I have spoken of Frank P. Banta and Fred Hylands very much on this blog, and I have done some recent digging and found some more interesting information on the pianists who worked alongside Banta and Hylands. There wasn't just one pianist for all the performers at the record companies, as they would be too much work for one person, but it almost worked this way. The one pianist I learned about recently is a questionable one. His name was Fred Bachman. And he can be seen in this picture here:
More specifically, here:
He's the guy right behind George W. Johnson.
I didn't realize that this Fred Bachman fellow was listed in the picture as a pianist, I thought that Banta was the only pianist in the picture, but hearing of Benzler, and then Bachman got me wondering. Well, it seems from this picture that Edison's company had three pianists on staff in 1900, which is very odd to me. I always thought each company had two pianists, not three. I do know who Victor's three pianists were, and luckily they were popular pianists who worked for several companies(they were Frank P. Banta, Hylands, and C. H. H. Booth by the way). Who was Fred Bachman? Well, I know he was Edison's house pianist, of three. He was probably the most uncommon to hear on their records than Banta and Benzler. I would love to share examples of all three of their playing, but I only know two of their styles. Here is Banta's:
Here is Benzler imitating Banta in 1905:
I would love to have an example of Fred Bachman's playing, but I'm unsure as to what records he could be on. Banta and Benzler are pretty easy to tell apart, as it's mostly in their sense of rhythm that distinguished them. Banta had fantastic(not near perfect though) time, but Benzler clung to his classical training more than Banta and did not have very good time, or well, it was jolty. It was the same with Berliner discs, minus the fact that the dates for each pianist's term are very clearly stated and there is no big debates needed about who the pianist is. Victor's are really the problem. Edison's own catalog said in 1904 that Banta was on over half of the records they had ever made from 1895 to the day of his death. The Victors made from 1900 to 1904 are really where the pianist problem lies. The only thing that really sets them apart is that some of the accompaniments on the Victor's are exactly the same as other's on Columbia's or Edison's, so it makes Hylands or Banta easier to distinguish, and if you hear counting off that the beginning, that's Banta. They did not cling to certain artists, by this I mean that tey didn't only play behind specific artists, like the fact that it's pretty clear that they alternated behind Silas Leachman, as well as Vess Ossman. Though, I do think there was an exception with this artist clinging, now that I hear it, I think Hylands stuck with accompanying Billy Golden, which if you think about it, is not really surprising.
One of these Billy Golden/Hylands Victors can be heard here.
That record in the link above is a very curious record to me, as I know it's Hylands behind him for sure, but he's doing trills that sound like Mike Bernard's trademark style. That's weird. But then again, Hylands was a friend of Bernard's and heard him very much prior to 1900.
I jut wish I could know something more about Fred Bachman! If anyone has any information on Edison's pianist Fred Bachman, please comment here! All comments will be read and quickly replied to!
I hope you enjoyed this!
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