Text by Michael Dumas

The Mobile Chamber is gearing up for its annual celebration of minority businesses, known for three decades as the Eagle Awards. This year’s accolades highlight the entrepreneurship of individuals specializing in a variety of industries, from home and business climate to compassionate end-of-life care to the communal celebration that is live music.

Eagle Award Winner: The Excelsior Band

The current iteration of one of the Gulf Coast’s most iconic bands got its start in the late 1990s, but its roots connect to the 1880s. The Excelsior Band is believed to be the oldest continuous marching jazz band in the United States, and stands as a living monument to the healing power of music.

“I’ve been in music all my life, and in my experience, involvement in music just creates nice people,” said Hosea London, who has led the Excelsior Band for 25 years and incorporated the group in 2004. “I tell my students all the time, you don’t have to major in music, or even be a musician, but experiencing it will make you a decent human being.”

For decades, the Excelsior Band has demonstrated to numerous acts who followed that it’s possible to make a living performing jazz. Perhaps most known for their involvement in Mardi Gras celebrations during the traditional Carnival season and beyond, the band’s members actually spend a vast majority of their time performing at celebrations anywhere from major industrial companies to living rooms in and around Mobile.

When London decided to lead the Excelsior Band’s evolution into a full-blown business, he started with one of its most important metrics: fair compensation. At the time, a majority of performers were paid through a “cash only,” handshake contract. London quickly realized that for the band to thrive, it needed to be structured like any other business. So he started paying his musicians as independent contractors.

By requiring the necessary paperwork from his clients, he quickly opened the Excelsior Band to opportunities far beyond street performing. Soon, the group counted major companies and the city of Mobile among its regular customers, which lent greater credibility to the band, as did London’s insistence that they always wear black suits and ties.

In 2013, the Excelsior Band was awarded the Alabama State Council on the Arts’s Folk Heritage Award, followed by it being named a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2022. Beyond the recognition, what the band values nearly as much as performing is teaching. For 10 years, it has maintained the Jazz Studio, a year-round jazz program for students in grades 6 to 12, and recently the Excelsior Band was invited to perform with the University of South Alabama Jaguar Marching Band during halftime of the Jaguars’s first two home games.

This gave London and his bandmates the chance to connect with older students who have a heightened love of music.

 

“This is why I do it,” London said during a recent rehearsal at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the USA campus, during which he spoke with several students in-between performances. “If you can inspire even one more person to become involved in music, it will put them in a position to make the world a better place.

“That’s the message I’m always pushing.”

 

 

 

 

 

2024 Eagle Awards Luncheon

The recipients will be honored during the 2024 Eagle Awards at the Battle House Hotel on October 11, which will feature training sessions and a luncheon featuring keynote educational speaker Cheryl Grace.

Tickets are available now by clicking here. Darrell Randle, the Mobile Chamber’s vice president of Small Business Development, said the lasting legacy of the Eagle Awards is a testament to the strength of the businesses it recognizes.