J. E. Roach's Banda Mexicana was a touring concert band active between circa 1908 and 1911. American conductor, Captain J.E. Roach (dates unknown) recruited over 50 soloists from army and police bands across Mexico to form his touring group. The band also included male and female vocalists and dancers, and its repertoire consisted of standard band arrangements of the day, as well as traditional Mexican music. The band spent the summer of 1910 performing at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and in 1911 it headed west to Denver, Colorado. After a series of financial difficulties in Denver early in the summer, the band embarked on a concert tour of the American West. Roach's Banda Mexicana's last known tour stops were in American Fork, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah, in August of 1911. The band may also have had an earlier European tour (circa 1909), but this has not been confirmed.
From the guide to the J.E. Roach Banda Mexicana Music Collection, 1881-1906, 1881-1906, (Special Collections in Performing Arts)
