from the John Philip Sousa Music and Personal Papers
This 1919 arrangement of Al Jolson’s song was written for the Sousa Band’s saxophone sextet and would have been played for some of the band’s concerts during the early 1920s. For the band’s 1919-1920 tour, the saxophone section consisted of Albert Knecht and H. Benne Henton on alto saxophone, M. B. Howard and Andrew Jacobson on tenor, Arthur Rosander Sr. on baritone, and Charles Weber on the bass sax. Sousa’s saxophone ensemble performed a variety of light-hearted and popular tunes as musical interludes between the band’s serious selections. By 1926 the saxophone section had grown to eight musicians with Edward Heney, Owen Kincaid, Benjamin Conklin, and John Bell on alto, Leon Weir and Bert Madden on tenor, James Schlanz on baritone, and Fred Monroe on bass saxophone. At the time the octet performed this foxtrot, Jolson was well known. Like Tom Brown, Jolson’s early music career also began as a performer on the minstrel circuit.