Allentown Tubist Joins Sousa's Band

Courtesy of the Allentown Band Photograph Collection

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to join the folks from J. W. Pepper to help answer questions about the original Sousaphone while it is on display at an upcoming concert of the Allentown Band. Here's the information about the concert, which will replicate a Sousa Band concert from the early 1900s:

I'm excited about the event, as the Allentown Band is the oldest continuously active community band in America, and one I have never heard in concert - even though I live only about 45 minutes south of Allentown.

But as I was thinking about the concert, I remembered that one of Sousa's Sousaphone players in the 1920s was recruited out of the Allentown Band. His name was William V. Herb (1879-1939), shown at the top of this post with his Conn tuba and his Allentown Band uniform.

While I am actively researching a few other Sousaphonists from Sousa's Band (Herman Conrad, the first to play that instrument, and Jack Richardson, the longest tenured bass player in Sousa's Band), I thought I'd at least get the ball rolling on Herb. Below ere are the newspaper reports I have found so far.

The first is from the September 9, 1924 edition of Allentown's The Morning Call:

The next report is from the April 5, 1925 edition of that same paper:

And then this, from the March 7, 1926 edition:

And then, three years later, this notice about being one of the Sousa Band members injured in a train crash, as reported in the September 10, 1929 edition of the Washington, D. C. Evening Star:

From what I can tell, Herb played Sousaphone in Sousa's Band from 1924-1926, then again in 1929, and once more in 1931. Here he is (I'm pretty sure!) right in the middle of the bass section in 1924:

At some point, after I write my articles on Conrad and then Richardson, I may focus my research on Herb - esp. since he may have descendants local to me. Stay tuned!