Memoirs by Musicians Harry Knew
by Barbara Brabec
Music was indeed Harry’s mistress, but he also had a lifelong love affair with books. A quotation by British poet Babington Macaulay that he clipped sums up how he felt about reading: “I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading.”
Until I began to go through Harry’s library book by book to decide which ones to sell on the Amazon Marketplace, I had no idea how many signed copies he had in his collection from musicians he knew or had worked with who had written books about their lives.
There were the obvious ones that I also knew, like Sam Denov, author of Symphonic Paradox — The Misadventures of a Wayward Musician (First Books, 2001), whose inscription was “To Harry Brabec – You made it all possible!”
Harry had several autographed copies of Paul Bierley’s books, including John Philip Sousa American Phenomenon (Integrity Press,1973) and The Works of John Philip Sousa (Integrity Press, 1984). Paul is recognized as the world’s leading authority on John Philip Sousa, and I found him to be an engaging conversationalist. (Most of Paul’s books were personally inscribed not only to Harry but also to me since I knew him from tagging along with Harry to the Windjammers Circus band get-togethers.)
In his book, Norman Smith, author of Band Music Notes (Neil a Kjos Music Co.,1979), wrote, “I hope to see you at many more Windjammer sessions. It has been a pleasure, musically and conversationally. ” (Norman, a trumpet player, music teacher, and band director died in 1988.)
Dan Bied, author of Jazz Memories (Craftsman Press, 1994) simply inscribed his book, “Best wishes to Harry Brabec.” Because he’s gone, too (1998), I can only presume that, being about the same age, he and Harry connected personally somewhere along the line. Dan was the author of twelve books, and this one is a warm accounting of his memories of big bands, their singers, and sidemen.
Lon A. Gault, author of Ballroom Echoes (Colophone, 1989) included this touching inscription in his book: “For Harry J. Brabec, a stalwart of big band music – may this book remind you of those one-nighters!” 
Lon was a history professor who also offered classes about big bands and ballrooms and hosted a weekly program on WDCB in Chicago called “Big Band Ballroom.” I would have loved to talk to him about Harry, but when I tried to find him, I learned he was gone, too, as evidenced by the Lon A. Gault Memorial Scholarship for Academic Excellence in History that his widow established in 1996.
As Harry often said in his later years, “The band is getting smaller.”
Harry’s Book Collection on Amazon
Harry’s collection included many fine and long out-of-print books in all of the music and entertainment categories, but his special music interests were big band, jazz, percussion, and books related to classical, symphonic, and band music. (See Harry’s pages on my personal domain for more about these collections, which I ultimately decided to sell on the Amazon Marketplace.)
Several of Harry’s signed and rare music books have now been sold, but I’ve left the information about them on my website pages for the benefit of collectors who might want to obtain a used copy from another seller on Amazon. Part of Harry’s collection of mint CDs is also available on Amazon. Categories include symphonic, opera, big band, jazz, band and circus music, and others. You can order any of them in my Amazon Marketplace Catalog.
Related Posts
Tags: Big Bands, Books, Chicago Symphony, John Philip Sousa, Paul Bierley, Sam Denov
