Day changes but expect same fine food and entertainment

By JENNIFER BRUMMETT
Staff Writer

The annual Chautauqua Tea event of the Great American Brass Band Festival may be changing its day this year — from Thursday to Friday — but the same fine food and entertainment patrons have come to expect will be available.

The tea will be held at 3 and 5 p.m. at The Tea Leaf, with the program at 4 p.m. in West T. Hill Community Theatre next door. Tickets are $15, with a portion of the proceeds going to the festival. Reservations are required and can be made by calling The Tea Leaf at (859) 236-7456.

This year’s musical group is Olde Towne Brass, Alabama’s only authentic Civil War brass band. Olde Towne Brass plays selections arranged from original scores on actual Civil War instruments. They are attired in authentic uniforms of the period.

The band describes their instruments and gives background information about the history of the music, says Sandy Reigelman, coordinator of the Chautauqua Tea. CDs will be for sale at the end of the performance.

“The band said they wanted people to realize that, at the end of their performance, there is the opportunity for the audience to come down and look at the instruments,” Reigelman adds.
“It’s educational for the audience as well as pleasurable for listening.”

The music library of Olde Towne Brass includes over 1,500 songs of both the Confederate and Union bands, which have been compiled from various resources across the country. Included in the library is “Gen. Birney’s Quick Step,” which the band played at the 2002 GABBF.

“Gen. Birney’s Quick Step” is a long-forgotten march named for Union General David Bell Birney, who was born in Huntsville, Ala. A descendant of Birney’s, David Birney of Danville, will welcome attendees and introduce the band.

Gen. Birney’s father, renowned abolitionist James Gillespie Birney, was born in Danville and practiced law here before moving to Alabama. He returned 10 years later, freed his inherited slaves, and helped organize 
the Kentucky Anti-Slavery Society.

The march was written by Albert Squire, an English immigrant and family friend who worked as a composer and music editor in Cincinnati. Historian and friend of Olde Towne Brass Mark Elrod found copies of the march in the archives of the Library of Congress.

Reigelman says the band points out the Kentucky connections to the music it plays.

“Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as well as the Birneys are tied in with the music.”