Arthur Pryor

Arthur Willard Pryor (September 22, 1869 – June 18, 1942) was a trombone virtuoso, bandleader, and soloist with the Sousa Band.

The story goes that whenever he hit a sour note while practicing, his father planted a resounding crack on his head with a violin bow.

Pryor went on to direct the Stanley Opera Company in Denver, Colorado, until joining the John Philip Sousa Band in 1892.

While in Europe, he entertained King Edward VII of England and Czar Nicholas II of Russia with his trombone solos.

On November 7 of that year, he and Henry W. Herbert were elected to the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, defeating Director Bryant B. Newcomb and his running mate, Arthur Johnson.

[3] Funeral services were conducted June 21, 1942, at the Trinity Episcopal Church, Asbury Park, followed by burial in Glenwood Cemetery, West Long Branch.

Pryor composed some 300 works, including marches, novelties, tone poems and three light operas, Jinga Boo, Uncle Tom's Cabin and On the Eve of Her Wedding Day.

[7] During his career, Pryor wrote some of today's most well-known trombone literature, including an arrangement of the heralded "Bluebells of Scotland", as well as band novelty works such as "The Whistler and His Dog", with its piccolo solo, his best-known composition.