The Advocate Brass Band

The Advocate Brass Band is a Danville, Ky., brass band reminiscent of turn-of-the-century town bands. It was founded in 1987 by George Foreman (former managing director of Centre College's Norton Center for the Arts) with encouragement and support from Mary Schurz, former publisher and current chairman and editor emeritus of The Advocate-Messenger and The Kentucky Advocate.

The Advocate Brass Band

Lydia DiMartino Ellis, a local school media specialist, is conductor, and Dudley Spoonamore is manager of The Advocate Band. The band's repertoire has been expanded to include concert band material. The 65 members range in age from fourteen to eighty, including internationally-known trumpet player Vince DiMartino.

The Advocate Band is host band for Danville's Great American Brass Band Festival, which annually draws more than 50, 000 people to the campus of Centre College for free concerts by brass bands from all over the United States.

The band performs in local concerts and has presented concerts in Louisville; Washington, D.C.; and New Orleans. It also has performed abroad in Europe, Trinidad and Venezuela.

The band has recorded several CDs, including “My Old Kentucky Home”.