Hubbell, Frank Allen

views updated

Hubbell, Frank Allen

Hubbell, Frank Allen, American conductor, arranger, and composer; b. Denver, May 9, 1907; d. Kirkland, Wash., April 21, 1971. He was taken to Calif, as a child and was reared on an orange grove. He learned to play the cornet and also began to compose music. In 1936 he arranged a native Hawaiian tune and launched it as “The Hawaiian War Chant/” which became his most popular creation. His reputation was further enhanced by his arrangement of old Calif, songs for band, under the title California El Dorado Suite. His later band pieces, all in the “landscape music” genre, included The San Diego Story (1957), The Oregon Story (1959), and The Kansas Story (1961). He was also active on the pageant stage, and was music director of the International Beauty Congress, for which he wrote 2 theme songs, “World of Beauty” and “Sound the Trumpets.”

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire