A Band Over Here and Over There

 

Their names may be unknown
but their musical instruments can say a lot
about each man's personality.
Drummers, for instance, define a band's tempo.
It fosters relentless determination
and persistence to keep the beat tight.  

On the other hand, a double-bell euphonium
takes a lot of practice to master.
It has such an imposing sound
that it encourages the show-off,
the soloist with confidence
to play the biggest melodies. 

And then there is the saxophone,

an instrument that can snarl and bark

like a surprised Rottweiler.
They tend to run in noisy packs
with a brash enthusiasm for notes
no one else can hear.
  

And finally there is the trombone,
the tenor voice in a band's chorus of instruments.
Never on the top line, they're happiest as accompanists.
It cultivates steadfast loyalty and 
dedicated reliability. 
 

Today I present a photograph
of an unknown African-American band
from some undetermined location. 

Yet there is still a story hidden in this picture.

This band of 18 African-American musicians and its director stand on a dirt street and rough sidewalk along a tall stone wall. The photograph is a large print about 6" x 9½" mounted on 10" x 14" cardstock that is now cracked and broken. There are some cracks in the photo too which I've fixed digitally as well as correcting the contrast. Written just below the musician on the right is "Wallace Photo" but there is no location nor any marks on the back.

Most of the men wear a fancy uniform in a medium color fabric, perhaps red or green, with a bright contrasting wide piping in white or yellow. Two men, the band's director on the left and the double-bell euphonium player on the right, are in darker more traditional band uniforms. And in the back row just behind the bass drummer is a trombonist dressed in a U. S. Army fatigue uniform of World War One, complete with an overseas cap and puttee legging wraps. He looks directly into the lens and I judge his age as late twenties, maybe early thirties. 

Since all the men have lyres on their instruments to hold their music folders, I think they have just finished marching in a parade. Or maybe they are about to head out. In any case they have a nice complement for a wind band with 4 saxophones, three altos and one tenor; two clarinets; a helicon; a double-bell euphonium, a soloist brass instrument; two trombones; a mellophone; two trumpets and one, maybe two, cornets; and two drummers, a field drum and a bass drum. 

But it is the trombonist soldier that draws our attention. Unfortunately because of his position we can't see any collar insignia or shoulder patch on his tunic. But there is a large medal pinned to his left pocket. Zooming in with high contrast it looks like a vaguely five point star shape attached to a tricolor ribbon and bar.

I had high hopes that this might be a rare medal for distinguished valor in combat. But alas, I think it is far more common and not even issued  by the United States military command. 

In a hunt for similar shaped American service medals listed on eBay, I found quite a few that matched. They were commemorative medals for "patriotic" military service in the 1917-1918 World War issued by local county governments to veterans. The ones pictured here, going clockwise from top left, are from Sewickley, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, New York; Carnegie, Pennsylvania; and Jamestown, Rhode Island. The backs have a place for a soldier's name but most I found were unmarked. Clearly they were created by the same manufacturer varied by a simple change of the eagle clutching either a shield or a state seal. Other varieties I found used the same red, white, and blue ribbons but with different shape medallions. Sadly, for many veterans this medal was all they received in acknowledgement of their military service. Soldiers and sailors got no pension from active duty in the war. The so-called "Soldiers Bonus" promised by politicians before the war became a political football that was never fully implemented until 1933.  

The trombonist soldier is surely a recent veteran, one of 380,000 African-Americans who served in the U.S. Army during World War I, according to the National Archives. Of those Black soldiers over 200,000 were sent to Europe, though most were assigned to labor and stevedore battalions that constructed roads, bridges, and trenches in support of the American Expeditionary Force.

The photographer's name, Wallace, is the only clue as to the location of this photo. When I searched newspaper archives for "Wallace Photo" within a timeframe of 1919-1925, I got several possibilities but the most numerous matches were for a "Wallace Photo" that had photos printed in newspapers from Evansville, Indiana. I couldn't find a direct match of this photo, but there was a Wallace & Son photography studio in Evansville at 618½ Main St. 

The next question was, "How large was the African-American community in Evansville?" Apparently large enough to celebrate Emancipation Day. 

Evansville IN Courier
21 September 1921 

In America the celebration of the emancipation of slavery by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 was never a consistent date. Sometimes called Juneteenth, the day June 19th was made a federal holiday in 2021, but for decades it was observed at different times in different parts of the country. In Evansville, a city in southern Indiana on the Ohio river across from Kentucky, the Black folk there chose to commemorate September 22, the date in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln first announced that his Emancipation Proclamation would start on January 1, 1863, giving freedom to enslaved people in all of the rebellious parts of Southern states of the Confederacy including Texas.

In Evansville in 1921 it was still an important occasion and between 2,000 and 3,000 people were expected to attend from around the region. It would begin with a big parade with numerous groups representing the African-American community including the "Evansville colored band" and the band from Frederick Douglass high school. The marchers would finish at Bosse Field, a new public baseball and recreational park. There would be refreshments sold on the grounds and a baseball game between the "colored teams" from Boonville and Evansville. There would also be singing through the day as well as public speakers from both Indiana and Kentucky. Another celebration was to be held at Barnett's grove under the auspices of the G. A. R. post [Grand Army of the Republic, a Union army veteran group] and the "World War Veterans and the War Mothers." Among the speakers was Lieut. V. Young of Frederick Douglass High School. 

Was my photograph a picture of the Evansville "colored band"? Could the trombonist soldier be Lieut. Young? I really can't say. It's only speculation based on circumstance and coincidence.

But look at the stone wall behind the band. Those are not square quarried rocks but mostly round stones, the kind created by tumbling in a strong river. Like the Ohio River. I may be completely wrong and these musicians may be standing somewhere very far from Evansville, but I think they understood why Emancipation Day was a day to remember. I think they knew that one musician was entitled to proudly wear the uniform he wore in service to his country. And I think they all knew about the contributions made by one regiment in particular. 

The 369th Infantry Regiment, commonly referred to as the Harlem Hellfighters.

Soldiers of the 369th U. S. Infantry Regt. (15th N.Y.), 
awarded the French Croix de Guerre for gallantry in action, 1919.
L to R, front row: Pvt. Ed Williams, Herbert Taylor, Pvt. Leon Fraitor, Pvt. Ralph Hawkins.
back row: Sgt. H. D. Prinas, Sgt. Dan Storms, Pvt. Joe Williams, Pvt. Alfred Hanley, Cpl. T. W. Taylor
Source: Wikipedia

This unit, originally formed as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment and then renamed the 369th Infantry Regt., was one of two segregated African-American regiments, along with the 370th Infantry, that served with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. Though trained for combat at Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina, when the 369th arrived in France in early January 1918 it was not sent to the front lines but assigned to labor duty. 

The commander of the AEF, General Pershing, was under great pressure to send American troops to supplement British and French forces. So he relented and moved the 369th regiment to the French 15th Division which was made up of Senegalese troops from France's African colony. The Black American soldiers were surprised that French commanders and soldiers treated them with fairness and without the prejudice and bigotry they experienced from white American officers and soldiers. 

The 369th earned the name Harlem Hellfighters because during its time on the front lines it set a record of 191 continuous days under fire. It fought in several major battles and suffered 1,500 casualties, the highest of any U.S. regiment. In recognition for valor and gallantry in action many of its soldiers were awarded the Croix de Guerre medal, France's highest honor. In the photo above you can see the medal pinned on the tunics of eight soldiers of the 369th. 

When the war ended in November 1918, the 369th Infantry Regiment was the first New York unit to return to the United States. So on 17 February 1919 when the troops of the 369th marched up Fifth Avenue from the Washington Square Park Arch to their armory in Harlem, they were led by their famous 369th infantry band. A few months later the Hellfighters band played a concert in Evansville, Indiana.

Evansville IN Courier
10 April 1919

In April 1919 the 369th band was arguably the most well known military band in America, if not the world. Under the leadership of its talented director, Lieut. James Reese Europe, the band amazed the people of France with its syncopated style and loose ragtime beat. The band had not only the best Black musicians from America, but also bandsmen from Puerto Rica, Cuba, and other Caribbean islands. The band's music, arranged by James Europe and other members of the band, introduced France to African-American musical culture that was exciting and unlike traditional European military music. When he returned to America, James Europe said, "I have come from France more firmly convinced than ever that Negros should write Negro music. We have our own racial feeling and if we try to copy whites we will make bad copies ... We won France by playing music which was ours and not a pale imitation of others, and if we are to develop in America we must develop along our own lines."

Evansville IN Courier
18 April 1919

The following week the Evansville Courier & Press ran a review of the 369th band's concert. It's so good that I include it here. Bear in mind that the word "Jazz" was not yet a common musical term recognized by the general public. There are also racial words that would not be used today. 

Jim Europe's Band

A Melodious Crew

______________

Colored Musicians in Highly Colored Music
Entertain Large-Sized Audiences

______________

    It won't be "Alexander's Rag Time Band" anymore—for when one wants to speak of a colored band it will be "Europe's Jazzy Band."  Lieut. Jim Europe brought his band, the band of the 369th U. S. infantry to Evansville yesterday and at the Coliseum played to two audiences that voted Jim's band "Some Band."

    A large-sized audience was on hand for the evening concert and a good sized one at the matinee performance.  No band or musical organization has ever played to an Evansville audience in a more delightful and entertaining way. The success of this organization is in their manner and make up of programs.  Europe knows how to arrange a program to suit every taste and one that makes the enjoyment the more pleasing by the snap and generosity of their offerings.  The applause but fairly gets started, following a rendition of a classical or popular selection, when Jim turns, takes one modest bow, whirls about and starts the players into some syncopated jazz number that sets every pair of feet in the audience moving.  Then right into the next number.

    Europe has a splendid style of directing and his every movement brings forth the desired results.  The aggregation of colored musicians is well assembled, around sixty men with the proper blending of instruments that create music that satisfies.  The brasses are particularly good, with a sufficient array of reeds and with two cellos and bass violins and double traps that lend to the melody.

Play Local Man's Piece.

    Towards the close of the evening program Lieut. Europe had his band play a new fox trot "Zanzibar" written by John Hall Woos of The Courier editorial staff.  Europe took the time between the matinee and evening performance to arrange the number for his band and it proved a real cat dry piece of peppy, oriental flavor.  Mrs. Woods is writing the words for the piece which will shortly be placed on the market.

    Not alone has Europe assembled a fine band but he has added specialty numbers that help to make his entertainment the more of a success.  Lieut. [Noble] Sissle with a fine tenor voice was a riot.  His singing of "On Patrol In No Man's Land" written by Europe and himself was a revelation, a descriptive number of the men over there going into No Man's Land.  The sextette of southern singers in typical darkey numbers was a big hit as was also the various pieces in which the clarinet, trombone, saxaphone (sic) and other pieces were featured.  Creighton Thompson sang songs like unto Al Jolson and took his audience by storm.  A cello and violin number "Negro Spirituals" was splendid.  The two diminutive snare drummers drummed a bombardment that was immense.  Al Johns at the piano offered a specialty and Sergt. Smith with a sweet-toned cornet was a favorite. 

    Europe piled harmony upon harmony, jazzed classical numbers as well as playing them straight, included several of his own compositions and by their playing demonstrated how they kept the doughboys in France inspired and entertained while the band was over there for eighteen months.

Lt. James Reese Europe (left)
and the 369th U. S. Infantry Regiment Band
Source: Wikipedia

Here is "On Patrol In No Man's Land" by James Reese Europe
as recorded for Pathé Frères Phonograph Co.
by the 369th Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band 
with vocalist Lieut. Noble Sissle.

Just three weeks after the 369th band played in Evansville on 17 April 1919, they were in Boston for a set of concerts at Boston's Mechanics Hall. During an intermission at a concert on 9 May 1919, Lieut. Europe took two of his drummers aside to reprimand them for their unprofessional behavior during the performance. An argument broke out and one man, Herbert Wright, became very angry, threw down his drumsticks, and attacked Europe with a penknife, stabbing him in the neck. Though at first the wound seemed superficial he was taken to hospital where doctors were unable to stop the bleeding. James Reese Europe, one of the leading talents of American music in the early 20th century, died at age 38, a victim of one of his own musicians. The recording of "On Patrol In No Man's Land" was made the day before he was killed. Presumably Europe's attacker was playing that day too.

There is no connection between my photograph of an unknown African-American band and Lieut. James Reese Europe and his famous 369th Infantry band, or for that matter, the "colored bands" of Evansville, Indiana. But there is, I think, a shared history of how Black musicians shaped American musical culture in this era. World War One was terribly destructive and its outcome overturned century old institutions and redrew national boundaries around the world. But it was Black American musicians who introduced Europeans, exhausted from years of horrific warfare, to snappy music with shifted rhythms, brassy chords, and ragged drum beats. Soon the word "Jazz" would be understood in every language and the world of music would never be the same.

I finish with a short film of Lt. James Reese Europe
and his 369th U. S. Infantry Band
playing the Memphis Blues by W. C. Handy.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone is streetwise.