Southern Breeze 2008 Spring Issue

travel ART OF LIVING PHOTOS COURTESY OF EXCELSIOR BAND Marking Time Mobile’s Excelsior Band sounds a historical note and has filled the streets of the Port City with music for over 100 years. F story by KATHIE FARNELL The Excelsior Band (top left) plays for Mardi Gras (above and bottom right) and special occasions. For more information: www.excelsior1883.com 251-666-2963 or well over a century, they’ve hit the streets of Mobile, playing for Mardi Gras, conventions, and even funerals. They’re the Excelsior Band, and they’re a living piece of Mobile history. Founded in 1883 by John A. Pope to celebrate the birth of his son, the 10-piece band is a veritable musical gumbo that includes trumpets, saxophones, drums, a trombone, and a tuba thrown in for good measure. Their repertoire of Dixieland jazz and conventional jazz is a hit at weddings, receptions, and parades. Like Excelsior’s instruments, the musicians are diverse folks who come from all walks of life. The band’s leader and manager, Hosea London, graduated from Mississippi Valley State University with a B.S. in Music Education, then went on to a career with the Alabama Department of Mental Health. After he retired, Hosea went back to his first love and became a band director with the Moss Point, Mississippi school system. Theodore Arthur, who plays tenor, alto, and soprano saxo- phones, traveled the world with Bobby Blue Bland and B.B. King. When he isn’t playing with Excelsior, he travels the Gulf Coast with his oneman-band show. Tuba player Charles Hall is employed with the Prichard Housing Authority. Classically trained at Jackson State University, he also performs with the Mobile Pops and brass ensembles, and is known as much for his endurance as his style. The band’s senior member, Robert Petty, is a trombonist who graduated from Morehouse College and retired from the U.S. Postal Service after a long career. He also plays lead trombone with the E.B. Coleman Orchestra and the C.T. Jazz Ensemble. Mardi Gras parades are a natural fit for the long-lived band, since Mobile’s Mardi Gras predates the larger and rowdier affair in New Orleans. During Carnival season, the Excelsior Band can be heard regularly along the parade route, rendering crowd pleasers like “Margie,” “Hello Dolly,” “St. Louis Blues,” and, naturally, “When the Saints Go Marching In.” 20 s o u t h e r n b re e z e . c o m http://www.excelsior1883.com http://southernbreeze.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Southern Breeze 2008 Spring Issue

Editor's Letter Contributor Gumbo Seen & Heard Coastal Calendar Storefronts - Keepin' it Reel Sweet Dreams - Grand Hotel Art of Living - Marking Time Fixtures - A Fitting End Our Backyard - Reasonable Drought Make Yourself at Home - Light up Your Life The Southern Breeze Hot List Unexpected Destin-ation Visual Zydeco We're an American Band The Good Life From Halter Tops to Maternity Tops Reader Services Cheers - Lazy Libations Dish - Mississippi Yearning Chef's Table - Welcome to The Doll House Let's Eat - Sunrise Sensations Last Bite

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