Mr. Tuba

Image Plates

Harvey Phillips performs in a concert. OctubaFest is celebrated on the roof of a parking garage in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, 1984. From left: Indiana University chancellor Herman B Wells, mayoral assistant Kathy Weigle (back to camera), Harvey and Carol Phillips, Bloomington mayor Tomilea Allison. Harvey Phillips, in tan jacket, welcomes students to OctubaFeast during OctubaFest at the TubaRanch. Harvey greets Indiana University Chancellor Herman B Wells at an OctubaFeast at the TubaRanch, 1986. David Baker and Harvey Phillips, 1970s. David and Harvey met at a 1959 recording session in New York, and both eventually joined the music faculty at Indiana University. TubaSantas in rented suits, in their first year in Bloomington, 1974, to test how Christmas carols would sound played by a choir of tubas. TubaSantas get a ride on a Bloomington fire truck, from IU to their performance location near the courthouse, 1986. Tuba players turn out in amazing numbers to play carols on the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, New York City, in the annual (since 1974) TubaChristmas. Harvey Phillips, conducting, established the concerts—now held in many cities—in honor of his teacher, Bill Bell, who was born on Christmas day, 1902. TubaSanta Harvey Phillips with euphonium and tuba in Bloomington, 1986. Harvey Phillips takes TubaChristmas to Walt Disney World, where he is met by music lovers Mickey Mouse and Goofy, 1993. Below. Harvey Phillips, in front of Cinderella Castle, announces the TubaChristmas concert at Walt Disney World, 1995. TubaSantas, invited by Congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., 1996. Charles Kuralt, host of CBS News Sunday Morning, joins Harvey Phillips for TubaChristmas in Rockefeller Center, 1995. Kuralt conducted “Silent Night” and wrote about the experience in his book, Charles Kuralt’s America. Piano accompanist Hisako Nakayama, Harvey Phillips, and Chitate Kagawa after the two tubists played a duet at a concert in Sapporo, Japan, 1979. Harvey Phillips, always seeking out young tuba students, here in Sapporo, Japan, 1987. Phillips family portrait, 1981: Harvey Jr., standing ; Carol, Jesse, Harvey; Thomas on the floor beside Tootsie, the dog. ...