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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Christmas music can have an interesting history. For example, the composer of “Carol of the Bells” was assassinated. The melody used for one carol comes from a cantata celebrating the invention of movable type. And a number of popular secular Christmas tunes were written by a Jewish World War II veteran. But today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion begins with a “Christmas Fanfare” composed the Scottish cornet player and composer Brian Keachie. For 29 years, Keachie was the principal cornet player for the Kilmarnock Concert Brass Band, which has won numerous brass-band contests. He has been featured on numerous radio and television shows. -
This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with an Advent composition entitled “The Kingdom Triumphant,” written by the British Salvation Army composer Eric Ball, who lived from 1903 to 1989. The composition has three major sections: Vision of Judgment, Remembrance of the First Advent, and Vision of the Second Advent. As a trombone player, he joined a Salvation Army young people’s band, began working as a music editor in the Salvation Army’s publishing house when he was 18, and eventually lead the Salvation Army’s International Staff Band. In 1946, Ball conducted the Brighouse and Rastrick Band in the winning performance at the National Brass Band Championships.
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“Canite Tuba” or “Blow the Trumpet” is a popular Advent hymn that has been set to music by a number of composers of the 1500s and 1600s, including Hans Leo Hassler and Jacob Handl. This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion begins with the setting by Giovanni Palestrina, who lived from about 1525 to 1594. He became a chorister in a Roman church when he was 11 years old, eventually becoming an organist and choir director for a church in his hometown of Palestrina, located near Rome. Eventually, he held a number of positions with churches closely associated with the Vatican. Both Bach and Mendelssohn studied and were influenced by Palestrina’s music.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussions opens the holiday season with Advent, Christmas, and secular holiday music. We will begin with the Advent hymn “O Savior, Tear Open the Heavens.” We can trace the music to a German Catholic hymnbook from 1668, although the composer has not been identified. The lyrics were written by a Jesuit priest Freidrich Spee, who lived from 1591 to 1635. He died from plague that he contracted while ministering to soldiers. He wrote a book of secular songs, including Christmas and Easter hymns. But he is perhaps most famous for his opposition to witch hunting and writing a book opposing witch hunting, in which he observed: “Torture has the power to create witches where none exist.”
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Rampart Street in New Orleans is the northern border of the French Quarter. It’s called Rampart Street because a rampart—or a dirt wall—was built there to defend the early French colonial city. In the early and mid-20th century, Rampart Street was the center of an important African-American commercial and entertainment district. Louis Armstrong grew up on South Rampart Street. The name of the street appears in the title of at least three compositions, but this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with one written in 1937 by Ray Bauduc and Bob Haggart: “The South Rampart Street Parade.” The show opens with a version recorded by Pete Fountain in 1963.
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The Turkish crescent, also known as a jingling Johnny, is a percussion instrument typically about 6.5 to 8 feet tall. It consists of an upright wooden pole topped with a conical brass ornament and having brass, crescent-shaped crosspieces. Numerous bells are attached to the crosspieces and elsewhere on the instrument. Often two horsetail plumes of different colors are suspended from the ends of the crosspieces. The instrument is held vertically and is played by either shaking it up and down or twisting it. Today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with a recording of the “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine” in which a Turkish crescent is heard.
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In recognition of Veterans Day, this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original wind-band recordings from World War II including the original Glenn Miller recording of the “St. Louis Blues March.” As a matter of fact, you’ll not only hear the music but also the recorded voices of Glenn Miller and Irving Berlin from V-discs, V standing for “victory.” To lift the morale of troops, the military issued V-discs, made by many performers of the day. Many musicians volunteered for the military, including Glenn Miller. So we are going to open today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion with the original V-disc recording of “St. Louis Blues March.” The recording opens with a greeting from Glenn Miller himself.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original classical wind band music by the Bavarian composer Johan Simon Mayr. But this edition begins with an arrangement of the default national anthem of the United Kingdom. Most often, this tune is named “God Save the King.” In the United States, it is known as “America” or “My Country Tis of Thee.” The tune also used for the national anthems of New Zealand, Canada, and many other countries in the British Commonwealth, as well as Liechtenstein. The tune served as the national anthem for the Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 until 1918 and the imperial anthem of the Russian Empire from 1816 to 1833. The tune also serves as the royal anthem of Norway. The version that opens this edition was composed for the Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features some adventures in Latin music accompanied by the Xavier Cugat big band with trips to Spain and Cuba. But this edition opens with a sortie composed by Louis James Lefebure-Wely, a French organist and composer who lived from 1817 to 1870. When used to name a musical composition for organ, sortie refers to a piece played at the end of a church service, often as a postlude. In the case of the recording opening this edition, the organ work has been arranged for harmoniemusik.
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John Philip Sousa said he wished he had written the march “Military Escort” by Henry Fillmore. And the sheet music for “Military Escort” even outsold the sheet music for the “Stars and Stripes Forever” for at least 4 years. Today’s edition off Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with “Military Escort” composed by the American circus-band composer Henry Fillmore. But you will also hear Darius Milhaud’s most famous composition arranged for wind ensemble, original classical wind-band music by Francois Joseph Gossec, and a wind-band arrangement of a big hit from 1922.
