New Cylinder findings

The Santa Barbara cylinder website has been busy lately, and from that I have been too. I was told of this late at night a few days ago over Email by Ryan Wishner. I was planning to go on to bed, and just checked my Inbox to find that Email about the Santa Barbara website, so then I was up for another hour listening to what was new. 

They put up some interesting things, by the usual brown wax suspects, such as these artists:

J. J. Fisher

George J. Gaskin

Len Spencer
There were even more cylinders! Those are only a few of the artists whose records were put up. To begin with the showcasing, I would like to begin with a few by J. W. Myers. Several of his cylinders were put up, and they are all interesting ones. 
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15570/cusb-cyl15570d.mp3(this one is played way too slow, but it's a classic 90's song, recorded in 1898)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15498/cusb-cyl15498d.mp3
(This one was recorded in 1899, also with Hylands on piano just like the last one)
They are both good collaborations between Myers and Hylands, as Myers had a musical affair with Hylands, and he wanted Hylands on all the records he could. He would probably drag Hylands in from an important job just for his accompaniment.

This next one is by Len Spencer and Fred Hylands, which when I saw that it was up, I got all excited. Spencer and Hylands cylinders are always fun. Here you go with Len Spencer and Fred Hylands' "Only a Little Yaller Coon" from 1898:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15435/cusb-cyl15435d.mp3
Hmm... what an interesting cylinder, how Spencer sings it slow... It's just barely Rag-Time, even with Hylands on piano. One thing that really sets this one apart from other brown wax cylinders is how prominent the bass notes are behind Spencer, and how well they register on the cylinder. There's a single low D flat that sticks out like a needle at 0:29, how weird is that? The bass notes are prominent throughout if you're really listening though. 
These nest few are by Vess Ossman with Banta, and also Hylands on two of them.
This first one is Ossman's own "A Bunch of Rags", but it's the Edison version! With Frank Banta on piano! I have only heard the Columbia and Victor of this, which is with Hylands, so hearing Banta's accompaniment is very interesting. 
Here you go from 1898:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15566/cusb-cyl15566d.mp3
How different! Ossman starts in F, rather than when with Hylands starting off in G. Just for a comparison,here is Ossman and Hylands' version on a Columbia(it's the first tune on the video!)
This next one is an extraordinary piece of early Rag-Time with Hylands by Ossman:
(really take a listen! It's a quiet but really fascinating cylinder!)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15464/cusb-cyl15464d.mp3
Oh my god! What a great piece! I love that section in F Minor where Ossman does that funny thing on his bass string, and if you can hear it, Hylands is doing it too. Hylands is great on this one, even if he blends very well, even for being with Ossman, because he didn't always blend that easily. I have the feeling that this piece of music was one of those early 1890's banjo tunes written around 1892, that Ossman and other famous banjoists later made Ragged, as that's what it is here. 
This next one is a very interesting Spanish-themed waltz from 1897. Ossman didn't play too many tunes of this kind, but it's interesting to find one, and so early on anyhow! I'm not sure if the pianist is Banta or George Schweinfest, as it has the old announcement "..of New York City." so that would indicate an early or mid-1897 date to it. Here you go:
here you gohttp://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15530/cusb-cyl15530d.mp3

This next one is a fun one by Will F. Denny, and Frank P. Banta. This is a typical comic song of Denny's on an Edison cylinder. Here you go with Denny's riot of a comic song "Can't Stop!" from 1898-99:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15549/cusb-cyl15549d.mp3
"Can't Stop-Can't stop-Can't stop!!" 
Oh my god I love it. Banta's comically rushed rhythm makes it even better. 
This next one is by George Schweinfest and Fred Hylands in 1898. Now this one is actually Rag-Time, as it's "At a Georgia Campmeeting", but the cylinder is played a little too fast:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15445/cusb-cyl15445d.mp3
If only it was played just a little bit slower! What I can hear from Hylands is wonderful...
These next two are by the Greater New York Quartette, one with the later personnel, and one with the original personnel. Here is the first one(featuring Hylands playing all pretty!)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15567/cusb-cyl15567d.mp3
Very good harmonization, and a very pleasant record overall.  
Now for the original personnel, with Len Spencer and Mr. Depew in late-1897:
(the sound file is long because they had to restart the cylinder, to try to disregard that if you can...)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15519/cusb-cyl15519d.mp3
Hm. Very odd. This is such a weird record, the harmonization is really off(damn Len Spencer and Roger Harding!), and the key changes halhfway through the cylinder, maybe from just the record machine speed? The only problem with the original personnel of this quartette is that Len Spencer could not balance, nor could he blend. This fact is very clear on this cylinder, and Spencer and Harding sound painfully sharp and flat of each other. All I really have to say about that is that someone is really wasted(Ehm! probably Spencer). Arrgh! Spencer is just painfully out of tune with them...
Sometimes it's a complete mystery as to why some records were actually issued, and this is one of them for sure. 
Now these last ones are all by the Columbia orchestra, all from around 1897-98.
Here you go:
this is a very early one for them, from around the time Hylands just started working there(which was about August-September 1897) http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15515/cusb-cyl15515d.mp3
This next one is pretty messy, but it's a fun one all the same, with Hylands leading the tempo, and Len Spencer doing the dance calls:http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15506/cusb-cyl15506d.mp3
 The cool thing about this one is that after Spencer does his whole spiel before the last strain, you can hear Hylands start them off, then comes the trombonist, then the whole band once again! That's unusual! 
I'm anxious for more cylinders up! And what's here isn't even everything. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Two Birthdays and a Death date

Well, two of those listed above have a birthday on this day, August 29, and one died on this day back in 1901. 

Byron G. Harlan(0f Collins and Harlan) was born on this date out in Kansas in 1861, and Edward M. Favor was born on this date as well in 1856.

Roger Harding died  on this date  in 1901, as the too young age of 42. I really try not to miss any birthdays, even though I have already missed some. Byron Harlan is one that's hard to miss, and since it's the same as Edward Favor, it makes thing easier. 
Like I do on these artists' birthdays, I play many of their records in their honor, and maybe draw a picture or two of them. So here are a few great records by Harlan and Ed Favor to celebrate their birthdays.
Harlan:
with Madeira and Hylands, 1901
with Frank Stanley and Hylands, 1902
(Hylands is really good on this one!)
With Hylands, 1903
With Banta, 1902
With Joe Belmont, Frank Stanley, Banta and the "Floradora girls", 1902

Now onto Edward M. Favor. Favor is a very collected singer, whose records are very valuable to the geeks out there who want them. 
Here are some of Favor's best:
from 1893(probably Edward Issler on piano)
with Banta, 1899
with Hylands(?) mid-1897(not sure if it's Hylands on piano...)
with Hylands, 1900(very nice Rag-Time)
with Hylands, c.1903
with Banta(?), 1902(the pianist on this one is hard to tell.)


Well, I don't really want to put up any records by Harding on his death date, but I did wear black to-day, in rememberance of it, as Harding was a great little man with a great sense of humor and a funny voice. I hope you got to enjoy the records above!

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Rags of 1898: Hoffmann, Bernard, Harney, Fagan, and Hylands(and Green)

Max Hoffmann

Mike Bernard

Ben Harney

Barney Fagan(back in c.1876)

Fred Hylands

What did all these popular pianists have in common? Well, they were known in 1897 and 1898(some maybe even  as early as 1896) as "rag-time" pianists, and composers. They were known as "rag" pianists and composers by 1896, and all of them had that term attatched to their names in that year. Though Barney Fagan had been known for quite a long time before the era of the "Rag" came along, he had caught on quick. Fagan had been a well known minstrel dancer since the late-1860's, but he had caught on to the Ragged bug that came around in the mid 1890's, this is why we see his famous tune of 1896 "My Gal is a High Born Lady", as he became a close friend with Len Spencer around the time he wrote the tune, and it was because of Spencer's take on the song. Which can be heard in late-1897 Here. 

Max Hoffman had taken the title as "America's greatest 'rag' arranger" as early as 1895, as It can be found on a sheet music cover dated 1891. Here is that cover, seen below:

"America's greatest 'Rag' arranger"

Yep, that's about right, and this was 1895 when they said this. He had gone on to arrange the first recognized medley of syncopated Rags in 1897, called, not too creatively, "Rag Medley". It was labelled at the top of the cover as "The present day fad", which is pretty accurate, as Hylands' Chicago friend W. H. Krell had his 1896 arrangement "Mississippi Rag" published in January of 1897.

 There he is, W. H. Krell. Very Germanic ain't he? 

Yes indeed, his "Mississippi Rag" was the first tune published with "Rag" in the title. Though, according to many respected historians, it is just a Cake-walk really, rather than a full-on Rag. It is a great tune no matter. He really must have gotten the Ragged spirit when he played this in his band, or had some of his Chicago "rag time" friends play the music he wrote, such as Silas Leachman, and Fred Hylands. 

But then there was Mike Bernard, the youngest of the early Rag-Time crowd, at about 19 or 20 in 1896, Bernard had to prove himself, after getting back from Germany(studying music of course!) he had some authority over some of the untrained styles of his collegues, he must have found Hylands and Harney threatening to him, as they were harsh, rugged natural pianists who came from Indiana and Kentucky. Bernard was a very differing story, as he was just as poor as Hylands was growing up, and had a similar story to Hylands and his just as talented sister, but he had much more formal and respectable training than Hylands ever had. Harney had more smarts to beat them, as he was from Kentucky, but a rather classy and respected family. He was very well educated, and very bright in his education as a youth, more so than Bernard. Hylands just had his almost maddening intelligence. 

Bernard had been employed at the same theater that Harney worked at, back in 1896, and it was there that he first heard this "broken" time that Harney was cultivating. But before Bernard could get hired there at Pastor's, he had to go through their big redheaded musical director, Fred Hylands. How he was firey, Hylands must have been very impressed with Bernard's playing, as it was always something else, even if he had not really taken in the whole "Ragged Time" thing just yet. After getting through Hylands, Bernard began to work there and almost completely overtook the piano chair there. With this, it became like three men fighting over one pretty girl, and the pretty girl was the main piano chair. 
Luckily for Bernard and Harney, Hylands was out of Pastor's by the end of 1897, and someone else took his term there , but it was never the same without the will and might of Hylands. Bernard, Harney, and the rest of the crew of the early Rag-time community were still going around to all the stages, and performing widely in that time in 1898 and 1899, even if Hylands was not nearly was open to getting any new jobs, as Columbia was keeping him almost fully dedicated in that time. Hoffmann was still an unmarried man in this time, and he remained that way until he married the famous dancer Gertrude Hoffman in 1901, seen below:

Wow! What a lucky man! She was some lady!(and this was taken in 1908!)
But as I have explained before, Burt Green married his famous second wife, Irene Franklin around 1908, and she is seen below:

She was famous for her rag with Burtie called "Redhead" and this was her whole schtick for it. I have the feeling that he was madly in love with her, as he wrote all the songs they did together with her.  
Burt Green had been one of the early Rag-time crew, but he was all over the place, and this was especially so when he married Irene, because it was clear that he was done with his first wife by 1905, and since he had first accompanied Irene at Huber's, he refused to let her stay married to the man she was with at the time. The earliest community of east coast Rag-timers had disbanded by 1904, they were no longer all together at the same time, they still were acquaintances, but the sense of their friendship had completely gone away by that time, even when Hylands got back onto the stage again in 1904, and when he ended his term at Columbia. It's surely a history in Rag-Time that should not be forgotten, as they were practically the first group of Rag-Timers who weren't living in the area of Scott Joplin and Tom Turpin. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Harney, Green, and Hylands

Ben Harney, 1910-11

Fred Hylands, 1909

I wish I had a picture of Burton Green, if anyone out there has one, please send it to me!

Well, those three names are among the earliest in performed Rag-Time music. They all did the same thing in the same area, in the same timeframe, so it's pretty obvious that they all were friends, even if they weren't exactly close friends. Hylands was the house pianist and music director Pastor's theater(with Mr. Pastor seen below):

That was the man who hired Ben Harney, Mike Bernard, Burton Green, and even Fred Hylands, all in 1896. He first took in Hylands, a twenty-four year old stage genius who had been writing, producing, and managing entire shows since age fifteen. Hylands was new to the New York scene, and was eager to get work, and within weeks of first moving there from Chicago, he was getting "gigs" everywhere around the east coast, not only in New York, but in New Jersey, and in Pittsburg. Pastor shot and scored with Hylands. Then he turned quick to another "rag time" pianist(remember that this is 1896), named Ben Harney, who had been doing his "thing" since 1893 back in Chicago(again, probably with Hylands already being aware of it), or, it may have been the music director and already pianist Fred Hylands who had heard of Harney for a while and recommended to Pastor personally that he should take in the progressive powerhouse Harney. With the first few successes of Harney at Pastor's, Hylands watched, and was contented with the Ragged time that Harney was doing, as it was something he had been going at himself for years, just like Harney. 

At a popular theater nearby, another rising star was making his impact, his name was Burton Green. He had heard Harney several times in 1896, and wanted to get in on the "rag time" action as soon as he could. How he got in on it well, by 1897, he was known all around the music community of New York, as a comedic entertainer and imitator of Ben Harney. I'm not sure if Burt was a dancer like Harney, but I know that he was an amateur singer other than just a pianist. Burt soon connected with the prestigious pianists over at Pastor's and Keith's theaters(which was another Harney and Hylands gig), and he befriended them quick. He made an especially important and close relationship with Fred Hylands, as he and Hylands were both sporty and bright fellas who were curious young men. Burt was 23, and Hylands was 25.

You can hear Burtie play behind his very famous second wife Here in 1911.

Hmm. I always think I hear Hylands in his playing, just slightly. They were very similar really, if you think about it.

Hylands only worked more at the theaters until  the last month of 1897 or early 1898, as that's when he was getting hot at Columbia's piano chair, not being able to go and do his managing  job nearly as much as he would have wanted to. Harney did remain there at Pastor's and Hylands took his place when he or Mike Bernard weren't there, which wasn't that often, but Hylands still came in occasionally, before he began the extremely tiring exhibitions at Columbia. Hylands and Burt Green still remained intertwined pretty secretly, as they still went out together sometimes and drank, after their long days at their work(if an exhibition did not get in the way...). As can be seen with the whole "Hylands Spencer and Yeager" thing in 1899-1900, Hylands and Burt Green were still good friends, doing the same "Rag-Time" business they had since 1896. 

Yep, Mr. Fred Hylands and Mr. Burt Green, mentioned TOGETHER. That tells you a whole lot just that they are mentioned right next to another, like they were a duo. I just think it's funny that Hylands pretty much invites the phonograph vocalists like they are welcomed as though they were boarders. The phrase:

"You are cordially invited to make our office your headquarters when in New York."

that really gets me. Hylands really wanted Len Spencer's rich kind to come into his contact and lend him some of their money. That was really the deal with Hylands. Hylands and Burt Green had left the Pastor system by 1900, but Burt still worked at Huber's theater by then. Hylands and Green still reamained friends until Hylands died, but it was pretty low-key after the collapse of the publishing firm in October of 1900. 

Harney's popularity remained for years, as his early popularity in the Rag-Time business still kept him with authority.The picture at the top of this post proves that his popularity remained for quite a while, as he was still a fashionable dancer and singer by 1910 and 1911, but it seemed that he just had the "Originator of Ragtime" term to show for it after 1915, as he lived until 1938. I still cannot get over the fact that Burt Green is mentioned in his death notice from 1938! It's really weird. Reading that is where I really wanted to know who this "Burton Green" fellow was, as he was mentioned being alongside Fred Hylands, Ben Harney, Mike Bernard, and Irene Franklin. I still want to know more about Burt Green, as he was only a little older than Hylands when he died(he was 47), which really gets me wondering.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Will F. Denny, the silenced singing wonder

Well, he's a largely forgotten singer on the earlier records, but those collectors who know him, love his records well. He was really a riot on the records. The boys in the studios found his expressions and comical tunes, just priceless, which made them keep him on their staff. Denny's style was absolutely hilarious, and full of energy. He was a favourite of Columbia and Edison alike, which as an unusual thing, which few artsists were able to pull off without getting the companies in nasty fights over them.

Denny was neutral in his preferences of record companies, as he balanced out the sessions for different companies evenly in 1898 to 1901, which was not an easy thing to do.  

As in 1898 to 1901 he did hot Rag-Time records with Banta at Edison, such as these few greats:

From 1899: https://archive.org/details/AChangeWillDoYouGoodByWillF.Denny1899

From 1901: https://ia902503.us.archive.org/33/items/WillFDenny/WillFDenny-AintDataShame.mp3 (this one is really hot! Banta kills it on this one!)

From 1901:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5275/cusb-cyl5275d.mp3

from 1899:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btBhgXzAW84

from 1899:

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

(killer ending Banta!)

Other than his fun and Ragged cylinders with classical Banta, he also had Hylands on the other end of the spectrum at Columbia. His records with Hylands are a very interesting mix of creativity, oddity, high energy, and comedy. Here are a few of them(which all involve some kind of syncopation!)

From 1899(with Hylands really drunk):

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

(that ending is really rough Hylands, even if it skips a bunch, it's still a mess...)

from 1898:

(with suttle Rag-Time at the end!)

https://ia802503.us.archive.org/33/items/WillFDenny/WillFDenny-TimeisMoney.mp3

From c.early-1899:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9847/cusb-cyl9847d.mp3

(the solo at the end sounds a little like the intro to "Put Me Off at Buffalo"...)

from 1899:

(with really hammered Hylands again...)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/14000/14242/cusb-cyl14242d.mp3

It's so contradicting, the song is beautiful, but Hylands' embibing doesn't make it any more so than it needs to be, as it's pretty clear by how he plays it and how he plays the ending thing. Like I have said before, Hylands playing all pretty is really quite a concept. He could do it, and very well if he set his energy on it, but it is odd to think of what he really would have rather played than the pretty stuff. 

from 1898:

(with the most killer Rag-Time at the end!)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/14000/14259/cusb-cyl14259d.mp3

Denny remained pretty popular through 1902, but when this odd new minstrel singer named William Murray came on the scene, Denny's popularity dove to ruin quick. He still made records after 1902, but they weren't nearly in as much demand as before 1900. 

He made Zon-O-phones from 1900 to 1903, and his records made for this company are among the most valued of all the records he made, even more so than his brown wax cylinders. I know some collectors who have dozens and dozens of his Zon-O-Phone records. It's not only Denny's high energy and creativity on these Zon-O-Phone records, that the collectors go for, it's the piano playing. As least that's what one of my collector friends is looking for in these Denny records. 

Here are two of them, both from 1901:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0u8HiXdrtI

(what kind of opium were they on when they did thist take! My God!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi8K8iKZyXM

These two Zon-O-Phone's above are prime examples of Columbia intertwined Zon-O-phone's, as they were made when Columbia also made Zono records, so that meant the same piano, same artists, similar studio, and of course, same pianist(Fred Hylands). They are prime examples of hot Rag-Time as well, with Denny and Hylands playing themselves sick by the end of the take. This is why the music-intwined collectors love these early Zon-O-Phone's. Many of these Zono's from the same year sound just like these ones. I must point out one thing on the second one listed above, listen to the interlude at the beginning, just after the announcement. Listen closely. Hear those bass notes? There's three tenths in there, and a three noted octave. That's WEIRD! That's very progressive, and yet very typical of the Indiana saloon pianist Hylands was. It's very noticeable and sticks out terribly on the record. It sounds really great though! 

Denny had stopped making records in 1907, as he hadn't any more desire to make any more records, as this Billy Murray fellow had completely shadowed over him by then. He continued to perform in various vaudeville troupes until late 1908, when he suffered a terrible seizure in his dressing room before a performance, and it didn't take too long for it to kill him. It was unfortunate how short his life was, as he was a very vibrant and high-energied character who was taken too early from his high strung personality and poorly taken care of health. It's good he made some pretty damn entertaining records!

I hipe you enjoyed this! 

Columbia's house orchestra, 1897-1905

(both setions from the July, 1898 issue of The Phonoscope)

I don't think I have done a single post dedicated fully to the ever-changing house orchestra of the Columbia phonograph company. Their band became an official artist offered on their records starting in 1896. Before that, they just had guest bands come in to the studio to record their batches of band records. The time prior to 1896 is when you can hear loads of reords by Gilmore's band, the U. S. Marine band, and especially Issler's(parlor) orchestra. Those were not all just for Columbia though, those band records came from the U. S. Phonograph company, and the North American company as well, before they both completely dissolved in 1897. 

When the official Columbia orchestra was formed in late-1896, it was Tom Clark(seen in the section above) who put the group together and got the first personnel together. It had some familiar faces in the group, such as George Schweinfest, early Fred Hager(occasionally), Clark himself, and maybe a few of these guys here:

I recognize a few faces, minus Charles Prince in the middle. I just wish that they commissioned a photograph of everyone in their house band in 1898. Now that would be an interesting picture. Many more recognizable faces would be seen there, such as Hylands, Harry Spencer, Schweinfest, Tom Clark(who would be in the middle probably).  Wow, spotting Hylands in a mix of these guys would be like finding a color Waldo in a black and white photograph. I just wish that the names of everybody were listed somewhere for the picture above, I swear, if there was a list, I would recognize so many more names and be angry that I didn't recognize their faces. 

So back to the Columbia orchestra. When 1898 came upon them, Hylands wanted in on their orchestra, as he was already in the studio most days of the week when they recorded anyway. When Clark took him in, he didn't know what he was in for. He already knew Hylands, but not too well. He didn't really realize he was dragging in a Ragged powerhouse to his band. As by the middle of 1898, Hylands was coming in with the handwritten arrangements of his music and things similar to it for everyone in the band. 

Hylands' music was not easy. It is not easy to play on piano either(I have tried playing his "Darkey Volunteer" before, and it is not an easy one...), and I would think that configuring it for a whole band would be a big cluster-fail. It would mean for many a take to get it right, as Hylands himself wanted it to sound a specific way anyhow. 

Yes indeed, that is the one. His nothing less than extraordinary band arrangement can be heard here:

(there's a home recording at the end of the cylinder, sorry...)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/13000/13265/cusb-cyl13265d.mp3

Oh my god... That's all that I need to say, as I still cannot imagine how many takes they did to get this or how many times they had to run through it before they did each take. Hylands must have been micro-managing like mad. Heh, that's a funny thing to picture...

When I say his music isn't easy, I mean this:

Yes. That's how he wrote it. I would LOVE  to see the manuscripts of his music. I could probably be able to tell if he was right or left handed. That's what I really want to know.

Clark didn't have a chance. He was fighting with the young and slightly-immature Hylands quite a lot more since he joined the band. Though Clark still led the band and did the arrangement(also playing cornet on some of their records), Hylands was always still there to micro-manage and count them off. Clark probably was the one who announced a majority of their records anyhow. Hear how LOUD Hylands is on this one:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/7000/7931/cusb-cyl7931d.mp3

It's pretty obvious who's on the cornet here. EHM! Tom Clark. And that piano! My god. So loud.  I love how Hylands doesn't blend with the orchestra AT ALL! You can easily pick out what he's playing, and the wirey echo of the piano, how funny is that. Hard to believe that this cylinder is a brown wax cylinder from 1898. I love how that piano sounds on this one though, it doesn't get more 1890's sounding than that. 

This next one is from 1900 with Harry Spencer announcing it(and Tom Clark on the cornet again...)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8808/cusb-cyl8808d.mp3

Clark had a really great tone. I never really realized that until now. 

This record is configurded very well, and balanced pristinely, where Hylands can be heard, but he's not overtaking several instruments in the band. 

On this Rag-Time rarity here you can REALLY hear him, but it's still balanced very well, even George Schweinfest can be heard clearly! It's the first record listed on the page:

https://78records.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/fridays-playlist-feb-1-%E2%80%A2-early-orchestral-ragtime-1903-1914/

Whenever they did Rag-Time, Hylands was sure to count them off and dictate the rhythm. This next one was recorded on the same exact day as the last one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74TP3flPds4

Mind the damn machines recording engineers! 

That was a big problem with Columbia records, the speed was all over the place, even on records as late as 1915. The record above is a very good example of early band Rag-Time, and with Hylands dictating the tempo, you know it's going to be steady and Ragged as it should be. Hey, he was from Indiana, so he knew his stuff when it came to rough and low-class music. 

As late as 1904, Hylands was still in their orchestra doing what he did best, and so was Tom Clark, and Harry Spencer, as these two examples from 1904 show for it:

(this one pretty worn, beware of that, but it's still great!) http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9759/cusb-cyl9759d.mp3

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/6000/6805/cusb-cyl6805d.mp3

Yep, I still hear Hylands, and Harry Spencer, especially on the second one. 

Just for another good comparison, here are two takes of the same thing, one from 1901 and the other from 1904:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9383/cusb-cyl9383d.mp3

(Very good tempo choice Hylands! It's a very jumpy but not too fast record!)

Who would have known that playing an old favourite from 1889 could be done in such a modernized Ragged way!

Here's the later take:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/7000/7105/cusb-cyl7105d.mp3

It's faster, and much quicker going than the last one. Hylands can be still heard though. Now this last one is from the final year that the Columbia orchestra really stayed with the original personnel, 1905. They were still together in 1906, but completely disbanded in that year. 

Here you go from 1905:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/4000/4761/cusb-cyl4761d.mp3

It's surprising that Hylands still worked there by 1905. I though he had had enough by 1901. The interesting thing about Hylands on this one is that you can really hear him, and that he's hitting the blocky sounding three noted octaves in the bass. You hear it? It's weird isn't it. And it gives a unique sound to it. That is a very mid-western folk Rag-Time thing to do, as Les Copeland did that a whole lot on his piano rolls. So did Trebor Tichenor. Hylands can be heard hitting those sort of notes as early 1898, so what does that tell you?

Well, Hylands didn't come back in 1906 to Columbia, even though the "Columbia orchestra" remained for a few more months, it wasn't the same. I don't know where Tom Clark went after that, that is something I would really like to know. 

To close off, here is a 1904 recording of Tom Clark's own "Belle of New york March" from 1897:

(With Hylands!)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/4000/4910/cusb-cyl4910d.mp3

Hylands is loud and clear when they get to the trio in F.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

More differing observations

I meant to share a few more things in my last post, but I just really wanted to focus on Vess L. Ossman, as I hadn't any time to do a post yesterday. I have had a lot of different early recording artists on my mind lately, so it's been hard to stay on a single one for an entire blog post. The first thing I would like to point out is a record by Ruby Brooks:

That's Brooks cropped from the 42 Edison artists picture from 1900. Now this cylinder is great in many ways, but Brooks was not the best banjo player in the world. Brooks' time was all over the place and he wasn't nearly as smooth on the banjo as Ossman or Fred Bacon. Anyhow, here you go from 1902 with Frank P. Banta's piano accompaniment:

https://ia802609.us.archive.org/30/items/CollectedWorksOfRubyBrooks/StarsAndStripesForeverMarch1902_64kb.mp3

Did you hear it? 

Banta counted them off at the beginning! Oh my god! On an Edison cylinder! How rare. 

I was going through my music on my Ipad during art class yesterday and I came across this one, which I had heard before, but I had never noticed the weird sound between the announcement and the start of the music. It was identical to the sound that can be heard on many Metropolitan orchestra performances on Victors, and that has been identified as Frank P. Banta counting them off. This cylinder is great all around, and the strong bass notes really make the record have a unique sound. 

The next thing I would like to talk about involves my friend Craig's favourite early recording artist:

Burt Shepard. 

I love his records just as much as my friend Craig, minus the fact that he has practically ALL of Shepard's Victors. He was a man of jovial disposition, and loved what he did. He was beloved by all the crowds with his almost dirty parodies of popular songs and comical piano accompaniment. So to start with my spiel on Burt Shepard, here is the first example:

https://ia800308.us.archive.org/23/items/BurtShepard/BurtShepard-Smoke.ogg

I love this record. The piano accompaniment is wonderful, and Shepard really makes it perfect. His monologues are also an interesting mix of comedy and odd dialect. Such as this one here:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100001677/Pre-matrix_A-1703-My_wifes_relations

Stutter-stutter-stutter. Love it. 

He had the most queer speech. I just don't know how to identify it. I know that he's from the mid-west, but where exactly, he never disclosed. His dialect sounds similar to Byron G. Harlan's thick slurred speech from his Kansas origin of birth. This next one really reveals his crooked speech and all else:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200002948/B-1652-The_robin

Oh yes, he was a hick alright. Just listen closely. 

I just found this record as I was writing this, so now I really know how he spoke. Hmm. I can't really think of much to say about this record, it's pretty extraordinary. He really executes it perfectly. You can just see the crooked words by how he says them. They cannot exactly be written in the dialect, but you can hear it. Other than Shepard being a female impersonator in the 1870's and 1880's, his recording years were really great as well, as that's the only way we get to hear him. We never will be able to see him in his full female attire, which is really a shame. He must have made a great lady. As he can get that way sometimes:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002633/Pre-matrix_B-3490-Other_things_too_numerous_to_mention

This is an example of his parody skills:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002639/Pre-matrix_B-3496-My_old_Dutch

Hmm, that piano is not normal to the usual style, or balance. That gets me slightly suspicious. He was a good pianist I have been told. I have also been told this about Dan W. Quinn, but that doesn't really mean that Quinn can be heard playing piano on lots of his records, even though I never can doubt what records exist to-day from this time period. There's plenty of records from the earliest days that aren't supposed to exist, but they still do. Records like this include Russell Hunting's only surviving smut cylinders, and the one record that S. H. Dudley's wife made in 1900. It's surprising really, "all" of Russell Hunting's smut cylinder were destroyed in 1896 and 1897, except for a few. Thanks to Walter Miller(the manager of Edison's company)for some reason, for keeping them in his private collection. Why did he do this? We all really want to know, but we probably never will. Hunting probably didn't find out that any of his smut cylinders survived until years after he left the recording business, or he kept some to himself and never told anyone about them, and now they're hidden somewhere waiting to be discovered. It's hard to know. I still don't understand how a copy the record S. H. Dudley's wife made still exists. There's so many things that would object its existence, but it's managed to beat the overwhelming odds. The record's existence in the first place was under Dudley's command, so whatever it was to make him delete the record from the catalog permanently, it was sudden and all from his odd impulses. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Vess Ossman and his "plunky" rivals

It was Sylvester Ossman's birthday yesterday, and I celebrated by playing many of his best records while I worked, and so on. 

Well, let's start on Ossman shall we. Well, where do I start with that tornado. Ossman's banjo skills began in 1880, when he was twelve, after years of violin training, he first heard the infectious plunks of the banjo. He immediately wanted to take up the rugged instrument. It was primarilly used in minstrel shows when he found his passion in the instrument, but he wanted to do something more with it, than blackening up and dressing in hideous costumes. So by the mid-80's, he was traveling up and down New York state on the trains, learning to play the banjo and play random melodies he already knew and was hearing around him. In 1885, he got his first engagement for the instrument and began to win the many popular banjo competitions of the area. By 1890, he had earned his place as top banjoist in the entire country, with bragging rights. He had frustrated some of his long-time enemies by this time, such as Ruby Brooks and Harry Denton, seen below:

Sorry the picture isn't very good, it was already very faded. But that's Ruby Brooks standing, and Harry Denton is seated. Brooks, that's who Ossman absolutely HATED in the 1890's. He absolutely despised Ruby Brooks, becasue he was the one who he competed against in the banjo competitions of the late 80's and early 1890's. Brooks was also a recording star in exactly the same time and even at the same record companies. That was a problem that the recording management didn't realize. Ossman(having a terribly big ego) fought with all the banjo players that came on the scene and dared to do what he did on the stage. Even though he is pictured here with another banjo great here in c.1896:

Ossman probably worked with Glynn for a short time, as that's how it always went with him. Ossman by 1895 had his hands on Frank P. Banta. He was his official accompanist on the stage and on the tours. He loved Banta with all he could, even though he treated him as a secondary character. As he kept on making hundreds of records and dragging Banta around with him all over the place, his time being loyal to Banta was shook by a new name in the "Rag" scene in 1897. Just a little thing, Ossman recorded the first record to mention "Rag" on it in the musical context, it was his "Rag Time Medley" on a Berliner disc, recorded in August of 1897. He was an early one playing "Rags", as early as 1896 in fact, just like Mike Bernard or Ben Harney, it was just with banjo rather than piano. In late-1897 he came in to Columbia's studio just like usual, and there sat a different pianist than George Schweinfest. Who was it he found? Ah yes, Fred Hylands. He did not know him personally, but had heard mutters around of him. Upon first playing with him, Vess probably came up the stairs to the piano chair, and gate Hylands a hearty handshake. Something he probably wouldn't do to very many pianists. He was struck by Hylands' skill and rhythm in "Rag Time". By 1898, Ossman was coming into Columbia twice as more often than Berliner or Edison, because he and Hylands had the same musical mindset, as can be heard on this one by Ossman and Hylands from 1899 this is a later take of his own "A Bunch of Rags" it is the first selection on this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxErKt40ZQ4

Announced by Ossman. You can hear the ringing of the piano just after Ossman finishes. Very good collaborating, as Ossman could be a hard one to make decisions with when records were being made. He was particular about everything, and had to tune exactly between every take. Ossman was soon overtaken by the several other banjoists coming into the recording business by 1906, Fred Van Eps was taking his spot, Olly Oakley(who was considered the British Vess Ossman), and Fred Bacon. Fred Bacon is my absolute favourite Banjoist recorded in this time. 

That's Fred Bacon. 

Why is he my favourite? Well, hear him here and take a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZZhHXFC4Uo

Yes indeed. Bacon was an amazing banjoist who probably avoided all of those banjo competitions, because he probably would have won over Ossman, as his skills were very quick and smoothe. More so than Ossman's natural ability. Bacon was younger than Ossman, but he had the skills of no other. He only made a handful of records and only three of them were issued, so there's not much different things to listen to when you hear him, but what he left is amazing and still surprises me every time I hear it. He had perfected the banjo better than Ossman ever tried to. When I first heard him, I though I was listening to later Fred Van Eps, but come to find out that is was Fred Bacon, John Reed-Torres and I were blown away. I wish he made at least three more records that were issued. That would make for a little more variety. 

Back to Ossman. His popularity just went downhill from 1906 onward, all the way to 1917 when he was kicked out of the Eight Victor artists, as he can be seen here in 1917:

(from denvernightingale.com)

There he is with a great smile on his face...or just an interesting look. That's Vess Ossman alright. 

Yep. That's about right. 

He didn't live too much longer after he stopped recording in 1917. He moved out to Ohio to lead his own early Jazz/ Ragtime band where apparently arrangements he made for the band still exist somehow(thanks Craig Ventresco!). His son tried to carry on the tradition of the banjo fame, but he just couldn't keep up to it, not like Banta's brilliant son. After he died in 1923, be left a wife and four children(out of eight total!), the few who worked with him recalled him in varying ways. One of the most valuable accounts of Ossman is George N. Dudley's from the 40's. You can read the whole account Here.

Enjoy! 

Dudley was a very old man when he died, and he only worked with Ossman for four years of his 88 years of life, but how he recalled them... Four years dealing with Vess L. Ossman was enough to keep permanent memories. If only Banta or Hylands had lived longer to tell those tales. 

To close off, here are two Ossman Rag-Time rarities from 1903 and 1899:

https://ia800304.us.archive.org/17/items/FredVanEpsVessL.OssmanKingsOfTheRagtimeBanjo/03PeacefulHenry.ogg

https://ia802303.us.archive.org/10/items/VessLOssman/VessLOssman-WhistlingRufus.mp3

Well, Vess, we loved you well. I hope your many descendants admire your skill just as it should be. If only your pianists outlived you. 

I hope you enjoyed this!