Arthur W. Pryor was an American trombonist, bandmaster, composer, and recording artist.
Background
He was born on September 22, 1870 in St. Joseph, Missouri, United States, to Samuel Daniel Pryor and Mary A. or Mollie (Coker) Pryor. His father was a popular Missouri bandmaster, his mother a pianist. Arthur was one of three brothers, all of whom followed musical careers.
Education
A child prodigy, he studied piano, violin, bass viol, cornet, and alto horn, and by the age of eleven had become an accomplished performer on the valve trombone. He then taught himself to play the slide trombone. His desire to master the instrument became an obsession, and he is said to have practiced ten hours daily during his teens.
Career
In 1889 Pryor became soloist with the touring band of Signor Alessandro Liberati. He declined, however, a similar opportunity the next year with the band of Patrick Gilmore in order to become conductor of the Stanley Opera Company in Denver.
Pryor's rise to national fame began in 1892 when he was selected for the newly formed band of John Philip Sousa in Chicago. After several months he became featured trombone soloist, and about 1895, assistant conductor. The association with Sousa was an inspiration to Pryor, and in concerts throughout the United States and Europe his playing brought him international renown.
In the summer of 1903, after having performed more than ten thousand solos with Sousa, Pryor formed his own band by reorganizing a group his father had established before his death. Known for a short time as the American Band, and thereafter as Pryor's Band, it rivaled Sousa's in excellence and made six coast-to-coast tours between 1903 and 1909. Thereafter the Pryor band performed chiefly at expositions and amusement parks, and in later years made several series of radio broadcasts.
Among regular summer engagements were those at Asbury Park, New Jersey. (seventeen seasons), Willow Grove Park near Philadelphia (ten seasons), Royal Palm Park, Miami (ten seasons), Coney Island, New York City, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Pryor made approximately one thousand phonograph recordings over a period of nearly thirty years, principally for the Victor Talking Machine Company and nearly all by the acoustic process, before the days of the microphone. Most were with his own band or as director of a studio band, but more than sixty were trombone solos.
Although most of his compositions were very short, he wrote three operettas: Uncle Tom's Cabin, On the Eve of Her Wedding Day, and Jingaboo. He had a flair for producing cakewalk and ragtime tunes, such as "Little Nell" and for marches, such as "On Jersey Shore. " Among his more popular trombone solos were "Love Thoughts", "The Patriot" and variations on "Blue Bells of Scotland. "
With his wife, he retired in 1933 to a farm at West Long Branch, New Jersey, where he taught music at his leisure. He died there of a cerebral hemorrhage and was buried in the local Glenwood Cemetery.
In later life, he became a supporter of Democratic Party.
Membership
He was a charter member (1914) of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and of the American Bandmasters Association (1929).
Personality
As a conductor Pryor was known for his brief but violent outbursts of temper over inaccurate playing during performances. These were disconcerting to new players, but his ire immediately subsided and was promptly forgotten, and he was otherwise kindly and democratic in his relations with his men.
Quotes from others about the person
Sousa stated many times that "Pryor was without equal and that he had explored the possibilities of the trombone to a greater degree than any other man".
Connections
Pryor was married on February 19, 1895, to Maud Russell of Salt Lake City. Their two children also became active in the entertainment field, Roger as a movie actor and radio announcer and Arthur, Jr. , as a radio producer and advertising executive.