from the Bruce Vermazen Research Papers on Tom Brown
This program book and advertising brochure for the Tom Brown Music Store promote the professionalism of the store’s music instructors and the quality of music instruments available for purchase. As part of the store’s instructional packages, students were provided “the unrestricted privilege [to play in all of the] band and orchestra rehearsals at no additional charge.” While the store provided a wide range of student- and professional-model instruments from the Selmer, Bundy, Leedy, Gibson, and Paramount companies, in 1920 Tom Brown became an endorser of the Buescher line of saxophones.
As part of this arrangement, the Buescher Company agreed to manufacture a special line of Tom Brown Model saxophones exclusively sold through Brown’s music store. These “stencil horns” that are included in this advertisement are essentially Buescher horns marketed under Brown’s company name. Brown begins his endorsement of his saxophone line:
These instruments represent the ultimate in saxophone construction with every practical modern improvement embodied in their manufacture. They have successfully passed the most rigid tests to which saxophones can be subjected and pronounced by competent judges to be marvelous instruments, fully capable of meeting the exacting requirements of discriminating players.
