Creating an Aural History: The Detroit Concert Band's Sousa American Bicentennial Collection

Abstract

The name Leonard B. Smith has permeated the wind band world for many years. Known primarily as conductor of the Detroit Concert Band, the extent of Smith’s musical heritage and legacy have been largely forgotten over the years. Smith was a workhorse who felt it his purpose in life to continue and preserve the legacy of his boyhood idol, John Philip Sousa. In no way is this more evident than in the band’s ten-album series titled the Sousa American Bicentennial Collection. Considered by his contemporaries to be the foremost interpreter of Sousa’s works, Smith set out to record all one hundred sixteen known Sousa marches. This series, created by Leonard B. Smith and the members of the Detroit Concert Band, acts as an aural history of Sousa’s legacy. In addition to preserving Smith’s musical interpretation of Sousa’s works, the collaboration with several former Sousa band members and Sousa’s biographer, Paul Bierley, elevate the significance of the recordings. Smith believed that the repertoire of the professional band movement was important and deserved the same respect as other major facets of music history. Because of his belief and undying reverence for John Philip Sousa, we have a musical record that future generations are able to consult.