Music
No schedule meeting.
--Ester Rothenbusch
Updated 1/06/98