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 Brass, Reeds, and Percussion with marches by Julius Fucik, best known in the United States for the so-called circus march “Thunder and Blazes,” more accurately entitled “Entry of the Gladiators.” Known as the “Bohemian Sousa,” Fucik has many other compositions to his credit—many just as creative as “Entry of the Gladiators.” Born in what is today called the Czech Republic, Fucik studied bassoon, violin, and drums and took composition lessons from Anton Dvorak. He played the bassoon in an Austro-Hungarian Empire army band and was the bandmaster of at least two army bands. Eventually, he settled in Berlin where he started his own band and music publishing company. -
This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features original classical wind-band music by Ignace Joseph Pleyel. Pleyel was born in Lower Austria; but eventually made his home in Paris, where he was famous as a composer, music publisher, and piano builder. Pleyel lived from 1757 to 1831, clearly making him a composer of the classical period. But he is not as well known as other composers of this period—like Haydn, who taught him and considered him a good student. After a visit to Italy, Pleyel moved to Strasbourg, France, to serve as an organist at the Strasbourg Cathedral. Eventually, Pleyel moved to Paris and became a music publisher and piano builder in addition to being a composer.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features steampunk music and original classical wind band music. Steampunk is a type of science fiction that depicts futuristic and fictional technology from the Victorian era. Steampunk is based on the science fiction of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Steampunk can also refer to artistic and musical styles from the same imagined, but futuristic past and can include elements of Victorian fashion and art nouveau architecture. This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features music composed with this aesthetic by Erika Svanoe, who has a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Wisconsin, a master's degree in wind conducting from Oklahoma State University, and a doctorate in musical arts from Ohio State University.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features steampunk music and original classical wind band music. Steampunk is a type of science fiction that depicts futuristic and fictional technology from the Victorian era. Steampunk is based on the science fiction of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Steampunk can also refer to artistic and musical styles from the same imagined, but futuristic past and can include elements of Victorian fashion and art nouveau architecture. This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features music composed with this aesthetic by Erika Svanoe, who has a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Wisconsin, a master's degree in wind conducting from Oklahoma State University, and a doctorate in musical arts from Ohio State University.
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To celebrate Mardi Gras and Black History Month, this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features remastered Dixieland recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. Robert Parker, an Australian sound engineer, has processed and remastered a number of old 78-rpm recordings so that they almost sound like modern recordings. Regardless, the fidelity is tremendously improved. We will have a number of selections from his compact disc entitled “New Orleans: Jazz Classics in Digital Stereo.” Today, you will hear at least two original recordings by the 1930s reincarnation of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, one of the few jazz bands known by their initials: N.O.R.K. The other is the Original Dixieland Jazz Band: O.D.J.B.
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Wind-band march music before Sousa is featured on this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion. Before John Philip Sousa, there were American composers who lead popular wind bands and composed exciting marches. John Philip Sousa called David Wallis Reeves the father of band music in America. He also said he wished he had written the opening march for this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion; namely, “The Second Connecticut Regiment March.” Reeves added the countermelody to the American march. He was born in Oswego, New York, and became a member ofthe Oswego town band playing the alto horn. He later switched to cornet, the instrument that made him famous. He was the conductor of a number of different bands in New York and Rhode Island. By the time of his death, he had composed over 100 pieces.
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Frantisek Kmoch (pronounced MOHSH) was a Czech composer who lived from 1848 to 1912. During this period, what is now called the Czech Republic was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the lifetime of Kmoch, the Czechs began to develop a sense of national pride and wanted to rule their own country. By composing music based on Czech folk tunes, Kmoch raised Czech national consciousness. In Koline, he started a wind band , which extensively toured Europe performing Czech music. Kmoch is credited with collecting and saving at least 105 Czech folks tunes. Today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features one of these: “Safarova’s Parakeet” This song implores the parakeet to chase the geese out of the barley field.
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This edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with a march that I recently heard played for the Arcadia, California, Band Review. Apparently, as part of the requirements for participating in this parade marching contest, traditional marches must be performed. So this edition opens with one of the great American marches: "Emblem of Unity" by John Joseph Richards, a Welsh born composer who grew up in Kansas. He started playing alto horn and cornet at age 10, but was the director of a circus band by age 19. In addition to conducting the Norton-Jones Circus Band, he also conducted the Barnum and Bailey Circus Band and the Ringling Brothers Circus Band before the two circuses merged.
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Continuing the exploration of how popular music is often wind-band music, this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion features music of a big band called “a thundering herd” instead of an orchestra. Before being a musician or bandleader, Woody Herman was a vaudeville performer billed as “The Boy Wonder.” He began playing his clarinet in a band at age 13 and doubled on saxophones. In 1934, he joined the Isham Jones Orchestra and added singing to his musical activities. In 1936, he formed his first band called the Band That Plays the Blues. Probably because of the rhythmic drive of the band’s playing, a music critic started to refer to the band as Woody Herman’s Herd. The band reached the height of its popularity during WW II, during which time the name of the band morphed into Woody Herman and His Thundering Herd. We open today’s edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion with one of his hits from that WWII period: “Goosey Gander.”
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Wind-band music has a long history of being popular music. So this edition of Brass, Reeds, and Percussion opens with a big hit from 1936: “The Whistler’s Mother-in-Law.” This song was written by Larry Wagner, a trumpet player and big-band arranger born in 1907 in Ashland, Oregon. After graduating from high school, Wagner attended the University of Oregon to major in journalism, but dropped out to play in a big band in the northwest. During this period, he took a correspondence course in arranging. Eventually, he moved to New York City and worked with Paul Whiteman and Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra.
