Fillmore composed a total of fifteen band pieces featuring trombones - popularly known as 'trombone smears' - between 1908 to 1929. Miss Trombone, subtitled A Slippery Rag was the first of the series. Written in the ragtime style so popular at the time, the trombone 'smears' (glissandi) give the work a humorous charcter in keeping with the circus performances it was composed for. The new Serenissima Band Classics series is designed to offer band directors and others interested in this genre newly engraved authoritative editions which are prepared from the primary sources using the composer's original instrumentaion, which is sometimes markedly different from that found in bands today.
