08/31/2026
Tucson Concert Band is heartbroken to announce the passing of Trumpet Soloist, John Reitz. John soloed with Tucson Concert Band several times, most recently in November 2024 for his 100th birthday, playing My Romance.
Born in 1924 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and raised by his tuba playing father, John started studying cornet and playing in the grade school orchestra at age eight. Two years later he progressed to playing second cornet in El Kahir Shriner's concert band of which his father was the business manager. In the seventh grade he formed his own small polka band with school friends and began playing paid jobs. After a year of this he was bitten by the swing era bug and began studying jazz improvisation and arranging...no more polkas. His progress in both technical ability and jazz interpretation led him to be playing in professional dance bands all through high school and territorial bands on road tours during the summers.
At age seventeen John enrolled at the U. of Oregon, September 10, 1942, majoring in music, playing in the ROTC band, and joining the Army Enlisted Reserve Corp. On 11/22, 1942, two months later, all of the reservists received telegrams from the U.S. War Department saying that they all were activated.
Discharged from the army in February 1946, he returned to the U.S. and to Lewis and Clark college, earning a B.A. degree and to the University of Washington for an M.A. in music composition. Returning to Portland, Oregon, John spent a year teaching as faculty of Lewis and Clark College while forming a dance band, the Johnny Reitz Orchestra. Realizing that he was earning more from his band than teaching, he then devoted full time to playing thirteen-week touring circuits twice per year from Los Angeles to Florida, the mid-west and the northwest, booked by Associated Booking Corporation. In 1965, the band was contracted to be the house band at Portland's Hoyt Hotel. The showroom featured a large dance floor which elevated to stage height and featured Las Vegas type floor shows. The band's two-week contract extended to three years.
