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Bohumir Kryl (1875-1961) was a Czech-American financial executive and art collector who is most famous as a cornetist, bandleader, and pioneer recording artist for both his solo work and as a leader of popular and Bohemian bands.

Biography

Bohumir Kryl (originally Bohumír Kryl) was born in Hořice, Bohemia near Prague on 2 May 1875. His first instrument was the violin, which he studied at age 10. He spent time performing both the violin and the cornet for a circus band. He also performed as an acrobat with the Rentz Circus, but an accident in 1886 ended this line of work. His father was a sculptor, and Bohumir also studied this art. He emigrated to the United States in 1889, paying the fare in part by performing with the ship’s orchestra. He settled in Indianapolis looking for relatives, and was soon employed as a sculptor by General Lew Wallace and also working on the Soldiers’ and Sailor’s Monument. During this time and joined the When Clothing Company Band, playing the cornet and soloing on this instrument. Before long he was hired byJohn Philip Sousa, but left in 1898 to join Thomas Preston Brooke’s Chicago Marine Band, where he spent the next two years. During this time he studied with Weldon of Chicago’s Second Regiment Band.. In 1901, he joined the Duss Band, which was based at Madison Square Garden, at $800 per-month and became its assistant conductor in 1903. This band, led by Frederick Innes, was not as well known, but he was hired as soloist, and the heavy touring schedule and two solos per concert gained him wide exposure. Studying bandleaders Creatore and Vessela, he adopted a wild hairstyle that became his trademark. He became acquainted with Joseph Jiran, who owned a Czechoslovakian music store in Chicago. With Jiran’s encouragement, he formed his own band in 1906 styled as Kryl’s Bohemian Band by 1910 with the Cimera brothers. This group worked for Columbia, Victor, and Zonophone, recording works by such composers as Smetana, Dvorak, and Safranek. World War I interrupted his musical career, as he was serving in the U.S. Military. With the exception of He dismantled this band in 1931. He later formed a “Women’s Symphony Orchestra” that featured daughter Josephine on violin and daughter Marie on piano. His public musical career ended in the 1930s, when he had difficulties with the American Federation of Musicians. Before his musical retirement, he had travelled more than 1 million miles and soloed more than 12,000 times. He later formed booking agency and a music bureau. He died in Chicago in 1961, leaving an estate valued at over 1 million dollars.

Musical style

Kryl was one of the few musicians who enjoyed successful dual careers as a mainstream musical artist and as an ethnic recording artist. He transitioned from a star soloist with the Sousa outfit to a leader of ethnic Czech music, and made the transition back to the broader national audience. Because of his solo ability, he was branded “the Caruso of the cornet". He was a master of producing pedal tones and the technique of multiphonic effects.

Legacy

Compositions

Partial discography

As soloist

As leader

External links

• Tinfoil.com July 2010 cylinder of the month Kryl performs “O Promise Me”

References

1. ^ Johnson, Geary. "The Cornet Compendium- The History and Development of the Nineteenth-Century Cornet: WELL-KNOWN SOLOISTS (I-K)". Retrieved 2011-07-14.
2. ^ Greene, Victor (1992). A Passion for Polka – Old-Time Ethnic Music in America. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 78. ISBN 0-520-07584-6. {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
3. ^ "Bohumir Kryl (1875 to 1961)". Choice Recordings. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
4. Greene, Victor (1992). A Passion for Polka – Old-Time Ethnic Music in America. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 52. ISBN 0-520-07584-6. {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
5. Greene, Victor (1992). A Passion for Polka – Old-Time Ethnic Music in America. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 79. ISBN 0-520-07584-6. {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
6. ^ Koenigsberg, Allen (1987). Edison cylinder records, 1889-1912: with an illustrated history of the phonograph. APM Press. p. 172.
7. ^ "Bohumir Kryl (instrumentalist : cornet)". University of California Santa Barbara: Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings. Retrieved 2011-07-16.

• 1875 births
• 1961 deaths
• Zonophone Records artists
• Edison Records artists
• Columbia Records artists
• RCA Victor artists
• Czech emigrants to the United States