Ensemble
Ardmore Chamber of Commerce Band
Photographs document the chamber band in 1916 and 1917; the later item names George D. Barnard as director.
Read the record →Orchestras & chamber music
Ensembles, conductors, instruments, and concert life.
Orchestra and chamber-music records add another perspective to Oklahoma’s ensemble history. Archive descriptions, institutional accounts, and musician research can each contribute evidence about a group or a documented performance.
A photograph can identify an orchestra and a named conductor without supplying a full roster or creation date. The record pages preserve those limits instead of filling gaps with inferred facts.
Start with these records
Ensemble
Art Davis and His Rhythm Riders
A contemporary Hominy newspaper names the Rhythm Riders as a dance orchestra heard daily over Tulsa station KTUL.
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Ensemble
Claude Thomas Orchestra
The Oklahoma Eagle identifies the orchestra as the music provider for a 1953 Founders' Day Ball in Muskogee.
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Ensemble
Everett Mitchell's Orchestra
A contemporary Radio Wave listing documents the orchestra at a Tulsa Coliseum radio jamboree and dance and in a KVOO program schedule.
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Ensemble
Frank Gordon and His Tulsa Club Orchestra
A contemporary article documents an orchestra organized from unemployed Tulsa musicians that received a Tulsa Club engagement and toured regional one-night stands.
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Ensemble
Marietta Chamber of Commerce Band
The reviewed Oklahoma band history identifies Marietta Chamber of Commerce Band in Marietta and gives the evidence date as Documented October 1922.
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Ensemble
Starlight Concert Band and Jazz Orchestra
Starlight documents free summer concerts since 1947 and current concert-band and jazz-orchestra branches employing professional musicians.
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Archive photograph
"McPherson, William H. (M.RS. ), ""Pres. Ladies Music Club""".
Looking over music purchased with funds given to the Junior Symphony Orchestra by the Ladies Music Club are Mrs. William H. McPhersonleft and T. Burns Westman, director of the Junior Symphony.
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Archive photograph
"Oklahoma City ( Historical Pho-tos ), Okla City on April 22, 1889, Okla Station, OKC, May 2, 1889, near the Santa Fe Tracks, looking west on Calif. Ave. CA. McNabb Flour & Feed Store, Church and Harrah Early OKC, OKC Early Opera House, OKC First Orchestra Feed and Coal Store, OKC Street Market, ""Kirmis"", OKC First Play".
"Oklahoma City ( Historical Pho-tos ), Okla City on April 22, 1889, Okla Station, OKC, May 2, 1889, near the Santa Fe Tracks, looking west on Calif. Ave. CA. McNabb Flour & Feed Store, Church and Harrah Early OKC, OKC Early Opera
Read the record →The experiences behind the evidence
Future interviews will connect these sources with the recollections of people who made music.
Explore the oral-history project →