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Arthur Pryor: Ragtime Pioneer
by Rick Benjamin
Although his name is no longer well known, Arthur Pryor (1870-1942) was
once one of America's most important musical figures. He was the world's
greatest trombonist, a celebrated conductor, and the composer of some of the
most popular tunes of the early 1900s. Additionally, Pryor was a pioneering
phonograph recording artist, an educator, and a founding father of several
major musical organizations. Indeed, during the height of his career (and
many years thereafter), Arthur Pryor's reputation and influence in the music
business rivaled that of even John Philip Sousa's.
But perhaps Arthur Pryor's greatest contribution to American music was his work as a composer and unabashed promoter of the emerging ragtime style. Pryor wrote several early syncopated "hits," arranged or adapted many works of others for band and orchestra performance, and used his prominent position with the Sousa Band--and later his own band and orchestra--as a "bully pulpit" for the dissemination of this exciting new style.
Arthur Willard Pryor was born in St. Joseph, Missouri in September, 1870. Although at that time, "St. Joe" was still a frontier region, from the very beginning of life he was surrounded by music. His father, Samuel, was the town bandmaster, and young Arthur displayed a natural talent for music. As a child he mastered the cornet, alto horn, valve trombone, drums, violin, bass viol, and piano. He also soaked up the exhilarating new rhythms emanating from the African-American sections of town--a new style called "jig piano," or "rag-time." Not surprisingly, this section of Missouri was also the point-of-origin for most of the giants of the classic rag style--Charles L. Johnson, Percy Wenrich, James Scott, and of course, Scott Joplin.
But the catalyst for Pryor's brilliant career arrived rather inauspiciously one day, in the form of a dilapidated slide trombone given to Samuel Pryor as payment on a debt. In 1880s America the valve trombone or tenor horn was a common sight in brass bands, but the slide trombone was an exotic rarity: no one in St. Joe had any idea how to play it. Indeed, since the days of Mozart and Beethoven its use had been confined to the grand realms of the symphony orchestra. There were no symphonic orchestras in Western Missouri (in fact, there were hardly any the entire United States), but out of curiosity, Sam told his son to figure out how to play it. Intrigued, fifteen year old Arthur eventually managed to to play the horn using only the top one-third length of the slide. Five years later, he discovered from a man in a poolroom that he could use the entire length of the slide (encompassing the standard seven positions)--and that, oh yes, the slide had to be oiled too! As a result of his lack of "correct" initial instruction, Pryor had inadvertently developed a completely new technique of slide trombone playing using "alternate positions." And it was this innovation--combined with ten hours a day of practice--that enabled him to achieve a unimaginable degree of speed and fluidity on this instrument. Soon Pryor was a hit at county fairs, and was hailed far and wide as "the Boy Wonder of Missouri."
In 1888 Pryor's skill came to the attention of the great cornet soloist and bandmaster Allessandro Liberati (1847-1927) who engaged Pryor for a midwestern tour. This experience was quickly followed by a similar offer from the legendary Patrick S. Gilmore (1829-1892), known as the "Father of the Concert Band." This time Pryor declined; he had already accepted a steady position as pianist and music director of the pit-orchestra at the Stanley Opera House in Denver, Colorado. Pryor's tenure at this vaudeville theater must have given him the opportunity to learn much about conducting, composing, arranging, and basics of showmanship.
But Pryor's great skill on the slide trombone would not be forgotten. The seasoned bandsmen that had heard him play with Liberatti still talked about the marvels they had witnessed. Pryor's reputation grew. In August, 1892 he received a telegram from John Philip Sousa, inviting him to join the "March King's" newly-formed concert band. Pryor accepted the engagement, and arrived in New York City with thirty-five cents in his pocket. At the first rehearsal, the young Missourian dazzled Mr. Sousa and his assembled artists with his astonishing virtuosity. Frank Holton, then Sousa's first trombonist, immediately offered to resign his position in deference to Pryor's superior ability. Sousa convinced Holton to stay on, "since this young fellow may just be a flash," but within a short time Pryor did become the first trombonist in the band (Holton left to start a band instrument factory. His big celebrity endorser?-- Arthur Pryor!).
Soon, Mr. Sousa entrusted Pryor with the duties of featured soloist: between 1893 and 1903 he performed over ten thousand trombone solos with the Sousa Band! This vast exposure to audiences and musicians around the world had an enormous effect on the playing style of the slide trombone. No longer could the "slip horn" be considered merely an awkward accompaniment instrument; Pryor's performances established it as a exciting soloist's medium, inspiring a generation of young players who strove to imitate him. Certainly, his influence can be seen in the agile trombone parts in post-1900 American music, and his high, singing ballad playing was the stylistic basis for later players like Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey.
But the Sousa/Pryor association had other important consequences. In 1895 Pryor was promoted to Assistant Conductor of the band. The "March King" was always ready to cater to his audiences with the latest trends in popular music, and he relied on "that kid from Missouri" to teach the newfangled ragtime rhythms to his musicians (many of whom, incidentally, felt it demeaning to play such music). Sousa himself was not particularly enthralled with this new idiom, thus Arthur Pryor conducted the Sousa Band in performances of some of the earliest instrumental ragtime compositions: selections by Kerry Mills (At A Georgia Campmeeting, Whistling Rufus, etc.), Abe Holzmann (Smoky Mokes, Bunch o' Blackberries, etc.), and others. The American public went wild--and demanded more. Within a year, Pryor began composing his own pieces featuring the ragged rhythms of his native state. Resulting were the big "cakewalk" successes Southern Hospitality, Razzazza Mazzazza, and A Coon Band Contest. Sousa's European Tour of 1900 spread the ragtime craze to Britain and the Continent. Never before had an American cultural export commanded such attention around the world. Pryor's music found favor with the Crowned heads of Europe; even Germany's notorious Kaiser Wilhelm danced the cakewalk! Although he was an excellent pianist--and familar with "classic" keyboard ragtime--Pryor's robust compositions were decidedly conceived for band or orchestra rendition. Most feature conspicuous countermelodies or humorous sliding passages for the trombone, as well as other effects not reproducible by a solo pianist.
Pryor was also assigned the job of leading Sousa's musicians for phonograph recordings. Mr. Sousa hated the phonograph--he coined the term "canned music"--and he refused to participate in the arduous sessions himself. Most of the old 78 r.p.m. records labelled "The Sousa Band" were actually conducted by Arthur Pryor. Sousa thought (and fervently hoped) that mechanical music was but a passing fad. Pryor believed otherwise. He was a sharp business man and, envisioning a vast and profitable new industry, prepared for himself a place within this emerging technology.
In 1903 Pryor resigned from the Sousa Band. His ambition now was to go into business for himself as a composer/bandmaster, and to continue his work as a musical director for the fledgling Victor Talking Machine Company. Pryor's new concert band flourished; it completed six lucrative coast-to-coast tours (1904-1909), and was booked for numerous important exhibitions, such as the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. But Pryor grew to dislike the hectic pace of touring life, preferring instead to play annual extended engagements at a number of resort areas.
For years the Arthur Pryor Band was a powerful summertime drawing card on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, N.J. (twenty-six seasons), at Philadelphia's Willow Grove Park (eleven seasons), at the Royal Palm Park in Florida (nine seasons), at Coney Island, and on the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. Many contemporary observers commented that the Pryor organization sounded superior even to Sousa's--not surprising since Pryor had craftily lured away some of the "March King's" star players. In the winter months, Pryor occupied himself as a composer and conductor for a number of New York theatrical productions. From late 1918 into the early 1920s he was Musical Director for the famous Capitol Theatre in Manhattan; there, in 1919, he conducted the premiere of a new one-step called Swanee--the first big hit by an rising songwriter named George Gershwin.
Pryor's Concert Band and Orchestra also became heavily involved in recording sessions for the rapidly expanding Victor Company. Pryor had been right--the phonograph was well on its way to becoming a household necessity, and soon most of his time was spent at the Victor studios in Camden, N.J. It is said that Pryor conducted for more recordings than any other man of his era, and the Victor catalogs from 1900s thru the late 1920s confirm that over two-thousand five-hundred (2,500) separate Pryor records were issued, including trombone solos and selections performed by his Band and Orchestra. The repertoire included many marches, novelties, selections from the classics, and an extraordinary amount of syncopated dance music. The Pryor Concert Band music library has been lost since the 1940s, but his collection of dance orchestra scores--recently rediscovered--contains over three-hundred-fifty rags, two-hundred two steps, one-hundred thirty one steps, and some one hundred fifty early foxtrots. Many of these titles were recorded for Victor under the baton of Arthur Pryor.
His Victor Talking Machine Company years were also the most fertile period for Pryor the composer. Of his three-hundred original works, the most famous were created during this time: Heart of America March (1916), Triumph of Old Glory (1907), On Jersey Shore (1904), and the ever popular Whistler and His Dog (1905). Through the medium of the phonograph, Arthur Pryor eventually became so well known (and financially secure) that he no longer needed to give live concerts. This was truly a revolutionary achievement in the history of music: from the commercial standpoint, the phonograph recording had become more important than the live performance!
Arthur Pryor maintained this busy career right up until his retirement in 1933. By then, the saxophone-dominated dance orchestras and jazz combos had edged-out the gentler kind of music that he preferred. And although he championed ragtime, Pryor strongly disliked the improvised jazz that had grown from it. He called jazz the "parasite of music," and ventured that its popularity would eventually cause the lowering of musical tastes in America. But he was not overly concerned: now an extremely wealthy man, Arthur Pryor relaxed with his wife Maude on their lovely twenty-seven acre farm in West Long Branch, New Jersey. Finally, he had time to enjoy his fried chicken and Pilsner beer, billiard games at the Elks Club, surf fishing, fast convertable automobiles, and visits from young aspiring trombonists. He even ran for public office, and won a seat as a Monmouth County freeholder on a platform to lower taxes. Although he had refrained (since 1918) from playing publicly, Pryor still insisted on practicing his beloved trombone every day--an old habit that was impossible to break.
After the United States' entry into World War II, and with German submarines sinking Allied shipping within sight of the beach, Pryor was asked to do something to bolster morale on the hard-pressed New Jersey coast. A staunch patriot, he quickly reorganized his concert band, and supervised the construction of a new bandstand on the beach in Asbury Park. Huge crowds attended his first concert on Memorial Day, 1942, and as word spread, subsequent audiences were larger still. It was just like the old days, except that Arthur Pryor was now in his seventies. He had always been a perfectionist on the podium--and prone to fits of angry shouting at less-than-inspired playing. But his body could no longer afford such strain. On June 17th, immediately following a rehearsal, Pryor suffered a severe stroke. Early the next morning, the "Paganini of the trombone" passed into history. His son Arthur Jr. led the Pryor Band that evening, concluding with his father's last composition We'll Keep Old Glory Flying.
In the fifty years since his death, Arthur Pryor's name has slowly faded from the national consciousness. But vestiges of his many contributions remain among us, no small accomplishment for a kid from Missouri with a slide trombone, thirty-five cents, and a dream.
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