Jules Levy was a cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

ist, teacher, and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, he reportedly began his study of the cornet with only its mouthpiece; his family could not afford the instrument itself. After immigrating to the United States, he began a significant musical career as a cornet soloist and was billed as The World's Greatest Cornetist. He was widely regarded as a foremost player, although the claim of World's Greatest has some challengers. He was a member of Patrick Gilmore

Patrick Gilmore

Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore was an Irish-born composer and bandmaster who lived and worked in the United States after 1848. Whilst serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Gilmore wrote the lyrics to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", the tune he took from an old Irish antiwar folk...

's band for several years, performing with them at the Centennial Exposition

Centennial Exposition

The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...

 in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 in 1876. He was also a tester and promoter for C. G. Conn

C. G. Conn

C.G. Conn Ltd., sometimes called Conn Instruments or commonly just Conn, was a United States manufacturer of musical instruments, especially brass instruments. In 1985 their Strobotuner division was bought by Peterson Electro-Musical Products, who continue to service their line of products.Assets...

, manufacturer of musical instruments.

Levy's performed many pieces, among the most famous were "Una Voce" by Rossini, "Carnival of Venice

Carnival of Venice (song)

The Carnival of Venice, is a folk tune popularly associated with the words "My hat, it has three corners." A series of theme and variations have been written for solo trumpet, as "show off" pieces that contain virtuosic displays of double and triple tonguing, and fast tempos.Many variations on the...

", "Grand Russian Fantasia", and his favorite "Whirlwind Polka". He was arguably the first cornetist to be recorded, having participated in an early public demonstration of Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

's tinfoil phonograph

Phonograph

The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...

. He later recorded commercially for Victor Records and Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

.

His son, Jules Levy, Jr., was also an accomplished cornetist and trumpeter. He recorded from 1919 to 1932, often with groups led by Joseph Samuels

Joseph Samuels

Joseph Samuels was an American musician and bandleader, who is today virtually only known through his recordings.-The mysterious Joseph Samuels:...

. Levy was briefly married to actress Mary “Minnie” Conway in the 1870s. Their son, Frederick Conway Levy, was the popular stage and screen actor Conway Tearle

Conway Tearle

Conway Tearle was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.-Early life:...

.

Jules Levy died at age 65 in Chicago, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

External links

• Well Known Soloists - includes a profile of Jules Levy
• Discography of Jules Levy on Victor Records
  Victor Talking Machine Company
  The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
  
  from the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR)