BAND HISTORY (1958-2008)

Count backward to 1958. How many early Valley of the Sun landmarks still hold their identity today after all that time? One of those landmarks is the Phoenix Pipe Band, originally known as the Phoenix Scottish Pipe Band.

The Phoenix Pipe Band is the oldest continuously running pipe band in Arizona. One of the founding members, Joe Leonard, was still with the band until 2002. He and his brother Bill moved to Phoenix in 1958 from upstate New York, where both brothers had played drums with a pipe band. The magnetism of their interest drew a few others from Tempe who played pipes and drums. They set up a practice in Coronado Park, and within a short time they had collected several other musicians who had gotten their start in military pipe bands in Scotland and Canada. What was then known as the Phoenix Scottish Pipe Band was on its way.

Their teamwork in music overcame the mix of tartans in the kilts they wore. The band’s public debut came in 1958 at the Prescott Rodeo Parade.  We were quite a sensation with the cowboys, Joe Leonard recalls. In time the Band upgraded from the original Pakistani-made bagpipes to Scots-made pipes. They also settled on military-style uniforms with kilts in the tartan worn by the Seaforth Highlanders, a Scottish unit of the British Army.

The Band’s increasing quality and inherent attention-getting capability eventually attracted a sponsor. Pepsi Cola offered financial support in return for presence at promotional events and other marketing visibility. In addition to the use of a bottling plant as a practice location, the Band got new kilts, changing to the red MacGregor tartan at Pepsi’s request. "Phoenix was a young city then," Joe Leonard says.  We played for the grand opening of every gas station that had a Pepsi vending machine.  They also played for housing developments, bowling alleys, the Tombstone Helldorado Parade, anything where ample sound and color were desirable to attract an audience.

Pipe bands, like any other organization, have their ups and downs. A group of pipers and drummers splintered from the Phoenix Pipe Band, operating under the sponsorship of the Shrine. But Phoenix kept going, its members continuing their involvement in all kinds of Celtic arts. Joe Leonard and Leonard Wood Jr., a piper who joined the Band in 1961, teamed up with the Arizona Scottish Society to create the first Arizona Scottish Games in Encanto Park in 1966. The Games have since moved to Mesa and now back to downtown Phoenix. A copy of the program for 1970 Scottish Games shows the participation of the Phoenix Scottish Pipe Band.

The wardrobe of red MacGregor kilts has clothed hundreds of pipers and drummers through the years, according to Joe Leonard. The Phoenix Pipe Band is  the Dean of pipe bands,  as Joe put it, the common point from which band members went on to the Argyll Pipe Band, Shrine, Phoenix Police, Mesa Caledonian, Spirit of Scotland, Seven Pipers Society, and other bands in Arizona and elsewhere.

The core of tradition is giving way to change, though. The Band is expanding its repertoire of Irish music and embracing a more inclusive approach to Celtic music in general.  To reflect this the band name was changed from “Phoenix Scottish” to simply “Phoenix Pipe Band” in 2007.  They have also moved away from a military uniform spats and khaki shirts to a friendlier look that complements steadily improving musicianship. The current members of the Phoenix Pipe Band practice on Sunday afternoons at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

Piping and drumming lessons are available for new students, and both new and experienced pipers and drummers are welcome.

So why did Joe Leonard stick with the Phoenix Scottish Pipe Band for all those years? I grew up with it, I kept coming home.  ... and the Phoenix (Scottish) Pipe Band marches on.