Stephen Sondheim
Currently no information available.

   Enrique Soriano
b: Oct. 24, 1909, Montevideo, Uruguay, d: April 26, 1971
Lyricist for the Tangos:
      "Barrio del Cordón", "District of the Cord"
      "Tu Coraz�", ("Your Heart"),
      "Cigarrillo", ("Cigarette"),
      "Cinco Reales de Antes", ("Five Real Ones of Before"),
and others.

   John Phillip Sousa
b. Nov. 6, 1854, Washington, D.C. d. March 6, 1932, Reading, PA.
Extensive literature is extant on the life of this great American musician, so only a brief review and A Photo of John Phillip Sousa, will be given here.

The son of a Portuguese father and a Bavarian mother, Sousa, inherited his love of music from his father, a trombonist in the U.S.Marine Corps Band. Sousa grew up in the post-civil war environment of Washington, D.C., where Army Brass Bands were constantly parading, and playing inspiring martial music. By age 14, he had enlisted in the Marine Corps. While with the Marines, he composed his first march "Salutation."

By age 10, he began to study the violin (with John Esputa). At age 16, he began studying harmony with G.F. Benkert. Following this, he was engaged to conduct a pit orchestra at a local theater. He became the first Violinist at the Ford Opera House, and after that, became the musical director of the Milton Nobles Repertory Company, for five seasons.

In 1869, he wrote:
  "Moonlight on the Potomac", a waltz.
  "The Review", a march.
  "The Cuckoo", a galop.
(For "Review" and "Cuckoo", his Philadelphia publisher paid him
with copies of the sheet music.)

In 1877, the famous French composer Jacques Offenbach conducted
an orchestra at the Philadelphia Centennial in which Sousa was
first violinist. For the next four years, Sousa was the first
violin for Philadelphia's Chestnut Street Theater. His
compositions at this time included:
 1877 "THe Free Lunch Cadets", a humorous march.
 1879 "The Smugglers", his first comic opera.

From 1880 to 1892, Sousa worked as the U.S.Marine Band's
director, where for five years he often performed at the White
House and at official government receptions. The band achieved
great renown under Sousa's leadership, and oft-times played his
compostions.

1886 "The Gladiator"
1888 "National Fencibles"
     "Semper Fidelis", today the Marine Corps Anthem.
1889 "The Crusader"
     "The Thunderer"
     "The Washington Post March"
     "Our Flirtation"
     "High School Cadets"
     "Liberty Bell"
In his autobiography, Sousa has said that he sold many of these
marches for just $35 each. He wanted to write music that "would
appeal to the human heart, rather than make a fortune."

In 1892, he formed his very own band. This band was to tour
extensively throughout America and Europe, often appearing at
events of national importance.  The band toured Europe four times
between 1900 and 1904, and made a World tour in 1910.
This band gave more than 10,000 concerts over it's long career.
1893 The Chicago Exposition
1895 The Atlanta Cotton States Exposition
1901 The Buffalo Pan American Exposition
1904 The St. Louis World's Fair
1915 The Panama-Pacific Exposition in san Francisco.

Among the Marches that he composed during this period, are:
1893 "Manhattan Beach March"
1894 "The Picador"
     "The Belle of Chicago"
1895 "King Cotton"
     "On Parade"
1896 "El Capitan". This march was played on board. when Commodore
        Dewey's flagship, Olympia, steamed down Manila Bay to do
        battle.
1897 "The Stars and Stripes Forever", perhaps the most famous
        march ever written. In 1915, the California Music
        Teachers Association petitioned Congress to have the
        march made the U. S. National Anthem.

Other marches written by Sousa include:
  "Hands Across the Sea"
  "Invincible Eagle"
  "Fairest of the Fair"
  "America First" (aka "March of the States")
  "New York Hippodrome March"
  "Saber and Spurs", dedicated to the U.S.Cavalry.
  "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine"

While Sousa is famous for his many stirring marches, he also
composed many comic operas.
1879 'The Smugglers'
1896 'El Capitan', from whence he adapted the famous March of
       that name. starred De Wolf Hopper and Edna Wallace Hopper,
       who sang the duet.
       "Sweetheart, I'm Waiting"
       "A Typical Tune of Zanzibar"
1915 'The Victory'

Among his other works, Sousa wrote:
1914 "Messiah of the Nations", an Oratorio.
1918 "In Flanders Fields", a setting of John MacCrae's poem.
1918 "The Caisson Song", composed by Edmund L. Gruber in 1908,
       but Sousa's brilliant arrangement made it famous.

In 1932, Sousa died, in Reading, PA. During his lifetime, many nations conferred honors upon him. One of his books, 'The Fifth String', a novel, was a best-seller.

   Joe South
b. Feb. 28, 1940, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
né: Joseph Alfred Souther (singer-songwriter/guitarist)
South began his recording career in Atlanta, Georgia with National Recording Corporation, where he served as staff guitarist along with such others as Ray Stevens and Jerry Reed. Soon, his distinctive guitar sound made him a much wanted sessions man. Among his better known work as a sideman was recording the memorable guitar part on Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools", Tommy Roe's "Sheila" as well as appearing on Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde". He also played the electric guitar part that was added to Simon & Garfunkel's first hit, "The Sound of Silence".

South also led his own band, and went into a deep depression upon the suicide of his brother Tommy who had been his band's drummer. Tommy had accompanied Joe not only in live performances but also on recording sessions of South-produced hits for other artists including Billy Joe Royal, Sandy Posey, and Friend & Lover.

Joe is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter with such late 1960s and early 1970s mega hits as "Don't It Make You Wanna Go Home" and "Walk a Mile in My Shoes". His biggest, and perhpas best-remembered, single was "Games People Play" (1969), a Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. It won the "Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Song" and the prestigious "Grammy Award for Song of the Year" (the tunes bears a remarkable resemblance to the children's gospel song, "I Don't Want to Be a Pharisee", which was featured on his first album, 'Introspect').

Among his songs that have been recorded by other artists, are Lynn Anderson's 1971 hit "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden", Billy Joe Royal's hit "Down in the Boondocks," Deep Purple's "Hush" (a British hit many years later for Kula Shaker), and Elvis Presley's Las Vegas-era version of "Walk a Mile in My Shoes", also recorded by Bryan Ferry and Coldcut.

    Alan Shulman
b. June 4, 1915, Baltimore, MD, USA. d. July 10, 2002 , ( nursing home in) Hudson, New York, USA. .
American composer, cellist and arranger
His brother, Sylvan Shulman, was a violinist, and Alan's sons are also musical artists. Jay Shulman, is a cellist, and Marc Shulman, is a guitarist. Alan had two daughters Lisa Shulman, and Laurie Shulman, a musicologist..
Alan Shulman's, early studies were with Bart Wirtz (cello) and Louis Cheslock (harmony) at the Peabody Conservatory. In 1928 the family moved to Brooklyn, NY, where Alan played in the National Orchestral Association under Leon Barzin. He received a New York Philharmonic Scholarship, studying cello with Joseph Emonts and harmony with Winthrop Sargent. In 1931, he joined Local 802, America Federation of Musicians., and in 1934, while still a student, he composed music for the American Children's Theatre production of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Chinese Nightingale". (Song of the' Moon Festival in the Woods' - Danielle Woerner/Troy 877)

From 1932-37, he attended the Juilliard School where he was a fellowship student, studying cello with Felix Salmond and composition with Bernard Wagenaar. He continued his cello studies with Emanuel Feuermann (1939) and composition with Paul Hindemith (1942). Alan Shulman was cellist of the Kreiner String Quartet (1935-38). In 1938, with his brother, violinist Sylvan Shulman, he co-founded the Stuyvesant String Quartet, which during the 1940s and 1950s were noted for their performances and recordings of contemporary quartets of Bloch, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Malipiero, Hindemith and Kreisler, among others. In 1941, they played the American première of the Shostakovich Piano Quintet at Carnegie Hall and recorded it for Columbia Records. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was also active as an arranger for Leo Reisman, André Kostalanetz, Arthur Fiedler and Wilfred Pelletier's Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air.

The Shulman brothers' swing septet 'The New Friends of Rhythm' (Hep CD 1086) recorded with Buster Bailey for Victor before World War II, and after WWII ended, they recorded with songstress Maxine Sullivan, for International Records after. (Baldwin Street Music BJH-303).. Alan Shulman was a charter member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1937-42, serving in the U.S. Maritime Service 1942-45, and rejoining NBC from 1948-54. While serving in the U. S. Maritime Service (during WWII), he taught orchestration to Nelson Riddle who went on to make celebrated arrangements for Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat " King" Cole.

Shulman's first successful composition was Theme and Variations for Viola and Orchestra which received its premiere over NBC in 1941 with Emanuel Vardi (Bridge 9119) as soloist. Theme & Variations has been recorded by Yizhak Schotten (Crystal CD 635), Cathy Basrak (Cedille 90000 053), Joseph DePasquale (Albany/Troy 715) and Robert Glazer (Centaur 2755). Chicago Symphony principal Milton Preves played the work often, and it is in the repertoire of most American viola soloists. In 1944, his "Suite on American Folk Songs" was premiered at Carnegie Hall by violinist Eudice Shapiro, with pianist Vivian Rivkin. Famed violinist Jascha Heifetz performed and recorded "Cod Liver 'Ile" from the Suite (Heifetz Collection, Vol.35).. In 1944, In 1946, Shulman married pianist Sophie Pratt Bostelmann (1916-1982), and the union produced four children. Shulman's Pastorale and Dance was first played by Sylvan Shulman over ABC, and. in 1947, was performed by Oscar Shumsky with the Baltimore Symphony.. Between 1945-47 Shulman arranged five cross-over albums or soprano Risë Stevens for Columbia Records (Sony CCM-067-2). In 1948, Alan Shulman joined ASCAP.

Shulman wrote music for children's records (James Thurber's Many Moons - Columbia), for radio and for motion pictures, including the RKO feature The Tattooed Stranger. His "Waltzes for Orchestra" received its premiere by the NBC Symphony with Milton Katims conducting October 15, 1949 on a Carnegie Hall network broadcast (Bridge 9119).. His "Threnody" (for the fallen soldiers of Israel) was premiered by the NBC String Quartet during Jewish Music Week in February, 1950. Shulman's Rendezvous, written for Benny Goodman (Bridge 9137), was recorded by Artie Shaw with the New Music Quartet for Columbia (Hep 78) and by Richard Stoltzman with Tashi for RCA/BMG (7901-2-RC) in 1989. Al Gallodoro's 1946 NBC Symphony performance is included on Bridge 9119. Leonard Rose premiered Shulman's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra with the New York Philharmonic under Dimitri Mitropoulos in 1950. In 1952, Guido Cantelli conducted the premiere of Shulman's "A Laurentian Overture" with the Philharmonic at Carnegie HalI. The Overture was dedicated to Talullah Bankhead. Olin Downes, writing in the New York Times, called it "boldly and mischievously made." Alan Shulman was a founder of the Symphony of the Air (1954), and the Violoncello Society (1956). He was the Society's President 1967-72. His Suite Miniature for Octet of Celli was written in 1956 for the Fine Arts Cello Ensemble of Los Angeles, California. . Also during the 1950s, Shulman wrote popular songs with entertainer Steve Allen and arranged for Skitch Henderson, Raoul Poliakin and Felix Slatkin.

During the 1960s and 70s, Shulman was busy in the recording and television studios, and composed teaching material and works for band including "3 Faces of Glen Cove", "Interstate 90", "The Corn Shuckers" and "Mazatlán" He also arranged for singer-songwriter Cris Williamson's début recording for Ampex Records.. He was cellist of the Philharmonia Trio (1962-69) (CRI), the Vardi Trio (MMO), An Die Musik (1976-7) of the Haydn Quartet (1972-82). All during this time Shulman taught cello at Sarah Lawrence College, Juilliard, SUNY-Purchase, Johnson State College (VT) and the University of Maine.

In the 1980s his health declined and he retired in 1987. In 1997, Alan Shulman was made a "Chevalier du Violoncelle" by the Eva Janzer Cello Center at Indiana University. Alan Shulman died July 10, 2002 at a nursing home in Hudson, New York, and was survived by his sons Jay Shulman, a cellist, and Marc Shulman, a guitarist; and daughters Laurie Shulman, a musicologist, and Lisa Shulman. Alan Shulman's works are published by Chappell/Warner, Sam Fox, MCA/Leeds, Mills Music, and Bregman, Vocco & Conn (EAM), Shawnee Press and Weintraub Music (G. Schirmer), and Tetra/Masters Music. Bridge Records (9119) has released "The Music of Alan Shulman", a collection of Shulman's orchestra works broadcast by the NBC Symphony 1941-54, conducted by Samuel Antek, Frank Black, Guido Cantelli, Milton Katims, Leonard Bernstein, and Don Gillis.
The Big Bands Database Plus thanks Mr Jay Shulman for his help with this entry for his father, Alan Shulman. Interested visitors to our site may find a discography and list of publications at the Alan Shulman website: http://www.capital.net/com/ggjj/shulman