Two losses to band music in one week, this one even closer to home. Jimmie Saied was not just the guy who founded Saied Music in 1946, and not just a former El Reno band director who, while still young, married one of his students (the sister of the late Jack Ricker, whom was both my Sunday School teacher and pupil at various times in his life), and not just a member of the American Bandmasters Association.

He was the spitting image of John Philip Sousa himself. He looked just like him. In the 1980s, Mr. Saied used some of his resources to assemble a set of authentic replica (I don't know how to say that - they were new but looked just like the originals) Sousa Band uniforms, and he toured the world conducting concert bands, in the uniforms he provided, in authentic Sousa-style concerts, complete with encores, soloists, and plenty of marches. He also appeared before Congress to testify in favor of The Stars And Stripes Forever, and thanks in part to his efforts, Congress declared it the National March in 1987.

The KOTV link above includes segments of an interview with Mr. Saied from 1987. That was almost certainly from publicity for An Evening With John Philip Sousa, one of those authentic Sousa-style concerts. I was one of the performers as part of the OU Wind Ensemble in January 1987. We played to a couple of thousand people in Oklahoma City's Civic Center Music Hall, but not a full house, probably because it was on Super Bowl Sunday.

Two nights later, we took the show to Mr. Saied's home town, Tulsa, where publicity had been intense. We played to 10,000 paying customers at the Mabee Center. The Liberty Bell march included ringing the bell from the USS Oklahoma, and the final number - The Stars And Stripes Forever, of course - brought the house down. It is very difficult to describe, even nearly eighteen years later.

The Tulsa World's coverage is behind a subscription firewall that most of you probably can't penetrate, at least after December 18 when the story moves to the archives, but this part says it for me:

Since, Saied has reprised the Sousa performance many times. The last appearance was at a fund-raising concert here in January. The concert was led by another well-known Tulsa musician and band leader, Barry Epperly. But Saied, at 88, stole the show when he appeared to lead the band in the national march. The crowd reaction was the same: Applause, tears and a standing ovation.

Saied was in fine fettle that night. Later, he broke both hips in separate accidents.

It is perhaps unnecessary to say a great Tulsan such as Saied will be missed.

We only hope the music he and Sousa created - and their patriotism - is kept alive by the musicians they helped create.

Mr. Saied sold the company to his son Bob in 1985, and it continues to serve Oklahoma musicians - after closing on December 15 for a day of remembrance.