Harry L. Alford
Encyclopedia
Harry L. Alford was an American arranger and composer of band marches.

Early life

Harry LaForrest Alford was born in Hudson, Michigan
Hudson, Michigan
Hudson is a city in Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,307 at the 2010 census. The city is located within Hudson Township, but is politically independent.-Geography:...

. His family moved to nearby Blissfield, Michigan
Blissfield, Michigan
Blissfield is a village in Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,223 at the 2000 census. The village is located within Blissfield Township...

 two years later. As a boy Harry learned to play the slide trombone, piano, and organ. He also taught himself composition and arrangement.

He worked as a church organist and then as a trombonist in a theater orchestra. He recognized his deficiencies in formal training at this point. He studied at the Dana Musical Institute in Warren, Ohio
Warren, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 46,832 people, 19,288 households and 12,035 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,912.4 people per square mile . There were 21,279 housing units at an average density of 1,322.9 per square mile...

 (now part of Youngstown State University
Youngstown State University
Youngstown State University, founded in 1908, is an urban research university located in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. As of fall 2010, there were 15,194 students and a student-faculty ratio of 19:1. It is recognized as being one of the premier schools in the country, comparable to Ivy League...

). Then, he became a trombonist with touring minstrel shows, wild west shows, and theatrical troupes.

By 1903, he was tired of the constant travel. He opened a custom arranging business in Chicago employing famous copyists and arrangers working in sound proof studios. The idea of arranging as a full time career was unknown at that time. Alford’s pit orchestra music for Eva Tanguay
Eva Tanguay
Eva Tanguay was a Canadian-born singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous".-Early life:...

 made him famous, and created a demand for music scored by him. He became known as the composer and arranger of ingenious quirky music. The Harry L. Alford Arranging Studios moved into the entire sixth floor of the State-Lake Theater in the early 1920s. The firm operated until 1940, producing over 34,000 arrangements.

Band

Alford’s first march for band was performed in Blissfield by a visiting show brass band when he was only fourteen. The success of this event encouraged him to compose marches and other works for the Blissfield band. He would continue to compose band music for the rest of his life.

Alford’s best known work is likely that commissioned by bands. The director of the University of Illinois Band, Albert Austin Harding
Albert Austin Harding
Albert Austin Harding was the first Director Of Bands at the University of Illinois. He was also the first band director at an American university to hold a position of full professorship...

, commissioned him for some of the first football halftime extravaganza shows. These included his composition The World is Waiting for the Sunrise (1919). Another composition for Harding’s band was The March of the Illini (1928, originally titled The Battle of Tippecanoe). Alford also composed music for Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 band halftime shows.

Alford composed over 100 pieces of music. Two of his band marches are well known: Glory of the Gridiron (1932; written for director Harding and the University of Illinois Band) and Purple Carnival (1933; dedicated to director Glenn Cliffe Bainum and the Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band
Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band
The Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band is the marching band of Northwestern University. NUMB provides pre-game, halftime, and postgame field performances at all home football games while school is in session as well as performing in various pep bands and at "Wildcat Alley" before the...

). Other marches include Law and Order, March of the Jackies, Skyliner, and Call of the Elk (official march of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...

).

Alford conducted the Knight’s Templar Band of the Siloam Commandery in Chicago from 1927 until he died.

Two Alfords

Harry L. Alford is sometimes confused with Kenneth J. Alford, composer of Colonel Bogey March
Colonel Bogey March
The "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts , a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth...

. Kenneth Alford, sometimes called the British March King, was the pen name of British bandleader and composer Frederick Joseph Ricketts.

Personal Information

Alford’s birth date is uncertain. Some sources say August 3, 1883, others August 3, 1875. Alford’s daughter Ruth wrote in a letter that Alford was born in 1875, not 1883. In the 1920 census he is listed as being 42 years of age, and born about 1878. In the 1930 census he is listed as being 50 years of age and born about 1880. His funeral notice in the Oak Park-River Forest newspaper says he was born August 4, 1879.

Alford was described in 1921 as being of medium height and build, quick and nervous and full of pep, and speaks rapidly in a high tenor voice. Music was his only hobby.

Alford married Lucille H. Teetzel on October 1, 1902. Together they had a son Harold, who became an airline pilot for Eastern Airlines. One of Alford’s marches, Skyliner, was written for Harold. They also had a daughter, Ruth Marion (Mrs. Eric Bottoms). Lucy died on January 30, 1938.

Amongst Alford’s closest friends were circus bandleader Merle Evans and John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....

. They were also clients of his arrangement company. When Sousa came to Alford’s house for a meal, Lucille insisted he take off his white gloves before he could eat.

Harry Alford resided at the Medinah Country Club
Medinah Country Club
Medinah Country Club is a private country club in Medinah, Illinois with nearly 600 members and containing three golf courses, Lake Kadijah, swimming facilities and a Byzantine-style, mosque-evoking clubhouse with Oriental, Louis XIV and Italian architectural aspects. Medinah is widely known for...

 in Chicago for the winter months to be near his offices in the Chicago Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...

. It was at that facility that he died after suffering a fatal heart attack on March 4, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois. He is buried at the Mount Emblem Cemetery
Mount Emblem Cemetery
Mount Emblem Cemetery is located at the intersection of Grand Avenue and County Line Road in Elmhurst, Illinois. Despite noise from air traffic to O'Hare International and automobiles on I-294, the peaceful surroundings and carefully planned landscaping work to help visitors enjoy the tranquility...

 in Elmhurst, Illinois
Elmhurst, Illinois
Elmhurst is a suburb of Chicago in DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. The population is 46,013 as of the 2008 US Census population estimate.-History:...

.

A photograph of Alford in the summer of 1938 can be seen at http://www.alfordassociation.org/COLLECTIONS/HLA/photo-38.pdf
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