James Francis Burke (April 15, 1923 – June 26, 1981) was an American

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

soloist. He was the principal cornet soloist with the

Goldman Band The Goldman Band was an American concert band founded in 1918 by Edwin Franko Goldman from his previous New York Military Band. Both bands were based in New York City. It was Goldman's contention that the New York symphony and orchestra musici ...

from 1943 to 1974. He was also the principal

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

with The

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...

from 1943 to 1949. Mr. Burke, who had the use of only one arm, was considered the greatest virtuoso of his time on the instrument, according to

Ainslee Cox Ainslee Cox (June 22, 1936, Big Spring, Texas – September 5, 1988, New York City) was an American conductor. A graduate of Westminster Choir College and the University of Texas at Austin, he was associate conductor of the American Symphony Orches ...

, conductor of the Guggenheim Memorial Band.

Early life

James Francis (Jimmy) Burke was born in Port Jefferson, New York. At his birth, Jimmy sustained a brachial plexus injury, rendering his right arm useless. He began to play the trumpet at age 5, but since he could not hold the horn, his father had a tripod stand built for him. The top of it was shaped like a horseshoe and the horn would sit in that stand with a strap going over it in front of the valves. The stand was on rollers and could also be raised and lowered like a music stand. When he was seven years old, he started performing for the

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

and for different organizations. In 1936 he played on WJZ (AM) on Sunday mornings from 9 to 10 o'clock. The program was called "Coast To Coast On A Bus" and Milton Cross was the announcer. Then from 11 to 12 o'clock, he went to

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

(which was CBS at that time) to

The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour ''The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour'' (later known as ''The Children's Hour'') was a variety show with a cast of children, including some who later became well-known adult performers. It had a long run for more than three decades. The program w ...

. Paul Douglas (actor) was the announcer. Jimmy played on these 2 shows for 7 years, playing 2 different solos every morning. When he was 13, some of the participants from The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour made a movie for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

called "Stars Of Tomorrow". In the film, 5 boys make up a hillbilly band.

Education

Jimmy's first teacher was his father from the age of 5 until the age of 13. He then studied with

Del Staigers Charles Delaware Staigers was an American cornetist. He was born on August 20, 1899 in Muncie, Indiana. In 1914, he was hired to play in Patrick Conway's band. In 1918, he joined John Philip Sousa's band as the assistant to cornet soloist Frank ...

in 1936 and 1937. Lessons were conducted at Staigers' apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, New York. He regarded Staigers as the greatest player he had ever heard. It was Staigers who suggested to the King Musical Instrument Company that they build a

for left handed playing. Jimmy then studied with John "Ned" Mahoney, a cornetist with The

and a graduate of The Ernest Williams School of Music. From 1938 through 1943 Burke attended Ernest Williams School of Music at 153 Ocean Avenue

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. During those 6 summers, he attended The Ernest Williams Band Camp at

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 Census, a decline from 19,482 in 2010. The village of the same name is located entirely within the town. Part ...

The Goldman Band

From 1943 to 1974 Jimmy was the principal

soloist and solo chair with The Goldman Band. During his 32-year career, he was contracted to play five solos each week. The band performed seven nights a week with 50 concerts in a summer season. All totaled, Jimmy performed over 1,100 solos with The Goldman Band. He had a prodigious memory for music and rarely read from sheet music during a performance.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

In 1943 Jimmy moved to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and began a seven-year stint as principal

with the

as well as the Professor of

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

and Conductor of the band. During the summers, he took the train to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to play with The Goldman Band.

Cities Service Band of America

Upon his return from Baltimore in 1950, Jimmy received a call from

Paul Lavalle Paul Lavalle (born Joseph Usifer, September 6, 1908 - June 24, 1997) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and performer on clarinet and saxophone. Early years Lavalle was born in Beacon, New York, the son of Ralph and Jennie Usifer, both ...

who asked him to join his band. Jimmy stayed with the band for six years. He had a featured solo performance of "

The Carnival of Venice The "Carnival of Venice" is based on a Neapolitan folk tune called "O Mamma, Mamma Cara" and popularized by violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini, who wrote twenty variations on the original tune. He titled it "Il Carnevale Di Venezia," Op. 1 ...

" on the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

LP "A Sunday Band Concert".

All-Star Concert Band

In 1960 he co-founded The All-Star Concert Band with American

tubist This is a list of tuba players with articles on Wikipedia. See also *Lists of musicians This is a list of lists of musicians. Genre The following are lists of musicians by style or music genre. 0–9 * List of 1970s Christian pop artist ...

Harvey Phillips Harvey Gene Phillips, Sr. (December 2, 1929 – October 20, 2010) was an American tuba player. He served as the Distinguished Professor of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington (from 1971 to 1994) and was dedicated advocate ...

. The band recorded two LPs under the Golden Crest label. The first, titled "The All-Star Concert Band" was recorded September 17–18, 1960 at the Huntington Theatre,

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

. The second LP titled "The Burke-Phillips All-Star Concert Band" was recorded a year later.

Awards

*National Champion, 1939 National Trumpet Competition *New York Brass Conference For Scholarships *Associated Musicians of Greater New York Local 802 *Port Jefferson High School Wall of Fame

Death

On June 26, 1981 Jimmy suffered a massive heart attack while conducting a rehearsal of The Guggenheim Memorial Band, the successor to The Goldman Band.

Discography

Solo Recordings * '' 1954 National Music Contest Selections'' (1954) olymusic PR/EE 101* '' Horn of Plenty'' (1957) ecca 8489* '' Clinician Series'' (1960) olden Crest CRG-1004* '' The All-Star Concert Band'' (1960) olden Crest CR-4025* '' The Burke-Phillips All-Star Concert Band'' (1961) olden Crest CR-4040Artist Workshop Series * '' The Magic Trumpet'' (1958) rtist Workshop Series AWS 101* '' Tropical Trumpets'' (1959) rtist Workshop Series AWS 102''(Trumpet trio with Jack Holland and Ted Weis)'' * '' Introduction and Tarentella'' (1959) rtist Workshop Series AWS 103* '' Bright Eyes (Trio)'' (1959) rtist Workshop Series AWS 104''(Trumpet trio with Jack Holland and Ted Weis)'' With The Goldman Band * '' America Marches'' (1947) egent MG-6021* '' Sousa - Goldman Marches'' (1949) olumbia CL 6080* ''

On The Mall "On the Mall" is a famous march composed by American bandmaster Edwin Franko Goldman (1878–1956). It vies with Goldman's " Chimes of Liberty" as his two most popular compositions. "On the Mall" still in 2013, as indicated by Jack Kopstein, remai ...

'' (1951) ecca DL-5386* '' America Marches'' (1955) CA Camden – CAL-125* '' On Parade!'' (1955) ecca DL 5546* '' Here Comes the Band!'' (1955) ecca DL 8185* '' I Love to Hear a Band'' (1957) ecca DL 8445* '' Semper Fidelis - The Marches of John Philip Sousa'' (1957) armony HL 7001* '' Band Masterpieces'' (1958) ecca DL 8633* '' The Sound of the Goldman Band'' (post 1959) ecca DL 8931* '' Golden March Favorites'' (1960) ecca DL 4453* '' Sousa Marches in Hi Fi'' (1960) ecca DL 8807* '' Cavalcade of the American Band'' (1962) apitol W 1688* '' Marching Along Together'' (1963) ecca DL 4450With

Leroy Anderson Leroy Anderson ( ) (June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as ...

* '' Leroy Anderson Conducts His Music'' (1951) CA 531''(Featured Soloist on "A Trumpeter's Lullaby")'' * '' Leroy Anderson Conducts Leroy Anderson'' (1954) CA 555''("Bugler's Holiday" trumpet trio with Raymond Crisara and John Ware)'' With Archie Bleyer * '' S'il Vous Plait'' (1954) adence 1241With

Robert Russell Bennett Robert Russell Bennett (June 15, 1894 – August 18, 1981) was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, ...

* ''

Victory at Sea ''Victory at Sea'' is a documentary television series about warfare in general during World War II, and naval warfare in particular, as well as the use of industry in warfare. It was originally broadcast by NBC in the United States in 1952–19 ...

'' (1955) CA Victor Red Seal LM 1779With

* '' America's Favorite Marches'' (1951) CA Victor LPM-6* '' A Sunday Band Concert'' (1953) CA Victor LPM-3120ref name="discogs.com"/> (Featured Soloist "

") * "

" (1953) CA Victor 47-5203(Vinyl, 7" 45RPM) * '' Lavalle at Work'' (1954) CA Victor LPM-1026* '' Great Band Music'' (1955) CA Victor LPM-1133With

Morton Gould Morton Gould (December 10, 1913February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. Biography Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York, United States. He was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities ...

* '' Hi Fi Band Concert (Columbia Concert Band)'' (1956) olumbia CL 954* '' Brass and Percussion'' (1957) CA Victor 09026-61255-2* '' The Band Plays On (Columbia Concert Band)'' (circa 1959) olumbia Masterworks AL 57With Robert Shaw * ''

Mass in B Minor The Mass in B minor (), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanctu ...

'' (1960) CA Victor Red Seal LSC-6157With

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

* ''

The Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...

'' (1960) olumbia MS-6319With Andre Kostelanetz (see notes) * '' Wonderland of Sound - Star Spangled Marches'' (1962) olumbia CS-8518* '' The Thunderer - The Spectacular Sound of John Philip Sousa'' (1965) olumbia CS-9159 With Thomas Schippers *(Unknown - See notes) With Leopold Stokowski *(Unknown - See notes) * Notes - According to his self published resume, James F. Burke played on "many recordings conducted by

Stokowski Stokowski (feminine: Stokowska, plural: Stokowscy) is a Polish-language surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anne K. Stokowski (1925–2020), American politician * Eugene E. Stokowski (1921–1979), American politician * Ferdynand ...

, Andre Kostelanetz and Thomas Schippers". In the early days of recordings, musicians rarely (if ever) received credit in the liner notes of album jackets so it is unknown for certain on which albums Mr. Burke performed. In the case of

, credit was given to musicians on the album jacket. In the case of Andre Kostelanetz, his overall discography suggests that the two albums listed are where Jimmy would most likely have been contracted to perform.

Broadway shows

*'' My Fair Lady'' *'' Oklahoma!'' *''

Song Of Norway ''Song of Norway'' is an operetta written in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Edvard Grieg and the book by Milton Lazarus and Homer Curran. A very loose film adaptation with major changes to both the book a ...

'' *''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and ...

'' *''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

'' *''

I Do! I Do! ''I Do! I Do!'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt which is based on the Jan de Hartog play ''The Fourposter''. The two-character story spans 50 years, from 1895 to 1945, as it focuses on the ups and dow ...

'' *'' The Rothschilds (musical)'' *''

George M ''George M!'' is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine P ...

'' *'' South Pacific''

Television shows

*'' Wide, Wide World'' with Dave Garroway NBC *''

Tic Tac Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, ''X'' or ''O'', on the board. Three versions were produc ...

'' NBC *''

Dough Re Mi ''Dough Re Mi'' was an American game show that aired on NBC from February 24, 1958, to December 30, 1960. The series was hosted by Gene Rayburn and was somewhat of an answer to CBS' ''Name That Tune'', which began in 1953. Among those who substi ...

'' with Gene Rayburn NBC *''

Twenty-One 21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22. The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar. In mathematics 21 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7, and a deficie ...

'' with Jack Barry NBC *'' Thy Kingdom Come (Harriss Hubble)'' NBC *''

The Jackie Gleason Show ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' is the name of a series of American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970, in various forms. ''Cavalcade of Stars'' Gleason's first variety series, which aired on the DuMon ...

'' CBS

Faculty positions

1943-1949 *

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

1957-1961 * University of Bridgeport 1978-1979 *

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

1974-1981 *

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

1980-1981 (he taught (briefly) in the MSM Preparatory Division.)

Published works

Cornet/trumpet solos * ''The Runaway Trumpet'' (1952) Mercury Music Corporation (www.presser.com) * ''Hocus Polka'' (1952) Mercury Music Corporation(www.presser.com) * ''Prom Waltz'' (1952) Mercury Music Corporation(www.presser.com) * ''Serenade In 6/8'' (1952) Mercury Music Corporation(www.presser.com) * ''Strictly GI'' (1952) Mercury Music Corporation(www.presser.com) * ''Twilight Tune'' (1952) Mercury Music Corporation(www.presser.com) * ''The Magic Trumpet'' (1955) Carl Fischer * ''Begine'' (1956) Chas. Colin * ''Caprice'' (1956) Chas. Colin * ''Joneta'' (1956) Chas. Colin * ''Amourette'' (1959) Carl Fischer * ''Danza Allegre'' (1960) Carl Fischer * ''Jolene'' (1963) Chas. Colin * ''Jimala Beguine'' (1964) Carl Fischer Method book * ''New Directions In Tonguing'' (1956) Chas. Colin

Unpublished works

* ''Eventide'' * ''Zorita'' (1968)

References

Sources

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Trumpet Section - View topic: Trumpet Herald forum

Edwin Franko Goldman , WNYC , New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News
( Edwin Franko Goldman mentions James Burke beginning at approximately 13:00.)

External links

James F. Burke - Cornet Soloist - YouTube

Burke, James - Discography of American Recordings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, James F. 1923 births 1981 deaths American cornetists American bandleaders 20th-century classical musicians

Cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

People from Port Jefferson, New York