T King Band plans busy summer

he months of June and July will be busy and exciting ones for the Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge IA. The band will be performing each Sunday evening, beginning June 4th through July 23rd, at the Karl L. King Band Shell in Oleson Park. The only exception will be the July 16th concert, which will need to move to a different site because of the Shellabration concert the night before.

Beginning his 21st season as Conductor of the King Band is Jerrold P. Jimmerson. Dan Cassady is the assistant conductor and Paul Bloomquist is the band’s announcer again, as he has for several years.

All concerts start at 7:30 pm, and there is no admission charge, courtesy of the City of Fort Dodge. The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is also back this summer sponsoring an ice cream social prior to and during the concerts, featuring ice cream and baked goodies for sale. Persons attending these concerts are urged to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets, since no seating is available.

On June 4th, the King Band will open their summer season with a concert of music to celebrate the Frontier Days event. Marches by Karl L. King and John Philip Sousa are included on the program. A wide variety of other selections are also included, ranging from the Franz von Suppe’s “Light Cavalry Overture” and Ferde Grofe’s “Mississippi Suite” to highlights from the musical “Oklahoma” and the movie soundtrack from “How The West Was Won”.

Sunday, June 11th will be the annual Flag Day Concert. Many well-known patriotic selections will be featured, including Leroy Anderson’s “The Phantom Regiment”, along with a medley of songs popular during World War II. Marches on the program include John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, Karl L. King’s “Loyal Americans”, and E.E. Bagley’s “National Emblem”. In addition, each branch of our Armed Forces will be recognized with the “Armed Forces Salute”, along with a patriotic narration to the American flag by Scott Johnston titled “Lest We Forget”. Long-time band member Paul Bloomquist will guest-conduct the band on two selections, Clare Grundman’s “Concord” and Bloomquist’s father’s march, “The Spinning Baton”, featuring twirler Hannah Jenson from Algona.

These summer concerts continue on Sunday, June 18th, when the King Band will perform a special Father’s Day Concert. Guest soloist will be David Lang from Independence IA on Euphonium. He will perform the famous solo “Napoli”, originally composed and performed by Herman Bellstedt with the John Philip Sousa Band. A wide variety of music will be featured, from Ambrose Thomas’ classic overture, “Raymond” to the “Highlights from Man of La Mancha”. Rounding out this concert will be marches by Karl King and Henry Fillmore and others to the popular sounds with the hits from the song-writing team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

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On Sunday, June 25th, the King Band will feature music with a circus flair. Marches from composers like Karl L. King and Russell Alexander to the classical music of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” and the exciting “Farandole” by Bizet will combine with the popular sounds of “Seventy-Six Trombones” and jazz from “New York, 1927”. Special guest conductor Andrew Glover, president of the C.L. Barnhouse Co. in Oskaloosa IA, will be on hand to premier one of his latest compositions,” “HappyGo-Lucky”, along with a recently discovered, unpublished manuscript by Karl King titled “The Rippling Waves”, a circus aerial waltz.

And that’s only the highlights from the first four concerts! There will be four more in July as well, starting with an Independence Day concert on July 2nd featuring Tschaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” and Leroy Anderson’s “Bugler’s Holiday”. Plan now to be in attendance at the Karl L. King Band Shell in Oleson Park each Sunday evening during June and July. In case of inclement weather occurring at the posted starting time, a concert may be cancelled.

For more information about Karl L. King or the Karl L. King Municipal Band, you can go to the band’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/karlkingband/, or to the band’s website at www.karlking.us.

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