Sousa

• Main performer: United States Air Force Heritage of America Band
• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 72:43
• Release Date: 2002

Review

Fans of the music of John Philip Sousa are getting spoiled given the emergence of Keith Brion's ongoing series of Sousa wind music on Naxos, and even a box set of the complete Sousa marches on Walking Frog. This disc, with the USAF Heritage of America Band under Col. Lowell Graham, and simply titled Sousa, is nonetheless too good to pass up. It represents a mixture of a few familiar Sousa marches along with more obscure fare, most notably the concert suite The Last Days of Pompeii (1903). The quality of this Klavier recording is stunning, and the performances of the music are no less so. All of the works on the disc are played exactly as Sousa would've wanted to hear them, without a hair out of place, but never at the sacrifice of the spirit and energy that this music also requires. The program is chosen to emphasize Sousa's considerable gifts as a composer and is highly successful in this regard. Sousa is a disc that will not only appeal to band fanciers, but to anyone who is interested in high-quality American music. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
John Philip Sousa	Easter Monday on the White House Lawn (from Tales of a Traveler), for band	2:25
John Philip Sousa	Tally-Ho!, overture for orchestra (Overture)	4:25
John Philip Sousa	The Last Days of Pompeii, suite for band	11:00
John Philip Sousa	The High School Cadets, march for band	2:35
John Philip Sousa	Manhattan Beach, march for band	2:18
John Philip Sousa	Solid Men To the Front!, march for band	3:50
John Philip Sousa	Jack Tar, march for band	2:29
John Philip Sousa	The Beau Ideal, march for band	3:22
John Philip Sousa	Mother Hubbard March, march for band	2:34
John Philip Sousa	The Wolverine March, march for band	2:13
John Philip Sousa	The Gallant Seventh, march for band	3:13
John Philip Sousa	The Directorate, march for band	2:32
John Philip Sousa	The Gladiator, march for band	2:44
John Philip Sousa	Saber and Spurs, march for band	3:04
John Philip Sousa	Flags of Freedom, march for band	2:29
John Philip Sousa	The Rifle Regiment, march for band	3:09
John Philip Sousa	Hands Across the Sea, march for band	2:49
John Philip Sousa	El Capitan, march for band	2:17
John Philip Sousa	El Capitan, operetta (Waltzes)	5:54
John Philip Sousa	La Reine de la Mer Valses, waltz for band (Waltzes)	7:21