Joseph LaCalle

Joseph Lacalle played the clarinet in the bands of Patrick Gilmore and John Philip Sousa, led his own band, and took part in recording sessions for Columbia. He had emigrated from Spain and worked in New York, where he also performed with the 7th Regiment Band, the Hoadley Musical Society Amateur Orchestra and the Columbia Spanish Band. On 28 July 1893 he appeared as a soloist with Sousa's band at Manhattan Beach. His song Amapola acquired English words by Albert Gamse and became a hit in Jimmy Dorsey's 1941 recording with Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell. He died in 1937.