Patrick Gilmore

American bandleader
Also known as: Louis Lambert, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore
Quick Facts
In full:
Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore
Born:
Dec. 25, 1829, County Galway, Ire.
Died:
Sept. 24, 1892, St. Louis, Mo., U.S. (aged 62)

Patrick Gilmore (born Dec. 25, 1829, County Galway, Ire.—died Sept. 24, 1892, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.) was a leading American bandmaster and a virtuoso cornetist, noted for his flamboyant showmanship, innovations in instrumentation, and the excellence of his bands.

Gilmore immigrated to the United States at age 19, and, after leading several bands, he took over the Boston Brigade Band (later known as Gilmore’s Band) in 1859. During the Civil War the entire band enlisted in the Union Army. He reorganized the Massachusetts Militia bands in 1863. In 1869 (National Peace Jubilee) and 1872 (World Peace Jubilee) he organized extravaganza performances with more than 10,000 performers. The one in 1869 featured cannon fire, church bells, and 100 firemen beating anvils in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Anvil Chorus.” From 1872 until his death he led the New York 22nd Regiment Band (also called Gilmore’s Band), with whom he toured Europe (150 concerts) in 1878.

Gilmore’s innovations in instrumentation brought the band from the heavy reliance on brass typical of the early 19th century to the higher proportion of reeds, especially clarinets, characteristic of 20th-century concert bands. He was also one of the first American bandmasters to conduct band arrangements of W.A. Mozart, Franz Liszt, and Gioacchino Rossini, in addition to the popular songs, marches, and dance tunes that made up the typical band repertoire. Gilmore reputedly composed “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (1863) under the pen name Louis Lambert.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Quick Facts
Date:
1977

X, American band whose tales of urban decay, corruption, and sleaze, delivered with skilled musicianship and unique vocal harmonies, marked them as important contributors to the punk movement. The original members were singer Exene Cervenka (original name Christine Cervenka; b. February 1, 1956, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.), bassist and singer John Doe (original name John Nommensen Duchac; b. February 25, 1953, Decatur, Illinois), guitarist Billy Zoom (original name Ty Kindell; b. February 20, 1948, Savanna, Illinois), and drummer D.J. Bonebrake (b. December 8, 1955, North Hollywood, California). Later members included Dave Alvin (b. November 11, 1955, Los Angeles, California) and Tony Gilkyson.

Formed in 1977, X released Los Angeles in 1980. That effort and the follow-up albums Wild Gift (1981) and Under the Big Black Sun (1982) drew critical raves, as X broadened punk’s do-it-yourself ethos with excellent musicianship (Zoom, who had once played with rock-and-roll pioneer Gene Vincent, blazed through country, rockabilly, heavy metal, and punk licks with dispassionate aplomb, while Bonebrake added a background in jazz), the unusual harmonies and sophisticated songwriting of onetime husband and wife Doe and Cervenka (the latter an active poet), and careful production by Ray Manzarek, formerly of the Doors. In the process, X became prime movers of the Los Angeles punk scene chronicled in the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization (1981). Capable of matching the fury of other punk bands, X excelled at melancholy ballads and flirted with pop music throughout its career, though its efforts to reach a broader audience on a major label were largely unsuccessful.

The band toured and recorded sporadically throughout the 1980s and ’90s, but members were increasingly occupied by side projects and solo efforts. Doe, Cervenka, Alvin, and Bonebrake formed the Knitters in 1985. Intended as a one-time project, the Knitters performed a selection of folk and country tunes, along with acoustic versions of songs from the X catalog. Cervenka dedicated much of her time to poetry, publishing numerous collections and recording a series of solo albums. Doe turned to Hollywood, scoring small parts in films such as Road House (1989) and Boogie Nights (1997) and landing a recurring role in the supernatural television series Roswell (1999–2002). Alvin earned a Grammy Award for his traditional folk album Public Domain: Songs from the Wild Land (2000). The original X lineup reunited for a pair of concerts in 2004 (later collected in the album Live in Los Angeles [2005]), and the Knitters re-formed to record The Modern Sounds of the Knitters (2005). X continued to tour and perform well into the 21st century, but the band only returned to the studio after about 35 years to record Alphabetland (2020).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Alicja Zelazko.