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"Our Own John Philip Souza"
Although the School Street bands produced many excellent musicians, the greatest of all was a young man named Joseph Crovello who lived at 3 Winter Ave. Coming from a non-musical family, his father encouraged him to take up the violin which he immediately excelled at. As started with the Taunton City Band, he could play any instrument he picked up. However, he gravitated to the trombone where he fell into a class of his own. He was well recognized by his fellow musicians as cut above. During the twenties he went to New York City to try his luck. He played in "pit orchestras" at many Broadway shows. For a time he played with Phil Spitalny before Phil switched to an all girl orchestra. He played in orchestras which were broadcasted live from the ballrooms atop hotels such as the Astor.
He would always send my father a postcard informing him of the broadcast, and my dad would stay up very late to listen.
He married a beautiful Ziegfield Follies girl named Sonja and adopted her son who became a well known artist in his own right. (the Taunton Daily Gazette ran an article on his son some years back.)
It all came to an abrupt end in the early thirties as he died, the result of walking pneumonia. He was sitting in a chair in their New York apartment talking to his mother who was visiting from Taunton and just expired.
The neighborhood was devastated by the loss. My dad was heart-broken. The band played at his funeral.
One can't help but think of what might have been and what heights he might have reached. He had just formed his own band. It wasn't meant to be.
