Where the Deer and the Saxophones Play

 

In any photo of a line of people
most photographers like to put them in order,
typically arranging everyone short to tall.
The same thing applies
to musical instruments
which come in different sizes. 

For example,
in a photo of saxophones
one would start the line
with the cute little soprano sax
followed by its larger sister/brother the alto.

  

Then comes the tenor saxophones
a bigger if overbearing sibling,

that likes to hang out with its own kind.

And then finally at the other end
there is the sturdy baritone sax
and its uncommon partner
the massive bass saxophone.

This lineup of ten saxophonists appear on a large format black & white photo, 9" x 8", neatly mounted on grey cardstock. The nine men and one woman are dressed in a kind of nautical uniform of white shoes and trousers (skirt), darkish suit jacket, maybe blue, and white peaked hats. Even though they are standing literally shoulder to shoulder their line is longer that the backdrop  in the photographer's studio.  

There are no annotations on the photo but in the lower corner there is a printed caption:

MᶜMurray's Saxophone Band
MᶜPherson – Kan(sas)

It did not take long to find them in the 21 August 1914 edition of the McPherson Weekly Republican. The report had the same photograph and included all the names of the musicians. 

McPherson KS Weekly Republican
21 August 1914

McMurray's Saxophone Band

(left to right)
F. R. Hapgood, bb-flat bass; R. C. Wright, e-flat bass (baritone); L. C. Hubbell, b-flat tenor; Mrs. L. D. McMurray, b-flat tenor; J. L. Galle, b-flat tenor; A. Robertson, b-flat tenor; C. R. Hapgood, e-flat alto; L. D. McMurray, Jr., e-flat alto; C. R. Bomberger, b-flat soprano; L. D. McMurray, b-flat soprano. 

This organization is undertaking to do big things musically.  They are preparing themselves for Chautauqua, Lyceum and Vaudeville work.  They have played once each week at  the Airdome or Cozy theater since March 1st, this year, giving a new and varied program each time.  Their reportoire (sic) is quite extensive.  This organization is very unique and pleasing to listen to.  They specialize on straight military band arrangements adapting the Saxophones to the various parts.  Mr. L. D. McMurray, the manager and conductor, has just closed a contract for two days playing in Salina in September and the organization is being much sought after at other places.

McPherson is a small city in central Kansas with a current population just shy of 14,000. It's located about 55 miles northwest of Wichita and 200 miles west of Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri. In 1914 when this photograph of McMurray's Saxophone Band was taken McPherson was a thriving community of around 4,000 residents due partly to its railway connections to all points east/west and north/south. It was also the county seat and could boast of several hotels, banks, a private college, and a new public high school. 

Like many small western towns in this era McPherson also had a "opera house", an impressive  three-story civic theater with ornate brickwork that hosted traveling theatrical shows as well as local concerts of McPherson's town band and civic orchestra. There were also two smaller theatres—the Cozy and the Airdrome—which featured motion pictures and live performances of local talent like McMurray's Saxophone Band.  

  

McPherson KS Daily Republican
23 March 1914

On 23 March 1914 the Cozy Theater advertised a program headlined by the McMurray Saxophone Band followed by a two reel drama "Justice of the Wild" and a comedy "His Pal's Bequest". Tickets cost 5¢ and 10¢. The band's program began with a march "Boston Commandery" by Carter, featuring a Clarionet solo in the trio to an air "Onward Christian Soldier" by A. E. Hapgood. This was followed by a serenade "mingling Harmonies" by Wheeler and another march, by request, "War Easgle" by Berry. The band finished with the "Star Spangled Banner" which in 1914 was not yet officially recognized as our national anthem and usually played only by military bands on ceremonial occasions.

The band's director and lead soprano saxophonist was Leon Dallas McMurray. Born in Washington, Iowa in 1873, Leon moved to McPherson, Kansas in 1885, just a few years after the city was first platted. His father worked there as county clerk and later city postmaster. As a young man Leon was employed as private secretary for the congressman of the Kansas seventh district. When the congressman left office Leon moved back to McPherson where he began working as an assistant to his father at the post office. In 1892 he married Mary Gertrude Bonney and together the couple had two children, a son, Loren Dallas McMurray, born in 1897, and a daughter, Bonnie Dee McMurray, born in 1907. Upon the death of his father in 1910, L. D. McMurray succeeded him as postmaster.  

But Leon's true passion was for music and especially the saxophone. McPherson was a very musical town and Leon played in both McPherson's town band and civic orchestra, often substituting for a cello on tenor sax. Evidently his wife also learned to play saxophone and their son Leon took to it as well. In 1911 the McMurrays began performing around McPherson as a saxophone trio, sometimes including even little Bonnie to make it a quartet. 

But Leon had a bigger dream.

McPherson KS Daily Republican
10 October 1913

In October 1913 local newspapers in McPherson, there were two—one Democrat  and the other Republican, ran reports on McMurray's grand scheme to create a band made entirely of saxophone players. He wanted at least fifteen instruments for his "well proportioned band of this family of instruments...four sopranos, four altos, four tenors, two baritones, one bass and one contra-bass." 

He had already secured six Buffet-Crampton saxophones delivered all the way from Paris, France. The latest one was a "very fine low pitch tenor saxophone, triple silverplated with gold burnished bell." It would be played by Louie Hubbell. The qualifier "low pitch" refers to the way many band instruments in this era were designed for military bands that still tuned to a high pitch of A=452Hz or A=457Hz instead of the now standard low pitch of A=440Hz. A high pitch wind instrument is constructed shorter than one in a low pitch, and therefore will never be able to play in tune with lower pitched instruments. 

McMurray chose to order saxophones from Paris because this was where the saxophone was first invented by Adolph Sax, who was actually from Belgium. There were American-made saxophones but Leon seems to have been a real connoisseur of the saxophone and wanted only the very best. 

_ _ _

The instruments were relatively expensive though it's difficult to measure cost after a century of inflation. In 1904 a set of five saxophones—soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and contrabass—made by the American band instrument company C. G. Conn in Elkhart, Indiana would have cost about $670 total in a deluxe premium finish. A soprano was priced $30<$85; alto - $55<$115; tenor - $65<$120; baritone - $80<$150; and contrabass - $105<$200 in four different levels of finish. Gold plate cost extra. (Check out this company's history in my story How to Make a Saxophone). So the same instruments made in France, what with tariffs and shipping, must have cost significantly more. An inflation calculator for total value of five saxophones estimates that $670 in 1913 is worth $21,710 in 2025.  And McMurray wanted fifteen! 

For another comparison, in 2025 a set of high quality French saxophones in five sizes might cost somewhere around $58,000. The price for the largest sax, the bass can range from $12,000 to $30,000+. 

McPherson KS Daily Republican
30 January 1914

Most of the players in his band were already accomplished musicians on woodwind instruments, mainly clarinet or clarionet as it was sometimes called. It's unclear if each musician purchased their new saxophone from McMurray or instead rented them from him. But it was a surprisingly large investment in any case. In January 1914 the McPherson Daily Republican reported that McMurray had received another "novel instrument" for his band, an alto clarinet to be played by Art Robertson, a young clarinet player who lived in the little village of Galva 8 miles east of McPherson. This instrument is longer than a regular B-flat clarinet and has an upturned silver bell similar to a saxophone's bell but smaller. It's usually used as an intermediate voice between the B-flat and the bass clarinet in a band and is never played in orchestras. 

The report noted a worrying delayed delivery of the bass saxophone which was ordered by Frank Hopgood. When it arrived the band would start full rehearsals. The paper also helpfully noted the names of all the musicians with most of their forenames too. Only one name, A. E. Hapgood, clarionet, was not present in the photo of the band, possibly because his instrument would have stood out in the lineup and contradicted the notion of a all-saxophone band. 

Another member of the Hapgood family, Clarence Hapgood, was listed with an alto sax and an oboe, a double reed instrument that was most uncommon to find in bands of this era. One musician, Clifford Bomberger, who in the lineup holds a soprano sax, second from right, is listed here as playing a Melody saxophone,  an intermediate saxophone pitched in C, one whole-tone above the B-flat tenor. Clearly McMurray's Saxophone Band had musicians who were proficient at doubling on other instruments.  

McMurray made his own arrangements for the group. The range of a full saxophone section covers all the notes of a full orchestra or band. He likely borrowed music scores for military bands, church hymns, popular songs, and even some ragtime hits.  

_ _ _

It's rare for me to get a definitive contemporary confirmation of the names of people in a photograph. So I feel obliged to offer their names again in the order (left to right) of this photo.

• F. R. Hapgood, bb-flat bass was Frank R. Hapgood. Born in Kansas in 1876, he was a laundryman (also fireman. i.e. boiler stoker) at the steam laundry owned by his brother.
  
• R. C. Wright, e-flat bass (baritone) was Ralph C. Wright. Born in Illinois in 1876, he was a merchant for a harness store.
• L. C. Hubbell, b-flat tenor was Louie C. Hubbell. Born in Kansas in 1892, he was a salesman at a drugstore.
• Mrs. L. D. McMurray, b-flat tenor was Mary Gertrude McMurray. Born in Kansas in 1873, Mary could provide no information on her parent's birthplace. 
• J. L. Galle, b-flat tenor was  James L. Galle. Born in Kansas in 1894, he was the son of lawyer and later by 1930 became a lawyer himself.
• A. Robertson, b-flat tenor was Arthur Chester Robertson. Born in Kansas in 1884, he was a farm laborer who lived in Galva, a village east of McPherson. Arthur died in December 1916 after being accidently struck by a tree he was cutting down.
• C. R. Hapgood, e-flat alto was Clarence E. Hapgood. Born in 1895 he was the son of an owner of a laundry. By 1920 he was working as a mail carrier. There were a number of accomplished musicians in the Hapgood family as its patriarch was leader of McPherson's town band. 
• L. D. McMurray, Jr., e-flat alto was Loren Dallas McMurray. Born in Kansas in 1897, in the 1910 census he listed his occupation as "agent, music" though he was only twelve years old.
• C. R. Bomberger, b-flat soprano was Clifford R. Bomberger. Born in Kansas in 1888, he was a mail carrier.  
• L. D. McMurray, b-flat soprano was Leon Dallas McMurray. Born in Iowa in 1873, the the 1900 U.S. census he listed his occupation as "clerk, Post Office" and in 1910 as "Assistant Postmaster".

Leon McMurray's position as postmaster in McPherson, an appointment then made by the President of the United States, expired in 1914. After 17 years in federal service he needed to find a new occupation. He took over the operation of a Marble and Granite company producing  memorial gravestones and markers for buildings. 

McPherson KS Weekly Republican
29 January 1915

I don't know whether Leon chiseled out the stonework himself, but evidently it still provided him time to devote to his saxophone band. Newspaper reports of the band were ambitious with planned bookings at a Chautauqua event, a May Day fair, as well as their regular performances at McPherson's movie theaters.

But that spring, Leon became seriously ill and was reported as suffering from some undisclosed ailment and being bedridden. On Thursday morning, 20 May 1915, Leon Dallas McMurray died at his home. According to his obituary, which was published that same day, he had been laid up for almost two months. He was "41 years, 7 months, and 25 days old". 

McPherson KS Daily Republican
20 May 1914

I include Leon McMurray's obituary here partly because it outlines his life much better than I can do. But it also shows how in earlier times a newspaper functioned as the main social media for a community. When I checked out the McMurray family in the 1900 census records I noticed that their next door neighbor then was William Krehbiel, the editor of the McPherson Daily Republican. This surely accounts for the generous reporting on McMurray and the fulsome praise in this final notice. And undoubtedly Leon had many close friends from his work as postmaster, his associations with his church and masonic lodge, and, of course, with the many musical ensembles he played in. 

The saxophone band tried to continue in the months after Leon's death but the effort proved too much without the inspiration of its founder and director. It broke up around 1918, probably as a result of the United States joining the war in Europe. 

Leon's wife, Mary Gertrude McMurray, took over management of Leon's monument company and in July 1915 ran newspaper advertisements with her name as proprietor. However she continued to play saxophone was mentioned as leading a smaller saxophone ensemble in June 1922.

McPherson KS Weekly Republican
30 July 1915

The history of McMurray's Saxophone Band was, like his own life, lamentably too brief. However it represents an experiment in band instrumentation that would soon revolutionize music. The sound of a full saxophone section covers an enormous range and produces many musical colors from sweet and soulful to loud and brash. In the 1900s composers of serious music for both bands and orchestras had mostly ignored the saxophone and were only beginning to understand its great potential. One reason for its new popularity was because more musicians like Leon McMurray were demonstrating a passion for the saxophone sound.    

Beginning in about this same time before World War One, many saxophone ensembles were performing on the vaudeville circuit. I've featured several of them in my stories on this blog. Check out these: 

     The Four Musical Hodges

             The Darling Saxophone Four
                 Bicycles and Saxophones, The Elliott~Savonas Troupe
                     Sax Appeal
                        Send in the Clowns!
                             The Novelty Musical Artists

I've also written many stories about photos of family bands in my collection. This kind of semi-professional ensemble has always been a popular idea for a musically skilled father or, less often, a mother, to form a "band" or "orchestra" from their children at hand. It was a kind of entrepreneurial notion that involved both a love of music and of family. But time forces a special limitation on these ensembles as children don't stay young forever and inevitably grow-up and chose their own direction in life. Whether Leon McMurray ever wanted to produce a professional family band is unknown but he surely had the opportunity with both his wife and son taking up the saxophone. What he would tragically never learn is that his son did choose to make his career in music. And he did it in a new form of music that was very suited for the saxophone.  Jazz!

Loren McMurray was recognized as a real talent while his father was alive and he was still a student in McPherson schools. In 1917 he left McPherson for Kansas City, Missouri (the larger metropolis of the two Kansas Cities) and joined Eddie Kuhn's band, what might be called a society orchestra. Loren got married in April 1920 and moved to New York City where he found work as a session player in numerous pop bands that were recording music for the new post-war dance craze. He became the lead saxophonist in Paul Whiteman's first "jazz" orchestra and was considered one of the most talented young saxophonists in New York.

But in the fall of 1922, Loren was suddenly stricken with tonsilitis, once a very dangerous condition. Despite medical efforts, Loren Dallas McMurray died on 29 October 1922. He was 25 years old.  

McPherson KS Daily Republican
30 October 1922

I've included Loren McMurray's obituary, published in the McPherson Daily Republican the very next day after his death, because, despite the tragic loss of a young promising talent, it demonstrates how music evolves. Loren was part of a new 20th century age of syncopated jazz. His father was part of an older 19th century age of military marches. The notes and rhythms may have been different but the love of making music was the same. I wish we could have heard father and son play together. Leon would have been very proud of his son.

But amazingly we can still hear Loren play!

To conclude, here is a recording

of  "Rock Me in My Swanee Cradle"

performed by Bailey's Lucky Seven
the studio band at Gennett Recording Laboratories,

located on East 37th Street in New York City.
It was recorded on 29 May 1922.

 The alto saxophonist was Loren McMurray.

That was so good, let's have an encore!

Here is "Toot Toot Tootsie (Goo'by)"
performed by Bailey's Lucky Seven
at the Gennett Recording Laboratories,

on East 37th Street in New York City.
 The alto saxophonist is again Loren McMurray.

The recording was made on 5 October 1922.

Loren McMurray died two weeks later.

[ For more information on Loren McMurray,
check out the GRAMMY Nominated album
 “The Moaninest Moan of Them All,”
available from Archeophone Records. ]

And if you are wondering

what an all-saxophone band

might sound like,
here is an excerpt of Gershwin's
"An American in Paris"
played by the Mi-Bémol Saxophone Ensemble of Japan. 
They wear some pretty sharp uniforms too.
Check out the bass sax on the back right.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone gets to be
at the front of the line.