El Dorado Brass Band - CaliforniaGoldAndBrassWorks.com


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El Dorado Brass Band The El Dorado Brass Band was co-directed by Kenneth Brungess and Conrad (Ray) Hicks. Just prior to their forming the El Dorado Band, Hicks had formed his 5th Infantry Regimental Brass Band which was a historical representative of the local Sacramento California National Guard. [Captain] Hicks knew more about the significant role bands played in history - particularly in the military - dating all the way back to the Middle Ages, than many musicologist and historians. (Ray had always wanted to write a book about the role bands played throughout history, entitled, "And a Band Was There. . .")	Red, White & Blue Slumber Polka Carry Me Back To Old Virginny's Shore Oh! Susanna Nanny Waltz Garry Owen Indiana Polka Lulu Is Gone The Girl I Left Behind Me
Brungess, on the other hand, was primarily interested in the fact that one of the earliest signs of "civilization" in the gold country (and Sacramento) was the appearance of brass bands in virtually every town - some German in style, others Italian, a few English, (mostly Cornish), depending on from whence these Argonaut-musicians hailed. So in 1984, Hicks and Brungess decided to join forces and founded the El Dorado Brass Band of Old Sacramento. The ensemble was made up of the best players from Hicks' 5th Infantry Band, plus some of the finest professional and semi-professional [civilian] musicians from the greater Sacramento area. Thanks, in part to the brass band research Brungess was already conducting at the Sacramento Museum & History Division, he was able to garner funding for the band as a "living music history" project in the newly redeveloped Old Town area from the Sacramento City Arts, the Old Town Merchants Association, along with "matching funds" (51% - 49%) from the Musicians' Union Recording Trust Fund. This "windfall" allowed the band to purchase uniforms more in keeping with the look of a town band. (They had been wearing the heavy wool 5th Infantry civil war-era, military issue band uniforms - even in Sacramento's summer heat!) These grants also made it possible for the members to be paid a nominal stipend in return for the many hours of practice they contributed.