John Hightower
Host of Brass, Reeds and PercussionBorn in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1951, John moved to Huntsville in 1975, where he worked for a communications training firm. From 1997 to 2022, John worked for the Lanier Ford law firm. During his tenure, He served as Lanier Ford's law librarian, marketing specialist, trainer, and professional recruiter.
From 7th grade to 12th grade, John was involved in band (he played flute and piccolo), a fact that explains his fascination with band music.
John graduated from Mississippi State University (MSU) with a degree in communications and from the University of Mississippi with a law degree. While attending MSU, he worked in professional radio in Starkville for WSSO and WSMU-FM (sister stations). While attending law school in Oxford, John worked for WSUH and WOOR-FM (sister stations). .He served as program director at both sets of stations. Radio was always a lot of fun for him, and he said, "I can't believe how lucky I am to be working in radio again."
John says he has big shoes to fill in following Darryl Adams as host of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion. Darryl passed away on October 18, 2011. But since that time, John has continued a Huntsville tradition at 1 p.m. every Saturday on WLRH.
Thank you, Darryl Adams, for the many wonderful years you dedicated to WLRH. You are missed!
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features circus music composed by Fred Jewell, who ran away from home to join the band of the Gentry Bros. Dog & Pony Show at age 16. He played the euphonium and the calliope. Eventually, he directed three circus bands: the band of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the Sells-Floto Circus, and the Barnum & Bailey Circus. When he retired from circus work in 1918, he returned to his hometown of Worthington, Indiana, to be the high school band director. He composed over 100 marches and screamers, a screamer being a fast march that accompanied galloping animals in circus acts. -
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, music theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was born in Moravia in 1854, which was then part of the Austo-Hungarian Empire and is now the eastern part of Czechia. His music was inspired by folk music. Along with Anton Dvorak and Bedřich Smetana, he is considered one of the big three Czech composers. He is most famous for his operas, probably from his earliest musical training and experience as a singer. His primary musical instruments were piano and organ. He studied at the Leipzig and Vienna Conservatories. He composed choral works, operas, chamber music, and orchestra works. Today's edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features a wind-band transcription of his Sinfonietta for Orchestra.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie,” composed by Alabama’s very own Clarence Pinetop Smith from Troy. But it opens with a march written by Jerry Bilik, who started out as the 17th chair trombone player in the University of Michigan Marching Band. But Bilik eventually became the band’s chief composer and arranger from 1955 to 1958. Of course, this should be no surprise because, by age 13, he had already composed at least 50 pieces. Eventually, Bilik worked for such performers as Danny Kaye, Dick Van Dyke, Leonard Bernstein, Barbra Streisand, and Neil Diamond. He arranged music for several television shows, including “Starsky and Hutch” and “Charlie's Angels.” He has also arranged music for Disney on Ice. Today’s edition opens with Bilik’s “Block M March,” written when he was 20 years old and attending the University of Michigan, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music.
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Variety is the watchword or Brass, Reeds, and Percussion. This edition demonstrates that watchword with original classical wind-band music, big band music from the 20th century, and leftovers from Woodstock der Blasmusik.Last week, Brass, Reeds, and Percussion celebrated Woodstock der Blasmusik, a wind-band music festival held in Austria during the last weekend in June. In preparing that show, I had an abundance of riches and we re going to hearing a few pieces that not included in last week’s episode. So we begin this edition with the “Panorama March” by Thomas G. Greiner, who was born in Baviaria in 1966. He plays trumpet and flugelhorn in a number of different bands and writes music in the Egerlander style. But he also plays the French horn in this local village band and has decided the horn is his dream instrument.
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Woodstock der Blasmusik is a 4-day, open-air festival held annually since 2011 in Ort im Innkreis, Austria, during the last week of June. Wind bands play both traditional and modern music. The festival started with two stages, but now has six stages, each of which features its own genre of music—from what we Americans might call traditional German polka music to rock-and-roll and folk music. In 2023, 5,000 musicians participated in the festival. When this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion was broadcast, the third day of the 2024 festival was underway. So this edition was an ersatz version of the show in which we will air recordings of music that you might hear if you attended the festival.
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Simon Mayr wrote 60 operas, inspired Rossini, and taught Gaetano Donizetti. This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original classical wind-band music Mayr composed: a sextet for two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, and one string bass. Yes, it’s a sextet with seven parts. In such compositions at the time it was written, the seventh part for the string bass was typically not required but often added to enhance the bass line. As wind instruments, the bassoons were not always able to carry the bass line without a little help. This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion will open with march written by the composer often called the “Bohemian Sousa”; namely, Julius Fucik.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original classical wind-band music by Joseph Triebensee and "Quiet Village," a big exotica hit from 1959. Martin Denny and His Band perform "Quiet Village" and the sound effects are provided by voice actor Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath, otherwise known at Purves Pullen.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original classical wind-band music composed by Beethoven’s student Ferdinand Ries and one of the biggest popular-music hits of 1920. This edition opens with the jazz standard from 1920 that sold over 2 million copies; namely, “Whispering.” The music is credited to John Schonberger, who lived from 1892 to 1983. He was a composer and violin player with a number of published and recorded songs to his credit. The hit recording of “Whispering” was made in 1920 by Paul Whiteman and His Band, with Ferde Grofé performing the piano on the recording. But we open today’s edition with a modern recording by the Panorama Jazz Band from New Orleans.
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In recognition of Memorial Day, this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features somber and contemplative music. In particular, this edition features the music of Robert Jager written for and performed by U.S. military bands. For many years, Jager was a professor of music at nearby Tennessee Technical University in Cookeville, TN. From 1962 to 1965, he was an arranger and composer for the U.S. Navy’s Armed Forces School of Music. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1968. He is the only three-time winner of the Ostwald Composition Award of the American Bandmasters Association. He has over 150 works to his credit, including works for band, orchestra, chorus, and various chamber combinations.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original classical wind band music composed by Ferdinand Ries, a German composer who was a pupil, secretary, and friend of Ludwig van Beethoven. Ries was born into a musical family from Bonn, Germany. His grandfather was the court trumpeter for the Elector of Cologne at Bonn. His father was a violinist who was also the elector’s music director. Likewise, two brothers were violin players and one of these was also a composer. Ries began piano lessons with his father. But at age 18, he moved to Vienna and became Beethoven’s pupil and soon became his secretary as well, taking care of correspondence with publishers and copying music.
