BSO recording from 1906 will air tomorrow ["Kerry Dance"]

Boston Globe ^ | October 21, 2006 | Geoff Edgers

[sitetest]

For a century, the moment was nothing more than a scribbled entry on a long forgotten studio ledger. Four trombonists, billed as the Boston Symphony Orchestra Trombone Quartet, gathered in Camden, N.J., in the winter of 1906. Huddled over a large, metal horn, they recorded a short pop ditty, ``The Kerry Dance."

Tomorrow, thanks to a Florida record collector and a serendipitous turn of events, that song -- believed to be the earliest known recording featuring members of the BSO -- will be played on the radio for the first time. After WGBH found out about it earlier this week, the station included ``The Kerry Dance" as part of its Sunday broadcast, which takes place exactly 125 years, to the day, after the BSO's first concert in 1881.

``Even if it sounded bad, I'd still be thrilled," said Brian Bell , who produces the BSO broadcasts. ``But I think it sounds great."

Little is known about the recording sessions that led to ``The Kerry Dance." Three of the players, Carl Hampe , August Mausebach , and Leroy Kenfield , were longtime members of the BSO. The fourth trombonist remains unknown.

[sitetest]

I didn't see this posted otherwise. My apologies if it's a duplicate.

[sitetest]

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[lesser_satan]

Huddled over a large, metal horn, they recorded a short pop ditty, ``The Kerry Dance."

A vigorous piece of choreography that involves a great deal of flipping and flopping?

[sitetest]

LOL!!

[Pharmboy]

The Kerry Dance, huh? Is that where you shift from the left to the right foot and then back again and claim that you were on the left before you knew you were on the right one ("Oops--sorry for stepping on your toe, dear.")

[sitetest]

This thread may turn out to be a lot of fun!

[DeFault User]

The Kerry Dance?

Perhaps it was really the Boston Pops doing the Blue Tango.

[Constitution Day]

Huddled over a large, metal horn, they recorded a short pop ditty,"The Kerry Dance."

Was it performed in a manner reminiscent of JEN-jis Khan?

[Steely Tom]

Perhaps it was really the Boston Pops doing the Blue Tango.

I was thinking Baby Elephant Walk.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Very cool.

It hurts my head to think of all the music I would like to have heard recorded throughout history.

[Red Badger]

Wasn't one of J-FInk's ancestors hung for some crime? This may allude to that.............

[kinoxi]

Neat. The records most likely suck, but ...

[AnAmericanMother]

This should be interesting.

I was at a jazz concert Fri night and they played a "trombone special" - five solos by the guys in the trombone section. It wasn't bad.

"The Kerry Dance" has sappy words written in the 1870s, but it's a traditional Irish dance tune.

[mtbopfuyn]

As for the original copy of the record, Knapp has decided to send ``The Kerry Dance" and a second quartet recording made in February 1906 to the BSO's archives.

It'd be great to put it out on the internet for everyone to hear.

[mtbopfuyn]

Here's one of my favorite sites. Click "view this piece" below the cover sheet to show all seven pages.

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/sheetmusic/1880-1889/@Generic__BookTextView/4502;nh=1?DwebQuery=the+kerry+dance+in+%3Cc01%3E#X

[texas booster]

From the article ...

`The Kerry Dance" is likely named for the county in Ireland. The BSO quartet version is an instrumental, with a gloomy middle passage played in a minor key before the trombonists revert to the faster tempo of the first sections. (The song has such melancholy lyrics as ``Time goes by and the happy years are dead . ")

[andy58-in-nh]

[andy58-in-nh]

[Fiji Hill]

The Kerry Dance? Probably involves a lot of dodging, weaving, and side-stepping.

[Constitution Day]

LOL! I love it.