(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...)
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:
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...)
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:
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:
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
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:
(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:
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:
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!)
Hylands is loud and clear when they get to the trio in F.
I hope you enjoyed this!
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