World-Famous Wizard of the Cornet

Description

Recordings, 1901-1918. He was a virtuoso's virtuoso. Stubborn, sometimes miserly, a gifted acrobat and sculptor, to boot. Fine art collector, financier, and philanthropist. Bohemian-born Bohumir Kryl (1875-1961) made sounds with the cornet that audiences had never heard before and that no one had dared to try to record until he came along. He had the outsized ego (and hair) to make sure he would not soon be forgotten, making his interpretations of the classic repertoire into standards along the way. Sometimes if you want your legend to be rediscovered a hundred years later, you've got to be larger than life. A former circus acrobat, Kryl came to America from Prague in 1889 and began an apprenticeship with sculptor H. R. Saunders, carving the frieze of the Lew Wallace Library in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Discovered by Sousa on a tour through Indianapolis, Kryl became the band's cornet soloist before joining Fred Innes' band in 1902. Kryl made his first recordings for Berliner in 1899 and became a popular recording artist for Edison and other companies beginning about 1901. The selections included here are mostly rare specimens from this early period, featuring several wax cylinder recordings. Kryl also made several highly entertaining duets with trombonist Leroy Haines, four of which are on this compilation, and others with his assistant bandmaster Jaroslav "Jerry" Cimera. World-Famous Wizard of the Cornet spotlights Kryl's technical mastery of the cornet on selections such as "Carnival of Venice" and "Down Deep in the Cellar" but also shows his beautiful lyricism on numbers such as "The Last Rose of Summer" and "Sing Smile Slumber." Furthermore, two 1911 pieces by Kryl's Bohemian Band are included, "Libusse Overture" and "At the Mill." Notes in the enclosed full-color 32-page booklet are by cornetist John Wetzel, along with Richard Martin, Meagan Hennessey, and trombonist Tim McCormick. Therein chronicled are new discoveries about Kryl, his legendary offer of $100,000 to each of his two daughters if they pursued art and put off marriage until after age 30, and his involvement in the Czech community of the Chicago suburb of Berwyn. Many rare photos from Kryl family scrapbooks illustrate the pages. This first-ever compilation of Kryl is launched in conjunction with The Bohumir Kryl Project, held at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, on September 22, 2012. Made possible in part through the generosity of the Michigan Antique Phonograph Society and International Antique Phonograph Society.