same songs---different pianists(Frank P. Banta and Fred Hylands)

Banta 

Hylands

Many may come to wonder about how different Banta and Hylands really were from one another on the piano. The best way to judge their creativity and styles is to listen to the same song on a different cylinder label. Listen to cylinders that have the same song by the same singer, but have different record numbers and record companies. They did have to play many of the same songs for the phonographs, but how they played with melodies was their own means and creativity. 

Most of the time, Banta was not very loud, as Edison's recording rooms often looked like this:

(this image is actually the main recording room at Edison in around 1903)

Could that actually be Banta at the piano! :-O

Banta was also not as daring and pianistically curious. As he seemed to hold off on all of the saloon-reminiscent ideals that Hylands had perfected at Columbia. And since the stricter management at Edison did not allow drinking in the studios, it was not nearly as openly creative and loose. 

Every day at Columbia was a day to turn the singers loose. 

Every day at Edison was a day to make records. That's all.

Here is the first good example of what is mentioned in the title of this post. The title of this tune cannot really be settled because it is announced at two different things on each cylinder. Anyhow, this is by the great Dan W. Quinn here's the first version, from March of 1899 with Frank Banta at Edison:

https://ia601505.us.archive.org/21/items/edbw-6950/edbw-6950.mp3

This one above is the better sounding version of the two I have found, as it is clearer(in fact unusually clear for its age!) and the piano can be reasonably be heard. Banta's playing on this is not very flashy, but it's quick and light in his right hand. Very typical of him. The rest you can hear clearly. 

Now the second version I found is VERY messy, so if you really want to hear the piano, you kinda have to wait till later in the cylinder where it becomes more distinct. So this one is also Dan W. Quinn, March of 1899, but recorded on Columbia with Fred Hylands on the piano. 

Like I said, it's very MESSY!

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/10000/10678/cusb-cyl10678d.mp3

The piano solo at the end is a full 30 seconds! And he ends it all with a very quick chromatic thing starting on Eb. All of the trills and quick little things that are distinctly Hylands(yes, Banta did that as well, but Hylands was much quicker and more efficient when it came to those).

Anyhow, here's the second set of records to compare. This one is of Will F. Denney(his name is spelled that way on a few records) being very entertaining singing "How'd you like to be the Iceman?"

from 1899 as well. Here's the first one, the Edison version with Banta on the piano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv_Zrgza2xM

Interesting solo at the end Banta!

This one has some Ragtime in small places all over the place, and of course, at the end as well, very typical for Banta. one can really hear Banta's style of Rag-time and accompaniment style very well on this one. 

Now, for the wildman Hylands on Columbia's piano:

https://ia902503.us.archive.org/33/items/WillFDenny/WillFDenny-HowdYouLiketoBetheIceman.mp3

(Notice! He's playing in a completely different key here.)

OOH! Hylands is wasted alright! Hear that piano at the end! I know, it skips a bunch and gets a little bumpy at the end, but even over all of that, Hylands still FUBAR's the end of it, in whatever he's trying to play...

Hylands plays this one pretty straightforward, not too much of his vain flashiness, but it's still there anyways(because that's the little prodigy in him!). 

Here's another good one of Billy Golden Singing and whistling his famous specialty, "Turkey in The Straw, both from 1898.
Here's Banta, playing here in the neutral key of C Major, and playing some fun Cakewalk patterns throughout the cylinder:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5271/cusb-cyl5271d.mp3

And now for the wildman Hylands in their big room at Columbia:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9322/cusb-cyl9322d.mp3
(Very odd solo at the end, but the whole cylinder is very entertaining on both ends, with the singing, and the piano playing, But that piano playing is sure as hell ear-catching!)

I don't need to really explain much here, as all of the truths and comparisons are in the records listed above. I will add more to this post if I find any other good ones!

I hope you enjoyed this!