Festival to include story of General Custer band

By JENNIFER BRUMMETT
Staff Writer

Keyed buglist Stephen K. Charpie knows a little something that maybe a lot of people don't: There was a brass band, led by Italian-American bandmaster Felix Vinatieri, with General George Armstrong Custer and the famed 7th Cavalry.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the death of General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Charpie says, and a little history lesson will go along with Charpie and The New Custer Brass Band at this year's Great American Brass Band Festival June 15-17 at Centre College.

Charpie offers a taste of the Custer story.

"Custer had been stationed in Elizabethtown for several years before the battle, where he was engaged in activities against the Ku Klux Klan and against the illegal distilleries," he explains. "When Custer and his 7th Cavalry left Kentucky for the Dakota territories, a band accompanied the troops.

"However, once in the city of Yankton, in present day South Dakota -- this was the capital of the Dakota territories -- Custer hired a new bandmaster, Felix Vinatieri, an Italian musician who was a remarkable cornetist, composer and bandmaster. Vinatieri also served in the Civil War as a bandmaster in Massachusetts."

And so Vinatieri and the band accompanied Custer on his escapades.

Charpie says, "Several years ago I 'discovered' the manuscripts of this band, the actual, authentic music that Custer himself heard. After locating this music, I formed a re-enactment brass band that will portray this band.

"This year The New Custer Brass Band will present this heretofore unheard music, and I will be performing on the actual E-flat cornet -- on loan to me from the museum -- that Vinatieri played."

Charpie says there are great stories about this music and the real 7th Cavalry Band that he will detail at the Chautauqua Tea, at the Conference on American Band History, and at performances during the festival. He adds a CD will be available this year of the original music, which The New Custer Brass Band will premiere in Yankton, S.D., just days before the GABBF.

Adding to the global flavor of recent Great American Brass Band Festivals this year is the Luur Metalls band from Spain. Luur Metalls -- or "Spanish Brass" -- was created in 1990 by five brass musicians. The group has performed all over the world and in 1996 won the first prize in the 6th International Brass Quintet Competition in Narbonne. The band's Web site, www.spanishbrass.com, is under construction.

The Chautauqua Tea returns on June 14 at The Tea Leaf and West T. Hill Community Theatre. Tea times will be at 3 or 5 p.m., with the performance at 4 p.m. For reservations, call (859) 236-7456.

The Conference on American Band History as well as The Great American Balloon Race will be held June 15.

The Danville Antique and Garden Show's preview party will be from 6:30-9:30 p.m. June 14, with the show continuing June 15-17.

Throughout Saturday and Sunday, the 20-plus bands scheduled during the 2001 Great American Brass Band Festival will play at the Centre main stage, in Weisiger Park, at Constitution Square, at Farmers Bank, and at Centre Shoppes Bookstore. Three bands will play on the Newlin Hall Stage this year.

The Great American Picnic will be held June 16 as well. Tables seat eight people and are $150. The picnic begins at 5 p.m.

T-shirts this year will be available in white, purple or key lime, with prices ranging from $13 for kids' sizes to $18 for a 3XL. There are three souvenir pins: a tuba man; a sax man; and a cornet band. Pins are $5 each, or three for $13. The 2001 poster also will be for sale, with a design that was created by Host Communications artists.

Posters are $10. Souvenir CD recordings from festivals dating back to 1996 also will be available. Each CD is $15.

Despite some discussion of charging a fee for entry into GABBF this year, festival organizer George Foreman says there will be no admission charge.