Paul Lavalle
Encyclopedia
Paul Lavalle was a conductor, composer, arranger and performer on clarinet and saxophone. He was born Joseph Usifer on September 6, 1908 in Beacon, New York
and died in Harrisonburg, Virginia
on June 24, 1997.
Lavalle’s parents were Ralph and Jennie Usifer, both Italian immigrants. Graduating from Beacon High School, he planned to study law at Columbia University. After winning a scholarship there, Lavalle studied music at the Juilliard School
and was a student of composition of Joseph Schillinger
. He performed in many 1930s bands, including one in Havana, Cuba. In 1933 he became an arranger and clarinetist in the NBC house orchestra. His composition Symphonic Rhumba (1939), was broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra
, conducted by Leopold Stokowski
, on December 6, 1942.
(1940-44), Plays for Americans (1942), Highway of Melody (starring baritone Mac Morgan
) with the Band of America (1944-56). On his radio shows he collaborated with Victor Borge
, Mario Lanza
, Robert Merrill
and Dinah Shore
. In November 1944, his jazz composition "Always" made it to number 29 on the top 40 charts. In 1940, The New York Times
described him as "NBC's ubiquitous music maker" and said he was "of small size, dynamic, dark haired..." Lavalle told the reporter, "Music is my life, and I am happy that it is so."
Lavalle was selected over several applicants to become the conductor of the Band of America in 1948. They performed a weekly radio program on NBC Radio for eight years and almost 400 programs. Each program began with the introduction: "Forty-eight states... 48 stars... 48 men marching down the main street of everybody's hometown! Here comes the Cities Service Band of America
, conducted by Paul Lavalle!"
, an engagement that lasted into 1965.
Lavalle guest conducted many orchestras, including the ABC Symphony, CBS Symphony, NBC Symphony Orchestra
, New York Philharmonic
and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
. In 1966 he became the conductor for the Radio City Music Hall
Symphony Orchestra, and he returned two years later to serve as director of music and as principal conductor until 1975. In 1981 he began conducting the Wilton, Connecticut
, Chamber Orchestra.
In 1967, he was instrumental in forming the 100-member All-American High School Band (by 1968 known as McDonald's All-American High School Band) which participated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
and Tournament of Roses Parade
.
Paul Lavalle was married twice. He met Sarah (Sally) Grant (22 July 1904 - 18 January 1992), a native of North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, while in Cuba, and they were married in New York. They had one son, Lawrence (Larry) Usifer (5 October 1941 - 11 December 2002). The marriage ended in divorce in 1946. Sally and Larry eventually returned to Nova Scotia, where the latter was prominent in musical circles. Actress Muriel Angelus
met Paul Lavalle while she was performing on the radio, and they married in 1946. She retired from acting to raise a family. They maintained an apartment in Manhattan and a Colonial home in Connecticut. Their daughter Suzanne Lavalle Bothamley was an NBC reporter and became a realtor for Coldwell Banker Funkhouse. Paul Lavalle died June 24, 1997 in Harrisonburg, Virginia at the Rockingham Memorial Hospital.
78rpm recording was issued under Joe Usifer's name, an extremely sophisticated and intricate swing arrangement, in the tradition of Raymond Scott
, of "In The Hall of the Mountain King
" b/w "The Jockey On The Carousel". Recorded by Irving Mills
, it was one of the first records issued on Brunswick after the collapse of Mills' Master Records label (remaining top selling Master records were moved to Brunswick). Did he change his performing name from Paul Laval to Paul Lavalle, so as not to be mistaken with the French politician Pierre Laval
found guilty of treason in World War II?
Beacon, New York
Beacon is a city located in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The 2010 census placed the city total population at 15,541. Beacon is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport,...
and died in Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia in the United States. Its population as of 2010 is 48,914, and at the 2000 census, 40,468. Harrisonburg is the county seat of Rockingham County and the core city of the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical...
on June 24, 1997.
Lavalle’s parents were Ralph and Jennie Usifer, both Italian immigrants. Graduating from Beacon High School, he planned to study law at Columbia University. After winning a scholarship there, Lavalle studied music at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
and was a student of composition of Joseph Schillinger
Joseph Schillinger
Joseph Schillinger was a composer, music theorist, and composition teacher. He was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine and died in New York City.-Life and career:...
. He performed in many 1930s bands, including one in Havana, Cuba. In 1933 he became an arranger and clarinetist in the NBC house orchestra. His composition Symphonic Rhumba (1939), was broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
, conducted by Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, on December 6, 1942.
Radio
Lavalle worked on numerous radio programs, including The Dinah Shore Show (1939-40), The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin StreetThe Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was a musical variety radio program which began on the Blue Network in 1940. The magazine Radio Life described it as "one of radio's strangest offsprings... a wacky, strictly hep tongue-in-cheek burlesque of opera and symphony."It was a weekly...
(1940-44), Plays for Americans (1942), Highway of Melody (starring baritone Mac Morgan
Mac Morgan
Mac Morgan was an American bass-baritone who had an active performance career in concerts and operas from the early 1940s until the mid 1970s. The Boston Globe described him as a singer "known for his rich tone and enviable diction"...
) with the Band of America (1944-56). On his radio shows he collaborated with Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
, Mario Lanza
Mario Lanza
right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....
, Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill was an American operatic baritone.-Early life:Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.His mother...
and Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
. In November 1944, his jazz composition "Always" made it to number 29 on the top 40 charts. In 1940, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described him as "NBC's ubiquitous music maker" and said he was "of small size, dynamic, dark haired..." Lavalle told the reporter, "Music is my life, and I am happy that it is so."
Lavalle was selected over several applicants to become the conductor of the Band of America in 1948. They performed a weekly radio program on NBC Radio for eight years and almost 400 programs. Each program began with the introduction: "Forty-eight states... 48 stars... 48 men marching down the main street of everybody's hometown! Here comes the Cities Service Band of America
Cities Service Concerts
The Cities Service Concerts were musical broadcasts which had a long three-decade run on radio from 1925 to 1956, encompassing a variety of vocalists and musicians.The concerts began with trial broadcasts in the New York area during 1925 and 1926...
, conducted by Paul Lavalle!"
Television
In 1949, Lavalle and the band became one of the first musical groups to appear weekly on television. Beginning in 1964, the Band of America toured extensively and also became the official band of the 1964 New York World's Fair1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major world's fair to be held in New York City. Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe";...
, an engagement that lasted into 1965.
Lavalle guest conducted many orchestras, including the ABC Symphony, CBS Symphony, NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
, New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, Monroe County, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music....
. In 1966 he became the conductor for the Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
Symphony Orchestra, and he returned two years later to serve as director of music and as principal conductor until 1975. In 1981 he began conducting the Wilton, Connecticut
Wilton, Connecticut
Wilton is a town nestled in the Norwalk River Valley in southwestern Connecticut in the United States. It is located in Fairfield County. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 18,062. In 2007, it was voted as one of CNN Money's "Best Places to Live" in the United States.Located along...
, Chamber Orchestra.
In 1967, he was instrumental in forming the 100-member All-American High School Band (by 1968 known as McDonald's All-American High School Band) which participated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...
and Tournament of Roses Parade
Tournament of Roses Parade
The Tournament of Roses Parade, better known as the Rose Parade, is "America's New Year Celebration", a festival of flower-covered floats, marching bands, equestrians and a college football game on New Year's Day , produced by the non-profit Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association.The annual...
.
Paul Lavalle was married twice. He met Sarah (Sally) Grant (22 July 1904 - 18 January 1992), a native of North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, while in Cuba, and they were married in New York. They had one son, Lawrence (Larry) Usifer (5 October 1941 - 11 December 2002). The marriage ended in divorce in 1946. Sally and Larry eventually returned to Nova Scotia, where the latter was prominent in musical circles. Actress Muriel Angelus
Muriel Angelus
Muriel Angelus was a British-born stage, musical theatre and film actress.Born Muriel Angelus Findlay London, England to Scottish parentage, she developed a sweet-voiced soprano at an early age...
met Paul Lavalle while she was performing on the radio, and they married in 1946. She retired from acting to raise a family. They maintained an apartment in Manhattan and a Colonial home in Connecticut. Their daughter Suzanne Lavalle Bothamley was an NBC reporter and became a realtor for Coldwell Banker Funkhouse. Paul Lavalle died June 24, 1997 in Harrisonburg, Virginia at the Rockingham Memorial Hospital.
Joseph Usifer and Paul Laval
Paul Lavalle used his birth name, Joseph Usifer, for performances until at least 1938, and he then used the name Paul Laval in the 1940s. In 1938, a rare Brunswick RecordsBrunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
78rpm recording was issued under Joe Usifer's name, an extremely sophisticated and intricate swing arrangement, in the tradition of Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....
, of "In The Hall of the Mountain King
In the Hall of the Mountain King
In the Hall of the Mountain King is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg for the sixth scene of Act II in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, which premiered in Christiania on February 24, 1876....
" b/w "The Jockey On The Carousel". Recorded by Irving Mills
Irving Mills
Irving Mills was a jazz music publisher, also known by the name of "Joe Primrose."Mills was born to Jewish parents in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He founded Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919...
, it was one of the first records issued on Brunswick after the collapse of Mills' Master Records label (remaining top selling Master records were moved to Brunswick). Did he change his performing name from Paul Laval to Paul Lavalle, so as not to be mistaken with the French politician Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval
Pierre Laval was a French politician. He was four times President of the council of ministers of the Third Republic, twice consecutively. Following France's Armistice with Germany in 1940, he served twice in the Vichy Regime as head of government, signing orders permitting the deportation of...
found guilty of treason in World War II?
Awards
- Alfred I. Dupont Award
- Christopher AwardChristopher AwardThe Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
- Grand Festivalmeister of the Tulip Time International Music Festival held at Katwijk aan Zee, Holland
- Kappa Kappa PsiKappa Kappa PsiKappa Kappa Psi is a fraternity for college and university band members. It was founded on November 27, 1919 at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College in Stillwater, Oklahoma. William Scroggs, now regarded as the "Founder," together with "Mr. Kappa Kappa Psi" A...
- Man and Boy Award
- Rollie Statue (Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade)
Paul Lavalle's compositions (selected)
- Band of America March (1949)
- Big Joe, The Tuba March (1950)
- Boys' Clubs of America (Marching Song) (1948)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower March (built on the notes D-D-E; the official theme of the 1952 campaign)
- The United Press March (1952, composed for United Press InternationalUnited Press InternationalUnited Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
) - United States Overture (1951)
Paul Lavalle's LPs (selected)
Lavalle made many recordings, mostly on RCA.- Paul Lavalle's Concert in the Park (1954)
- Great Band Music (1955)
- Lavalle at Work (1955)
- America's Favorite Marches (1956)
- Concert in the Park (1956)
- Lavalle in Hi-Fi (1957)
- The Mighty Sousa Marches (1966)
- Salute to Our Fighting Men in Vietnam (1966)
Sources
- The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, June 30, 1942, page 16. - ASCAP Biographical Dictionary. New York: Bowker, 1980.
- ”Chamber-Music Society”, TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, September 23, 1940 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,801984-1,00.html - ”Conductor Paul Lavalle Dies at 88”, Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 24, 1997, page B2.
- Dunning, John. The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
- International Motion Picture Almanac 1975. New York: Quigley Publishing, 1975.
- Kinkle, Roger D. The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz 1900-1950. New Rochelle: Artlington House, 1974.
- Lachman, Ron. The Encyclopedia of American Radio. New York: Checkmark Books, 2000.
- Rasponi, Lanfranco. "Jazz Swings to Classics - Improvisation and Variations Gone from Popular Music, Paul Laval Says", The New York Times, November 24, 1940.
- Rehrig, William H. The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. Waterville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1991.
- Smith, Norman E. March Music Notes. Lake Charles, Louisiana: Music Notes Press, 1986.
- United States Census, 1920United States Census, 1920The Fourteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from January 5, 1920, determined the resident population of the United States to be 106,021,537, an increase of 15.0 percent over the 92,228,496 persons enumerated during the 1910 Census.Despite the constitutional...
- Vallance, Tom "Muriel Angelus" Independent (of London) Online Edition, September 6, 2004. http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article39167.ece