29 - Interview with Steve Dillon: Historian, Collector, Entrepreneur

The Early American Brass Band Podcast

Episode 29 is our conversation with Steve Dillon, instrument collector and owner of Dillon Music in Woodbridge NJ. We loved having him on the show and can’t wait to have him on again to get into more topics. In this episode, we talk mainly about his collecting, historical brass instruments, Arthur Pryor, and brass and concert bands in the 29th century.

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Music in this episode comes from Our Musical Past from the Library of Congress.

Episode Structure:

• 2:13 - Interview with Steve Dillon - Steve's musical background

• 4:11 - Early days of Steve buying/selling/trading instruments, how that evolved into owning and operating Dillon Music in Woodbridge, NJ.

• 6:50 - Steve's personal instrument collecting

• 8:30 - How Steve got interested in collecting fifes

• 10:42 - How to date fifes, general conversation about instrument production in the United States

• 12:19 - Reenacting as a fifer

• 15:30 - Background on Arthur Pryor, and how Steve came to own Pryor's trombone

• 21:50 - The path Pryor's trombone took from the time he passed to Steve purchasing it

• 23:20 - Some of the brass instrument collections Steve has sold to museums over the years

• 26:00 - Restoring the Harvard Tuba at Dillon Music

• 34:57 - Instruments being recycled as shell casings during WWII

• 35:51 - Instruments Steve has on display at Dillon Music

• 36:57 - 2-bell instrument possibly made by Conn for Simone Mantia

• 46:09 - Accessibility of historical instruments, historical instrument quality, recording Slide Partners with Joe Alessi

• 52:45 - Simone Mantia and instrument maintenance

• 56:06 - Period vs. modern mouthpieces

• 57:40 - Brass and concert bands in the 19th century

• 1:04:21 - Where you can find more about Steve's store and research

• 1:06:35 - Featured Album: Slide Partners