He was in the process of recording a complete CD series of his band music, of which many volumes are available.Īmong his most popular works for band are: El Camino Real, Armenian Dances (Parts I and II), Russian Christmas Music, and a series of symphonies for wind ensembles.Īlfred Reed passed away on the afternoon of 17 September 2005 in Miami, Florida, aged eighty-four.Īll material © 1998-2023 Classical Music Daily,Īll rights of the original copyright holdersĪre reserved, and are credited where known. Russian Christmas Music catapulted Alfred Reed to the forefront of composers of original music for wind band, and many of his over 100 subsequent compositions. He won many awards for his band music, and in his later years developed a close relationship with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and Senzoku Garden University in Japan, with whom he conducted frequent performances and recordings of his own compositions. He worked as staff arranger for NBC and ABC, executive editor of Hansen Publications (1955-1966), and was professor of music at Miami University from 1966 until 1993. After leaving the army, he studied at the Juilliard School with Vittorio Giannini. He joined the US Air Force during World War II and was assistant conductor and radio production director for the 529th Army Air Force Band. Reed was one of the most important twentieth century American composers of music for concert bands and wind ensembles. In 2007, in conjunction with his induction, the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame released Always Lift Him Up: A Tribute to Blind Alfred Reed, which featured updated versions of Reed’s songs by some of the state’s best-known musicians.American composer Alfred Reed was born in Manhattan, New York City on 25 January 1921. Numerous other covers of “Poor Man” followed and, in 2006, Bruce Springsteen debuted his version with added lyrics at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Meanwhile, Rounder Records released an LP of the original masters. The New Lost City Ramblers recorded some of his tunes, but it was Ry Cooder’s early ’70s recordings that introduced Reed’s songs to a new generation. Reed’s music was all but forgotten until the folk music revival of the 1960s. Still, Reed kept composing, writing the lyrics out in braille until he died on January 17, 1956, at the age of 76. Meanwhile, social commentaries like “Money Cravin’ Folks” and his most famous song, “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live,” remain relevant after nearly eight decades.īy the 1950s, Alfred Reed’s recordings had been unavailable for more than 20 years, and royalties dwindled to a trickle. The sentiments expressed in “You’ll Miss Me” could have been written today, while the sly humor of “Black & Blue Blues” and “Woman’s Been After Man Ever Since,” neither of which are politically correct by today’s standards, are undeniably clever. Reed’s original songs are remarkable in their timelessness. He went on to release 21 sides on the Victor label until his recording career was eventually cut short by the effects of the Great Depression. Reed later traveled to Camden, NJ, and New York City to record with his son, Arville Reed. On July 28, 1927, Reed recorded four sides in a makeshift studio set up in a former furniture store. When Peer began soliciting musicians for a recording session in Bristol, on the Tennessee and Virginia border, he sent a telegram to Reed whose song about a recent train accident, “The Wreck of The Virginian,” was receiving regional attention. Reed was discovered by Victor record executive Ralph Peer in 1927 on the same trip that turned up the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. He scraped together a living playing at local dances, in churches and on the streets he also gave music lessons and sold copies of his song lyrics. An accomplished musician and songwriter, Reed did his best to provide for his wife and six children. Born blind on June 15, 1880, in Floyd, VA, Alfred Reed spent most of his life in Princeton and Hinton, WV.
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