Mysteries of the Golden and Spencer trio

I have often wondered about the personnel of the Spencer and Golden trio, and many collectors I know have the same feelings about this unconfirmed subject. To many, it would seem impossible to really know who of Len Spencer and Billy Golden's friends were in this ever-changing group. I'm not entirely sure what the original personnel of this group was, but it was certainly started in 1896 by Billy Golden, as he can be heard on Berliner discs from 1896 announcing himself as, "...by Billy Golden of the Golden Trio." one of these announcements can be heard here(music starts at 0:30!).(who's that piano player! My god!)
The main reason why this group hasn't really been considered too often to collectors it because of how few records they made under this name. This group was essentially a smaller installment of "Len Spencer's Minstrels", and from many sections I have read before about Spencer's minstrels, it would seem that this group would perform at the shows, such as many of the ones mentioned in the 1899 issues of The Phonoscope, such as this one: 

That not only proves their usual mix of the "Spencer trio"(which usually was Spencer,  Billy Golden, and Roger Harding), but also that Vess Ossman was also involved in these performances. Was he in blackface? I haven't the least idea. Since this was a minstrel troupe, it's likely that this would be so.

 His handsome pale face done up with Burnt cork? Sure!(that's Ossman in 1898)

Spencer probably first devised this trio not long after Billy Golden started his "Golden Trio" in 1896. I do not really know who was in the "Golden Trio", but I could assume that this involved Billy Golden, Len Spencer, and maybe Billy Williams. Another question I have is, how did Spencer come across Billy Williams? hey certainly met in 1894, as that was when you could see Williams' name mentioned on the official personnel for "The Imperial Minstrels". Williams was an Aussie who came to the U.S. in the early-1890's and became a minstrel and general Vaudeville comic, and somehow, he got tangled up in the mix of "'Phone artists"(as George Gaskin once called it) around 1894. He probably first met Billy Golden, then came Len Spencer. It can be compared to how George W. Johnson got involved with this whole community. 

I have never heard the Golden trio, but I sure as heck have heard the Spencer trio. Here are a few example of them(all on Columbia's not surprisingly)

from 1898: http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8392/cusb-cyl8392d.mp3(no Len Spencer here for some reason) So the personnel on this odd minstrel obscurity is Steve Porter(who you hear in the announcement), Roger Harding, and Billy Golden, with their piano man Fred Hylands behind them in brief aid for their singing. Did you hear it? When Golden began his LOUD monologue, you can hear that horn with full effect! Just listen closely to Golden's spiel, it's too much for the long thin horn, which you can clearly hear on this cylinder, more than usual. One more thing about this fascinating minstrel cylinder is that the song at the end given the title "Who Built the Ark" is actually a variant on the popular black gospel song "Who Broke the Lock" (which later was revived by "Red" Allen). I would have a link here to the group Sam Cousins and Demoss version of this record, but it was taken off the Internet years ago, so I cannot share it here, but I will share the other one they made here. (better than all the white Rag-Time recorded in its day, period.)

Now back to the next example of the Spencer trio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ULZv-1ejsY

Now this is an interesting one. I hear more than three people here. I hear Len Spencer, Harry Spencer, George Gaskin, Pete LaMaire, and of course, their ivory man Freddy Hylands. Now this one seems that it was recorded in 1901(not 1900 dammit!). You may be able to notice that on the first song they sing, Hylands is making it Ragged all around! Also at the "Who Built the Ark"("Who broke the Lock") tune at the end! 

It's records like this that I really ponder on Hylands' playing style and might  with the Rag-Time. Why? Well, he's playing the most non-white type of music on this one, and really plays it with perfect and lazy rhythm, which is exactly what's needed for his style. Really take a close listen to his time choice at the end. 

Hylands had the means and background of a black pianist, but he was too much of a redheaded wasp to truly get it right. 

Now these Spencer trio records are fascinating records of 1890's minstrelsy, almost just a fascinating as the "Imperial Minstrels' records from the same time frame. It would be great though if we actually knew why Spencer constantly changed the personnel of this group, it may have been under his own opinions, or it was just an everyday thing where which ever of his friends in his minstrels showed up would be part of it. The second hypothesis is a little bit more likely though.

Now, to somewhat of stay on the same subject, I would like to go back to the record that I first put the link to on the post. I didn't really realize how much of a "Rag" the piano accompaniment sounded like. I haven't really spoken of the few Berliner's from 1896 that pre-date the 1897 beginning date for Rag-Time to some music historians. That Jan. 1896 record of "Roll On De Ground" by Golden is one of these records. They are really amazing in a multitude of ways, they represent vocal stylings and piano stylings you wouldn't think of hearing on such an early record. The fact that I have heard these two seemingly odd instances on Berliner's makes it even more weird. This is because the pianist at Berliner was Fred Gaisberg in 1894 to 1897. Another one of these records is this one here, by George Gaskin, also from 1896.

Really take a listen to the last chorus. 

It's syncopated just enough to where you can notice it.

Not only does the pianist syncopate slightly, so does Gaskin. How queer is that? Gaskin is the last one I would think of who would do such a thing to any lyrics, and it was recorded in 1896. John Reed-Torres pointed out this observation to me a few months ago, and I quickly took his work for it, and how it's true. 

Now to refer once again back to that first record link on this post, other that that record being itself and amazing example of early Billy Golden, and what a "Rag" would have sounded like back in 1896, it is an interesting one to compare with the later versions of the tune, also by Golden. 

Here is his 1903 Victor(with what sounds like Fred Hylands):

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200000717/B-377-Roll_on_the_ground

Here's his 1898 Columbia with Fred Hylands(in full Rag-Time):

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8436/cusb-cyl8436d.mp3

Interesting comparisons no doubt. It's like comparing Golden's numerous versions of "Turkey in the Straw" with the piano accompaniment. 

Well, Sorry about so much of the rather racist material this evening, I just had a curious spark for the Spencer trio and things related, and they all just happen to be on the subject of music and sketches that are not very socially acceptable nowadays. 

With all of this possibly controversial material, I hope you enjoyed this! 

Billy Heins, the long-lived minstrel

I realized this evening that I had never spoken at all about this man on this blog. He is a very mysterious and interesting character in the early recording business. My dear collector friend Craig Ventresco has a very clear affinity with Billy Heins' voice and singing style overall, which means that he has several of his relatively few records. He made only just a handful or so of Zon-O-phone's in 1900 and 1901, which as I have been told, are VERY uncommon to find anywhere. Here you can hear Heins singing "Strike up the Band" from 1901.

I kind of see why my friend Craig likes him so much. 

He started making records in 1899 where he can be heard on all of those minstrel brown wax cylinders that Edison put out at that time. The cast of these productions usually consisted of Arthur Collins, S. H. Dudley, Billy Williams(whom I don't know anything about unfortunately!), Harry MacDonough, and several more in the cast. Here are a few of these cylinders:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5222/cusb-cyl5222d.mp3

https://archive.org/details/JustOneGirlByBillyWilliamsAndS.H.Dudley1899

https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SRP-0202-22

(nice mispronouncing of "Potpourri" Collins!)

Collins was always an absolute riot on those 1899 minstrel cylinders! 

Anyhow, amid that mix of familiar voices, is that of Billy Heins. I cannot pick him out of the mix personally, and I don't really know of anyone who has done so yet. The only reason he is known to be there is because he was written to be there and remembered to be present at those sessions by artists who lived a long time. This is also because he made a few solos appertaining to the minstrel show process, with the overtures, dancing, and solo vocalists, in which Heins was one of. 

He stayed with Edison for only 1899, and resumed recording again for Zon-O-Phone in 1900 and into 1901. After that, he was dormant from recording for a few years, he returned to the studios in 1904, this time for the American record company. This company was the one who made those blue coloured records with the Indian smoking the peace pipe on the label, one of which is seen here:

They are certainly among the most beautiful labels that ever were made prior to 1910. And other than just appearing beautiful, they sounded fantastic too! 

So here is one of Heins' Blue American records, this one is called "Pepita Maguire" from 1904.

I have actually had the chance to hold and play a pristine copy of the exact record in the link above. Heins made a few blue American records, but not enough to be called a "regular" in their studio. I wouldn't really consider him a "regular" in any of the studios he worked at anyhow, as he didn't make enough records to really sustain work from a single company. He again remained dormant from recording for a few years after 1905, and this time, he didn't return until 1917. When he came back, he replaced Billy Golden's performance partner James Marlowe(who was probably about as old as Golden when he died in 1915). He made a handful of records with Golden from 1917 to 1921, which was toward the end of Golden's life interestingly enough. 

Here are two of these records, one is a cylinder, the other is a disc.

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5565/cusb-cyl5565d.mp3

https://archive.org/details/GoldenAndHeins-TowserIsDead

I just found out as I was doing this research on Heins this evening, that he was playing the banjo on all of those records he did with Golden! I didn't realize that, and it really makes sense, even if I had never known that he played the banjo. 

He completely disappeared after 1920. So to clear something up, I really don't know anything about Billy Heins other than the records he made, I just know that he was a minstrel man who just happened to play the banjo, and was taken in by someone at Edison in 1899. I don't know where he came from, or what he did other than recording(which may have been minstrel shows and vaudeville). He needs to be found out more, as he's pretty much completely obscure in the early recording business, even more so than Fred Hylands. 

To put his obscurity into perspective, Fred Hylands was at least mentioned as a popular pianist in the old recording artist books back from the 1970's and 1980's, not once was Billy Heins listed there.  That really says a whole lot about Heins. His lifespan is not really even confirmed, but he did live a very long time. His birth date is estimated as November 29, 1874, and he is believed to have died in July of 1971. Yes, he would have been 96 when he died. I can believe that somehow. As he wasn't a hardcore recording artist like Len Spencer or Vess Ossman, and it wouldn't seem that he was too popular all around as a performer. He did also manage to stay pretty "off the grid'' from all these wild recording stars as well, that in itself is amazing. He would have out-lived literally everyone he knew at the recording studio, and everyone he had heard of, but never really met(also, he outlived many of his friends' children!). That---is amazing. Here is a brief list of who he would have outlived:

Arthur Collins, Byron G. Harlan, Vess Ossman, Frank Banta(both Frank Bantas, Frank P. died in 1903, Frank E. died in 1968), Len Spencer, Billy Golden, Fred Van Eps(died in 1960), Fred Hylands, Harry MacDonough, Edward Favor, Billy Murray, George Gaskin, Steve Porter, Joe Belmont, Silas Leachman, Russell Hunting, Dan W. Quinn, Albert Campbell, Max Hoffman, etc, etc, etc.

Pretty extraordinary! I think it's a real pity that he was never interviewed later, as I'm sure he would have had the same amount of stories as Joe Belmont did. I still have yet to learn about Heins' life, and if anyone has any information, please comment on this post with information! 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

About Various things

I have certainly had an interesting week, at school and at my general record research. I have  noticed lots of little funny details on records I have heard many a time this week. This first one I would like to mention is one of those "Imperial minstrels" records led by this guy here:

 

Yep, Len Spencer. 

His records are always an adventure, whether they be his solo records with Fred Hylands or his fully planned out Minstrel productions. This one is one of his minstrel productions from the late 1890's, with all the crew together. Here you go with an untitled record by Spencer's Imperial Minstrels, from 1900.

Here's everyone involved(I can hear other than the Spencer's)on this record:

(Roger Harding)

Well, that's two of the singers(which there are more of on this cylinder) but we know some of the boys in the band as well. 

Did you hear it? There was this one yell just after the applause at the beginning! I heard this record for the first time this week and found that little thing absolutely hilarious. I'm not really sure who it might be, but it was certainly someone in the band. I really shows the size of their recording room as well, it's funny really, because it sounds so out-of-place. It could be Fred Hylands for all I know! It is a very messy cylinder, but at the end, you can really hear how much of a production it was. You can actually hear how many singers were involved and how many of the Columbia orchestra were involved. That in itself would mean well over 20 people in a single recording room. How did Spencer do it? I haven't the least idea. By 1900, these minstrel records that Columbia was releasing were very complicated and full. Which is quite far-fetched from the smaller ones he did in late-1897 and early 1898 with his close friends such as this one here, featuring Fred Hylands on the piano. He did get more people on his troupe by 1899, as that is the year that you can see all of the updates of "Spencer's Minstrels" performances in The Phonoscope, which by the middle of 1899, had quite a production of singers and performers, as can be heard on the first record mentioned on this post. 

For this next record, I would like to compare two records led by two different pianists. They are both the same title, but by different orchestras. 

This first one is by Banta's orchestra, which made a handful of records or so in 1895 and 1896 for a few companies, here you go with Frank P. Banta's orchestra's rendition of "Dancing in the Kitchen".

A few collectors have said that it may be Banta himself announcing the Banta's orchestra records, and it is quite possible. Personally, I believe in this notion. There's really nothing that counter-argues this theory. I think this very cylinder is the one that captures Banta's voice the best. If you compare this cylinder to the later Victor's where you can hear him counting the band off, you might be able to find a slight resemblance between the two examples. Here are two of those Victor's for a comparison:http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002301/Pre-matrix_B-3160-The_gridiron_march

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002300/Pre-matrix_B-3159-Ragged_William

I think it's funny that Banta counted off like this:

"One---two---one---two!"

That's not super common in ways of counting off a band. 

Now onto the other cylinder of "Dancing in the Kitchen". This next one can be led by one of three pianists:

Fred Gaisberg

George Schweinfest 

or 

Fred Hylands. 

Here is that cylinder.

I can't really tell personally. I just know that Len Spencer announces it and the announcement is the earlier installment of Columbia, as it has the "...of New York City" part of it at the end. This detail can indicate an age for the cylinder, which would mean any month of 1896 or every month of 1897 until November. That is a little confusing, and since the cylinder is played too fast, it doesn't help in giving an exact date to the cylinder based on the announcement. I do think that based on the time frame that this was probably recorded in, Fred Gaisberg or Schweinfest would be a better choice. The rhythm and prominence of the piano is what throws me off here, as it's almost Hylands-esque. However, the date possibility indicates a different pianist. It's not like this quiet cylinder here, where it's pretty obvious that Hylands in on the piano. It's mostly the announcements on Columbia cylinders that can either contradict the possible date or make dating it more confusing that it probably needs to be. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

More about Burt Shepard

A good young researcher posted a kind comment on this blog this evening, and I would like to fulfill his kind obliging by doing a post fully dedicated to the great Burt Shepard.

There he is, the comical genius himself, in c.1890-92

I don't know what the exact year of Burt Shepard's birth was, and no one does really, as when he was interviewed, he never stated, and he specifically didn't state it. To most scholars and geeks, he was born between the years of 1852 and 1854, and probably in the midwest somewhere(quite possibly in or near New Orleans even). It's hard to know with him, but he was certainly from the midwest. But where exactly, we may never know. I have the slight suspicion that he might be from New Orleans is because of the fact that it was there that he got his first performing job. In c.1873-74, he joined a New Orleans based minstrel troupe and stayed with them until 1878. In that year, he was off in a minstrel troupe in Philly. He performed in several minstrel shows from 1879 to the mid-1890's, and at one point in 1892, he began his own show for a season or two. He wasn't just one of the minstrels in blackface of the shows, he also performed as the pale-skinned middle-man of the show, moderating and setting up the jokes, much like Len Spencer did on all of those Imperial Minstrels records, from 1894-95 and again in 1896-1901. You can hear one of these here from 1898(with Len Spencer, Steve Porter, Roger Harding, and Fred Hylands). I can certainly see and hear Burt Shepard doing what Steve Porter did on those cylinders with Spencer. 

In 1897, he went on a long trek around the world, which started first with England, where he made a few of his first records. He then stated that he went to Australia, Paris, and South Africa. He did make a few records for Pathe(pronounced "Patt'e" by Shepard on one announcement I have heard!)when he was in France, as a few can be found in various places online. 
When he was back in the U.S. in 1900, he was making records for Victor. 
This is where most of his remembrance comes from, his Victors and few Zon-O-Phones. 
Perhaps one of his most discussed records is his monologue, "The Boy and the Cheese", which was numbered A-7 on the Victor label. It was his first record, and it has been debated to being the first Victor commercially released. It has been debated, because for years, it was believed that Dan Quinn's Victor A-9 "Strike Up the Band" was the one, but later this place in Victor History went to Shepard's "The Boy and the Cheese". After he made this record, which sold reasonably well for a while, he was a "regular" in the studio. 
He was a favourite with all the studio workers, and he was a real riot to see in general. He was always said to be a jolly man with a slightly crude sense of humor, who wouldn't seem that way when first seeing him. He took on some really fun songs, that really suited his personality very well. 
Here are a few good ones:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002633/Pre-matrix_B-3490-Other_things_too_numerous_to_mention
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002642/Pre-matrix_B-3499-It_was_beautiful
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200002948/B-1652-The_robin
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000001155/Pre-matrix_B-1692-Thats_where_she_sits_all_day
https://ia600308.us.archive.org/23/items/BurtShepard/BurtShepard-Smoke.mp3

I know I already did a whole bunch of comments about Shepard's record of "The Robin", but I just cannot get over how he pronounces certain things and how midwestern his dialect sounds. In many ways, he really sounds quite a lot like Byron G. Harlan, and Harlan was from Kansas and Iowa. If only Shepard stated any hints as to where he might be from! It really is pretty much impossible to know where he came from with him not saying where he was from. Who knows why he didn't state this? That, we will also never know. 

Anyhow, he remained in the recording business until 1906 in America, and went off to England in 1908 up until the year of his death, in 1913. It's ironic, Shepard died in England the same year that Fred Hylands did, and for all I know, they may have run into each other! I am not really sure of what Shepard died of exactly, but it must have been tied in somewhat with his weight. Fred Gaisberg recollected quite a lot about Shepard, as he came into the Berliner London studio quite a lot in 1898 and 1899, he recalled Shepard being a real sight to witness when he made records, as a fat and jolly man with a great sense of humor. It would seem that Gaisberg would have heard of Shepard's death, as well as the early Victor executives that were left in 1913, and mourned him, just as all the Edison staff did with Frank P. Banta back in 1903. Shepard's records are highly prized to collectors nowadays and go for hefty prices when they surface. I haven't any myself, but I know collectors who have dozens of them, just like Silas Leachman's records as well. 

I hope this helped out the kind student who commented on my last Burt Shepard post! I hope you enjoyed this! 

Recent Observations and Ramblings

This has been an interesting week already, and it's only Wednesday! I have done a whole lot of thinking this week about Fred Hylands' music and playing style. I already do this very often, but I have had the interesting new finding of this piece to keep me wondering:

It's a very interesting piece of music and if just looking at it at a glance, one could potentially miss this thing here:

Fred. Hylands. Hmm, that's interesting.  It's odd to think that he was already doing arrangements and playing around the Milwaukee area, by 1896 that is. Oh! That's another thing about this piece of music is the publishing location, which can be seen here:

Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Wow, that's queer. My first question about the publishing location was; what was Hylands doing there? That really confused me. I have always thought(as long as I have known of Hylands) that he lived in Chicago from 1893 to early 1896, and moved straight to New York from there. I guess that isn't so. He must have been living in Milwaukee temporarily in 1896 before he moved off to New York in mid-1896. Somehow, this notion that he lived in Milwaukee doesn't really surprise me too much, as this city isn't very far away from Chicago. He really did travel quite a lot for a studio pianist and pretty heavy set chap, just in general, not in the 1890's specifically. Other than the publishing location, the actual arrangement is fascinating, certainly some thing that Trebor Tichenor would take a fondness for. There is actually some syncopation in there! And even Ragged lyrics!(Take a look to see it)  This proves my point of saying that Rag-Time became a popularized part of the musical vernacular in 1896, not 1897. This not only proves that point, it proves also that Hylands was playing Ragged music before his time at Columbia, I just need to find another piece by Hylands that's older, which might be buried in a sheet music collection somewhere. By how convoluted and ragged Hylands' playing was in 1897 and 1898, I just knew that he was an early specimen to catch on to the Rag-Time trend, by early, I mean 1893 and 1894. 

Heh, Hylands was arranging "Rags" at the same time as  this guy:

"Baron" Adolf Eugene Victor Maximilian Hoffmann.

Or just Max. Hoffman for short. 

Hoffman was arranging these so-called "rags" by 1896 just as Hylands was, but in two different places. Hoffman in New York, Hylands in Milwaukee and Chicago. Hoffman was a highly classically trained pianist without a doubt, as he was born in Poland(or was it Germany? I can't really recollect as of now, but it's probably Poland) two years after Hylands, in 1874. Who knows how he got into the Rag-Time fad. He obviously caught the bug early on, but how he did, must have had something to do with Ben Harney, just like Mike Bernard. He caught on quick, and must have also heard Hylands play too, as by 1897, Hylands was all over the place in New York, playing at the highest class of stages, to the stomachs of the saloons. Much of what Hoffman's Rag medleys sounded like were the Ragged styles of Hylands, Ben Harney, Burt Green, and Ernest Hogan(composer of "La Pas Ma La" and "All Coons Look Alike to Me").

You can hear the two biggest hits of his here.

His first one from 1897 "Rag Medley"(the present day fad)

Here is his less famous one  from 1898 "Ragtown Rags"

I swear, I hear lots of Ben Harney and Fred Hylands in there! It's so odd. John Reed-Torres first pointed out to me a while back that Hylands' solo at the end of this cylinder here, sounds an awful lot like the syncopation which makes up a majority of the medleys above. Since this is true, there is very little of a possibility that a classically trained Polish immigrant could play exactly the way that he heard the mid-western piano fiends play, he just happened to be better at notating the way they played better than the masters themselves. Not that the other "Rag" pianists he worked alongside weren't very proficient in notating music, Hoffman was just much more traditionally trained than Harney or Hylands. 

Another record that I should have mentioned to John was this one here from 1898. This is probably the best example of Hylands' very ragged and mid-western "Rag" style, with all the things that he did that distinguished him. It's either this cylinder, or it's Hylands and Spencer's "Whistling Rufus", from the year after the one in the link. If Hoffman's intent was to imitate Harney and Hylands' styles, he must have been at a loss of how to notate the broken octaves in their left hands. Both of them had this feature in their playing(it's only obvious speculation with Harney though...), as it must not have been something easy to attempt to write down, considering how music was written in that time period. Combining this feature with highly syncopated patterns full of rests must not have been an easy venture for any arranger at that time. Not even the masters of this art could really do it very well, Harney said he was at a loss of how to write down his syncopated ideas in the mid-1890's, and I'm sure Hylands had the same issue. 

If Hylands wrote out his music the way that he would have actually played it, it would be very hard to read, as there would be dotted notes everywhere to indicate lagging time, broken walking octaves all over the place in the left hand, single-noted trills in syncopated patterns, tenths everywhere(in both hands!), and Gottschalk-like trills! 

That would really be a pain to try to read. So just stick to listening to the records for all of these things. Transcribing this music is important, but it is not and easy task.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Hylands, his stage partners, and other things

It's been a while since I have been able to use this odd picture. 

I still think it's comical and queer, just as I did when I found it. 

I was looking through one of the many sheet music websites I use as sources for many of these great picture I use on this blog, and I found a small picture of someone that I recognize:

Hmm, I think I know him from another piece of sheet music...

Yep, that's Hylands' last vaudeville partner, as seen in the first picture above with Hylands. This picture is a good 7 years older that the other one, but it's still the same guy, before he got entangled with Hylands. Now, I don't really know anything about him, but I do know that he was three years younger than Hylands and that he came from Kentucky, also that he was a popular singer and minstrel man. That's about it, I don't really know anything else about him. 

He was one of the few who went on that tour in England with Hylands though, so he saw him in his last days. He can be found listed with Hylands here:

Hylands is listed first, as deceased, probably at the explanation of Marie. 

This was the log of the passengers aboard the ship that they came back on from England. 

It was so sudden, Hylands just croaked quick while they were over there. The small troupe that came along with them were planning on staying over in England for two years, but how that was severed short. They were all forced to come back to the US after only three months or so of traveling around, and as I know now, Marie was broken by this. I do think it's interesting that she and the others of the troupe did a few more shows after Fred passed before they came back to America. That was either a little bit hard to configure or it was hard for them to even get through with. 

Enough of Hylands' death(it gets me all blue!), I found a piece of music just after I began this post that Hylands arranged back in 1896. I had only found his "Narcissus  Gavotte" from 1897 his oldest piece, but now that I did a little digging on the LOC website, I found this here:

http://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100006481/

I wish they had it digitized just as much as you probably do. It really got me frustrated, because who knows what it says on the cover about Hylands! It would certainly have all the usual things on the cover just like any piece of sheet music from 1896, but it could label him something "Rag" related for all I know! It will certainly say he is the arranger, and if we ever get to see the music, it will unlock many things about his pre-1897 piano style. I really want to see it, and if any of you can help me do that, it would be wholly appreciated! 

I do have the feeling that Hylands may have been mentioned on some Chicago sheet music from the mid-1890's, just like Silas Leachman was, and W. H. Krell. Someone like Trebor Tichenor would probably get stuck on this also, as he did particularly know Hylands too well, but he had certainly been aware of him, and his relatively few Rag-Time compositions. 

Since I found a picture of Burt Green, I can finally put him and Hylands together, and picture them together reasonably well, at least better than before. 

These two must have been really something to see together. I can see that Burt Green had some interesting hair, and wasn't very tall. That's quite a contrast to Hylands' 250 pound weight and 6 feet of height. It's similar to the contrast between Ben Harney and Hylands, Harney was about 5 foot eight, and had the perfect build for an athletic dancer, whereas Hylands was almost near a freak compared to Harney. It wasn't this way with Len Spencer though. When Hylands was with Spencer, it seemed as though it was meant to be that way. Having roots in neighboring states, Spencer and Hylands were both hicks at heart and had the same love for music, the kind that had broken time that is. I have yet to know how the two met first, but it may have just been a studio encounter, or something more unexpected. 

However they first decided to be recorded together, their records were great nonetheless, and are among the best examples of recorded Rag-Time prior to 1900, both vocally and musically. Such as this one here from 1899(the music starts at 6:00!).

Proves the point enough. I cannot get over his playing on the one in the link above! It's such a perfect example of Indiana Rag-Time, and vaudeville piano as well. 

This final thing I would like to speak of is a record that I have plucked through on this blog before, but would like to bring back. It is that record where you can hear Hylands singing among the crowd of brass players and sound effects. There are many cylinders from 1898-1903 where you can hear the boys in the band yelling and clapping, but there are few where you can hear them all sing. When they cheer, it's harder to pick out single voices, but when they sing, you can easily pick out more voices. Here is that record from 1898.

Did you hear it? There's this one voice that really sticks out when they all sing at the end, and I have a notion that this voice is probably you know who(Hylands). There are several pieces of evidence I have to back up my theory here:
1. Hylands would be the only one who would be able to sing while he played his instrument, other than Harry Spencer and maybe a few more engineers.

2. Hylands did in fact sing, and since he did, considering his build other obvious feature of him, he would have been a baritone, and that is the range of the one voice that sticks out here
3. The volume at which the one voice is would indicate being about the length away from the horn that the pianist would be, and it slightly indicates the height of the piano chair as well, if your ears are good enough to notice

4. I hear a slight dialect in the voice as well, which would indicate one of only two people in that studio I am certain are present

5. Only Tom Clark would be doing the calls, and playing coronet, so he can't be singing at the end

I have more ideas on this theory, but I don't need to list all of them, as I think I got the point across with these few ideas. I hope you can hear that voice I'm referring to! It's still a fun record nonetheless. This record is similar to this one here, recorded also in 1898. This record is played too fast though, so the cheering and yelling does not sound the same as the last one. This one is much more wild though, by the whole "Commence firing!" thing goes. Hylands hits the piano keys fiercely(probably with his elbow) and everyone else is swinging those wooden things that make a big Click! when you swing them around in a circle, and yelling and etc. Those "descriptive selections" were really fun things to do I bet, which makes them so fun to listen to.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Things Found in "Variety" and other similarities

Within the last few days, I have been searching through editions of Variety magazine for general information about any people I might know. One thing that I found a whole lot of was Burt Green and Irene Franklin. More particularly Irene Franklin, but in most of the things about them I saw, he was mentioned at some point. I also have been looking for anything on the Hylands' mentioned somewhere. They are indeed mentioned, but I haven't found too much yet. I have found many of the people that Hylands worked for, or knew very well. I did find this:

Hmm, that's interesting. I found this in the October 14, 1915 issue of Variety, rather than a date closer to his death. I think she remarried in 1916, or was it 1917? I don't really remember, but it must have been a few years after Fred died. I have always wondered what Fred and Marie's marriage must have been like, whether it was filled with love and attentiveness, or had love, but was not clear upon first seeing them. It's hard to know, but clearly Marie must have missed him after he died, and probably wore black as customary the year after he died. I always have thought that Fred and Marie's marriage was a very convenient one, as they were both stage performers who just happen to live in the same area when they met, and found each other good enough for one another to run off together.  I have no idea really, but I would like to assume that their marriage involved lots of booze, love, fights, adventures, and performances. 
Another marriage that was full of love I have read a whole lot about lately is these two here:

Yes indeed! That's Burt Green, Irene Franklin, and the older of their two daughters. Well, that's Burton Green folks. At last! I finally found a picture of him(that unfortunately could be a better picture!). 

There he is. Now this is one of those times where I wish I had photoshop. I would do so much to fix the lighting of this picture, because, as you can see that can be an issue here. I really want to sketch Burt Green, but I need to make this picture look better for me to get to it more precisely. It seems that from this picture, Burt and Irene's first daughter was about three or four years old in 1912. That would make her born in 1908 or 1909, the year after they supposedly married(which as in 1907). It's so odd, Burt Green looks like a shorter version of Len Spencer in a lot of ways, from what I can see of him. I could definitely see him and Fred Hylands being friends and publishing partners. I'm pretty sure that he was better off as a person and partner when he married Irene. That first wife of his must have been holding him down. He did seem to have lived more fully with Irene and his two daughters. 
From what I have found, Burt and Irene were everywhere, touring in all the theaters possible in every state, and eventually going off to France and England too. They were also a very revolutionary stage couple, as they were the first act to have an official advertisement on a magazine cover, and here it that very cover:

My god! How that gets the point across! Now mind you, this was the first of its kind, paid advertisements on magazine covers were experimental in the 1910's, and this one is the very first one. Burt and Irene were really the most popular couple in vaudeville from 1908 to 1918, and nothing could stop their popularity and praise. Burt could never have gotten the amount of attention he got with Irene than if he stayed with his first wife, he would only be as popular as his friend Fred Hylands(who could have been more popular on the stage). They made a handful of records together as well, two Edison cylinders in 1912, and four sides for Columbia in 1915. I really want to hear their Columbias! I will certainly look out for the only two sides they did, which are conveniently on a single two sided Columbia, so if I see one side, I sure as heck got the other one too. Burt and Irene were having too much fun on their recordings, that Burt messes up lots of notes and plays all sorts of funny melodies alluding to other things. You can really tell they were madly in love, and it lasted up to the day that Burt died. 

In further geeky studies from these last few days, I have found a few more interesting new records from the Santa Barbara website. This first one is by an artist I only mention here and there:

S. H. Dudley!
Here you go with Dudley and Banta's rendition of the 1896 hit "Chin Chin Chinaman" from c.1897.
What a comical record! It has all of Dudley's specialties put into one, his dialect skills, and his signature whistling. But how could I forget Banta's playing! It's wonderful! It's quick, comical and very fun.
These next few records are not from the Santa Barbara website, but they're Bob Roberts records. 
Now I think I have spoken of Bob Roberts' records briefly before.

There he is, in c.1903. Roberts was not particularly a popular artist when he began in 1902 and 1903, but by 1904, he was up there with the most popular artists like Arthur Collins and Billy Murray, which is really saying something. One thing that is interesting about his first three years making records is the piano accompaniment on most of his early records. It's pretty much always Fred Hylands. They must have proved to be a very good duo, both musically and personally. 
He made a large batch of 7-inch Columbia's in 1903 and 1904, all with the accompaniment of Fred Hylands. Here are some of them, all with wonderful accompaniments!
https://ia802704.us.archive.org/35/items/BobRoberts/BobRoberts-IveGotaFeelingforYouCoonSong.mp3
https://ia802704.us.archive.org/35/items/BobRoberts/BobRoberts-Alexander.mp3
https://ia802704.us.archive.org/35/items/BobRoberts/BobRoberts-BackBackBacktoBaltimore.mp3
https://ia802704.us.archive.org/35/items/BobRoberts/BobRoberts-BytheWatermelonVineCoonSong.mp3
I cannot get enough of Hylands' playing on these! He's so wonderful!
These later records are, in my opinion, the best examples of Hylands' playing overall, the earliest brown waxes of his may have gotten more syncopation and rhythm, but these get all his dynamics and power on the piano. 

I will still continue to look through Variety for more information about all those performers I know of, especially for the name Hylands.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

The Genius of Hylands' playing and other ramblings

I meant to do a post last evening, but there was a big failure with the electricity and the Internet yesterday. Other than listening to a healthy dose of early Jazz lately, I have listened to a lot of  Fred Hylands accompaniments closely, and I have noticed some things I haven't really thought about before. One thing that I kind of had a slight idea of before was the fact that Hylands didn't just play the traditional Rag-Time chord and octave or note left hand, he played things over the syncopated right hand that are indirectly related to the style of boogie-woogie. Yes indeed, some boogie players may challenge this notion to death, but I find an indirect relationship between these two seemingly completely different styles of piano. 

This idea of Hylands playing two completely different things at once is the work of a true genius no doubt, and it seems that even when the man was drunk he could still do this! Two perfect examples of this are here:

one from 1898.

And one from 1902.

The two records in the links above are extraordinary examples of Rag-Time from pre 1904. The second one is especially amazing, because Hylands is much easier to hear than on the first one. I have tried many a time to play the weird thing that he plays in the choruses behind Collins, it's a mixture of walking octaves in a specific melodic pattern, and a slightly blues-y right hand pattern. It's really a hard one to dissect, and just to try to play in general. 

I know of another very good example of Hylands' "two-sided" accompaniments(as I call them now), which is a Climax record from 1901 entitled "Baby Mine(Sand Dance)" by S. H. Dudley(which I should ask the friend of mine who owns the record for a transfer!) where as I recall now, he plays a bunch of chromatic patterns under the melody of the song, and even at the "Sand Dance'' part of it where Dudley does his signature whistling chorus.I just know that it is in the same format as this record here. 

It is a different song, but done in the same sort of sequence, as are most of Dudley's solo records. 

In my post a few days ago, about the sheet music thing, I meant to point out a few pieces of music with J. W. Myers on them, and how great the pictures are! I found these two pictures on two pieces of music both dated 1894:

Now I know for a fact that the first picture of Myers is older than 1894. It just looks quite a few years older than 1894, also because of how different his hair is, and collar and tie as well. He looks very young as well you may notice. So if I were to give a date to these two pictures of Myers, the first one is from c.1889 and the second one is from around 1893-94. The unusual thing about the first picture is that you can really see how bright his eyes were, in most of the other pictures of him, his eyes looked very dark, but not at all in that one. They look more blue or green than brown as one can be at first be misled to believe. It would make sense that Myers was photographed so early on in his career as the late-1880's, as he was already gaining stage fame by 1888, and by 1890 was a big star as far as the solo baritone singers went. 
It's not surprising, because of this picture here:

Yep, Len Spencer in 1889-1890. That's always a picture that interests me. It does for several reasons:
1: that look in his eyes!
2: His weird looking tie
3: his old-styled 1880's looking coat and collar(that particularly gives the date away better)
4: the fact that he still looks like a college student
5: and his hair!
I'm not really sure if this picture came from a record catalog, or was ever used for one, but it's very unlikely. I always see this picture and think about Spencer when he made those early records back in 1889 with setting five phonographs atop a crappy old upright with him singing to his own accompaniment. I known of a few of  his records from 1891 and 1892 under pseudonyms that still exist, but I have heard only one of them. 
Since I have been listening to quite a few Spencer and Ossman records this evening, I wonder now, did Ossman ever have the time to travel around with Spencer's minstrels? Or just maybe come as a guest artist? It's very possible, but since Ossman was so busy, I thought of this with speculation. Though, Spencer's minstrels toured extensively in late 1899 and early 1900. I just wonder about this because Spencer first teamed with Ossman in late-1896 and began recording with him in 1897, with records such as this one.
A collector friend of mine owns all of Spencer and Ossman's Victors, and when I was visiting the man's house last, I dug them all out and listened to them closely. Spencer must have enjoyed Ossman's playing, since he teamed with him so many times between 1897 and 1906, even though he had his musical affair with his piano man Fred Hylands in that exact time frame. 

I hope you enjoyed this!