James Francis Burke (April 15, 1923 – June 26, 1981) was an American
cornet soloist. He was the principal cornet soloist with the
Goldman Band from 1943 to 1974.[1] He was also the principal
trumpet with The
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1943 to 1949.[2] 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, conductor of the Guggenheim[1] Memorial Band.
Early life
James Francis (Jimmy) Burke was born in
Port Jefferson, New York. At his birth, Jimmy sustained a brachial plexus injury,[3] 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 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 (which was
CBS at that time) to
The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour.
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 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.[1] He then studied with
Del Staigers in 1936 and 1937.[1] 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
cornet for left handed playing. Jimmy then studied with John "Ned" Mahoney,[1] a cornetist with The
Goldman Band 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.[1] During those 6 summers, he attended The Ernest Williams Band Camp at
Saugerties, New York.
The Goldman Band
From 1943 to 1974 Jimmy was the principal
cornet soloist[4] and solo chair with The Goldman Band.[1] 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.
Upon his return from Baltimore in 1950, Jimmy received a call from
Paul Lavalle 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" on the
RCA Victor LP "A Sunday Band Concert".[6]
All-Star Concert Band
In 1960 he co-founded The All-Star Concert Band with American
tubistHarvey Phillips.[7] The band recorded 2 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 second LP titled "The Burke-Phillips All-Star Concert Band" was recorded a year later.
Awards
National Champion, 1939 National Trumpet Competition[8]
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.[1]
Notes - According to his self published resume, James F. Burke played on "many recordings conducted by
Stokowski,
Morton Gould,
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
Morton Gould, 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.