Since the UCSB website is working again, I will continue my post from yesterday evening. I meant to showcase these two records by the Peerless Orchestra yesterday:
here's "Ma Tiger Lily" by the Peerless Orchestra, 1900
It was also intended that I use their version of "Whistling Rufus" from 1899(with an introduction by Arthur Collins)
These are both very tasteful selections of Rag-Time chosen by Frank Banta. The renditions(there's two takes on the page!) of "Whistling Rufus" are especially fantastic, because of the very syncopated melodies paired with the straight march melodies of the song. That was something that the Columbia orchestra didn't do too often, as much as Banta did with the Edison orchestra. Also what I meant to share yesterday were a few more of Banta's and Collins' brown wax cylinders.
This first one is one that Len Spencer also recorded with Fred Hylands around the same time(if not in the same month or so!)and on the list of Columbia cylinders from my last post, you can actually see it listed.
Here's "All I Wants Is My Chickens", from late-1898(by Collins with Banta)
It's just about as good as Rag-Time on cylinders could get from pre-1900, and Banta's playing can be very well dissected on this one, more than usual. You can actually hear him hit a fifth on the last chord(which was something that was characteristic to his playing!), and you can actually hear all of those bass notes, more so than many brown wax Edison cylinders.
I would like to hear Spencer and Hylands' version of the song though, that would certainly make for a fascinating comparison. If anyone has the brown wax Columbia of "All I Wants Is My Chickens" by Len Spencer, comment on this post!(the catalog number is 7446).
This next Collins and Banta selection is a fantastically hot Rag number entitled "Lam Lam Lam", recorded in 1901*just a nerdy Rag-Time note, this song was written by Benjamin Jerome, the composer of the "A Bunch of Rags" medley in 1898, and it's not Ossman's!*.
Banta really plays his tail off on this one! Not every note is clearest, but you can certainly hear how he's playing everything! This is just about how hot Banta could get on Edison's piano, and all his musical traits are present. I have heard this record countless times, and am still hearing things I didn't hear before. Just as I'm writing this, I just noticed this audible deep note at about 2:05-06. Banta hits the deeper note of the octave first, then the higher note, almost like Hylands did on hundreds of Columbia records. There's so much to hear on this cylinder, and it takes a few listens to really get the gist of what Banta plays.
Meanwhile, at Columbia--- Collins began working there in 1901, starting with working with
Yes, that guy. Aside from working with Natus, Collins made some fantastic Rag-Time records with Fred Hylands, in 1901 and 1902.
It's when you can hear records like this one:
Collins singing Cole and Johnson's "My Castle on the Nile" in 1902
That's pretty wild for Hylands, but not the most he'd been before that. He did show off his style on this cylinder by playing lots of broken walking octaves. It's somewhat amazing really, the way Hylands plays on this one is nothing less of genius.
Hylands must have been showing off on the last one, like he usually did, but a little more so that usual on that one. In 1901-1903, Collins and Hylands did turn out some excellent Rag-Time records. There are one's like this from 1901.
Like this one,
and of course, this one.
There's not a way to choose which one if better than the others, as they're all perfect examples of genuine Rag-Time. Yes, I know, you get a white singer, and a white pianist, but you do get "Chicago Professor" playing Rag-Time freely as he would, with not much changed from his "very 1896" Rag style(if you know what I mean...). As I mentioned in my last post, I mentioned that Hylands also was at Leeds in 1903. In bringing Leeds back to the picture, you get records like this one, from 1903. Now this is a weird one. It's Collins with the "Leeds Orchestra", which could have composed of many known or unknown musicians. One thing is for sure, Hylands was their pianist. There is not a doubt that Hylands would have been dragged in to Leeds rather than Banta, only because Banta was leading the Metropolitan orchestra still in '03, and was still Edison's regular pianist. Having him work for Leeds would have been far too much work than he already bore. This Leeds record has a fantastic piano part, and for some odd reason, it's pretty much the loudest instrument in the whole ensemble(other than the flutes). That's one thing that also indicates Hylands on the piano, also because the tempo for the song and the sense of rhythm are far too good to be anyone like Banta or Albert Benzler(it couldn't be Benzler anyway, but he's an option because he was Banta's sub at Edison in 1903.) Columbia's house orchestra in this time was also a great source for Rag-time, as they turned out tunes like "Dixie Girl"(which you can hear here.)"Peaceful Henry", "Virginia Skedaddle", "HoneySuckle and the Bee"(you can hear it on a Climax record here!) and many more great Hylands arrangements.
Hylands led the orchestra every time they made recordings, no matter who it was who did the arrangement, as he's loud, pushy with tempo, demanding of attention. That could certainly he said with the record of "HoneySuckle and the Bee", as for some reason, they go into a little bit of a tango time section at the end, that had to be of the devising of Fred Hylands(because it's not in the written music!).
Now I meant to share this cylinder yesterday, and it's that cylinder with this piece on it:
Yep, that's it. I wish I owned a copy of the original sheet music, but I don't ,and I haven't any friends who might have it. Anyhow, enough explaining, here's Hylands' almost mess of arrangement of his own, self-published, "Darkey Volunteer(s)" recorded in mid-1898(excuse the home recording just after the music ends...).
There's so many weird things that went into the making of this piece of music, and the creation of this recording.
One: Hylands hadn't had the means to publish the tune until 6 months after he wrote it.
Two: He didn't have anyone who wanted to publish it, so in order to solve that problem, he had to do it all himself, EVERYTHING.
Three: He found that after he recorded this with Ossman in about July of 1898, he dedicated it to Ossman, as seen above^^
Four: He hand-wrote all the arrangement parts for all the members of the orchestra, and they must have just LOVED(sarcastically), having to read those...
It's a hell of an arrangement, and there's so much going on at the same time that it's hard to keep up with the amount of sounds that are going. But that's the beauty of Hylands and his music, it was all exquisitely tangled up in his mind, until he found a way to make it somewhat less perplexing to the musicians who had to read it. It's still very hard and strange music to read, and to listen to. That's Hylands for ya.
I'm not really sure it you'd consider "The Darker Volunteer" a Rag-Time piece, but it must have been considered that in its day, and perhaps by the composer himself, who hadn't a title(or a written score) of it until about a month after he had the idea sprouting. Banta was a little less scattered.
Banta was one who had his idea, and then got to writing it down the night after it came to mind, not letting it linger and somehow recollecting the melodies, after a multitude of harsh drinks. Banta had more music written out, and more arrangements full and ready for the musicians to read. They didn't always fall together so well with the Metropolitan orchestra, such as on this mess here. Yes, that record is pretty much the definition of the music falling apart, but it's still interesting, because if you're listening close enough, you can hear Banta count them off at the beginning, like he did so often. The problem with Banta leading an orchestra is that he was rushy, and pushed the rhythm sometimes, so that can be uncomfortable to some of the other band members. But minus the tangled up ones like "The Sleighing Party", there are also fantastic Rag/Cakewalk arrangements by Banta, such as his great and very "tight" arrangement of Kerry Mills' lesser known Cake-Walk "Impecunious Davis" recorded in 1901. That is an outstanding early recording of Rag-Time, enough said, Banta did well on that one.
Well, there's so many more great examples, but I would need to save them for other posts, as I've exhausted much of the material I know of off-the-top-of-my- head, more will come soon!
here's "Ma Tiger Lily" by the Peerless Orchestra, 1900
It was also intended that I use their version of "Whistling Rufus" from 1899(with an introduction by Arthur Collins)
These are both very tasteful selections of Rag-Time chosen by Frank Banta. The renditions(there's two takes on the page!) of "Whistling Rufus" are especially fantastic, because of the very syncopated melodies paired with the straight march melodies of the song. That was something that the Columbia orchestra didn't do too often, as much as Banta did with the Edison orchestra. Also what I meant to share yesterday were a few more of Banta's and Collins' brown wax cylinders.
This first one is one that Len Spencer also recorded with Fred Hylands around the same time(if not in the same month or so!)and on the list of Columbia cylinders from my last post, you can actually see it listed.
Here's "All I Wants Is My Chickens", from late-1898(by Collins with Banta)
It's just about as good as Rag-Time on cylinders could get from pre-1900, and Banta's playing can be very well dissected on this one, more than usual. You can actually hear him hit a fifth on the last chord(which was something that was characteristic to his playing!), and you can actually hear all of those bass notes, more so than many brown wax Edison cylinders.
I would like to hear Spencer and Hylands' version of the song though, that would certainly make for a fascinating comparison. If anyone has the brown wax Columbia of "All I Wants Is My Chickens" by Len Spencer, comment on this post!(the catalog number is 7446).
This next Collins and Banta selection is a fantastically hot Rag number entitled "Lam Lam Lam", recorded in 1901*just a nerdy Rag-Time note, this song was written by Benjamin Jerome, the composer of the "A Bunch of Rags" medley in 1898, and it's not Ossman's!*.
Banta really plays his tail off on this one! Not every note is clearest, but you can certainly hear how he's playing everything! This is just about how hot Banta could get on Edison's piano, and all his musical traits are present. I have heard this record countless times, and am still hearing things I didn't hear before. Just as I'm writing this, I just noticed this audible deep note at about 2:05-06. Banta hits the deeper note of the octave first, then the higher note, almost like Hylands did on hundreds of Columbia records. There's so much to hear on this cylinder, and it takes a few listens to really get the gist of what Banta plays.
Meanwhile, at Columbia--- Collins began working there in 1901, starting with working with
It's when you can hear records like this one:
Collins singing Cole and Johnson's "My Castle on the Nile" in 1902
That's pretty wild for Hylands, but not the most he'd been before that. He did show off his style on this cylinder by playing lots of broken walking octaves. It's somewhat amazing really, the way Hylands plays on this one is nothing less of genius.
Hylands must have been showing off on the last one, like he usually did, but a little more so that usual on that one. In 1901-1903, Collins and Hylands did turn out some excellent Rag-Time records. There are one's like this from 1901.
Like this one,
and of course, this one.
There's not a way to choose which one if better than the others, as they're all perfect examples of genuine Rag-Time. Yes, I know, you get a white singer, and a white pianist, but you do get "Chicago Professor" playing Rag-Time freely as he would, with not much changed from his "very 1896" Rag style(if you know what I mean...). As I mentioned in my last post, I mentioned that Hylands also was at Leeds in 1903. In bringing Leeds back to the picture, you get records like this one, from 1903. Now this is a weird one. It's Collins with the "Leeds Orchestra", which could have composed of many known or unknown musicians. One thing is for sure, Hylands was their pianist. There is not a doubt that Hylands would have been dragged in to Leeds rather than Banta, only because Banta was leading the Metropolitan orchestra still in '03, and was still Edison's regular pianist. Having him work for Leeds would have been far too much work than he already bore. This Leeds record has a fantastic piano part, and for some odd reason, it's pretty much the loudest instrument in the whole ensemble(other than the flutes). That's one thing that also indicates Hylands on the piano, also because the tempo for the song and the sense of rhythm are far too good to be anyone like Banta or Albert Benzler(it couldn't be Benzler anyway, but he's an option because he was Banta's sub at Edison in 1903.) Columbia's house orchestra in this time was also a great source for Rag-time, as they turned out tunes like "Dixie Girl"(which you can hear here.)"Peaceful Henry", "Virginia Skedaddle", "HoneySuckle and the Bee"(you can hear it on a Climax record here!) and many more great Hylands arrangements.
Hylands led the orchestra every time they made recordings, no matter who it was who did the arrangement, as he's loud, pushy with tempo, demanding of attention. That could certainly he said with the record of "HoneySuckle and the Bee", as for some reason, they go into a little bit of a tango time section at the end, that had to be of the devising of Fred Hylands(because it's not in the written music!).
Now I meant to share this cylinder yesterday, and it's that cylinder with this piece on it:
There's so many weird things that went into the making of this piece of music, and the creation of this recording.
One: Hylands hadn't had the means to publish the tune until 6 months after he wrote it.
Two: He didn't have anyone who wanted to publish it, so in order to solve that problem, he had to do it all himself, EVERYTHING.
Three: He found that after he recorded this with Ossman in about July of 1898, he dedicated it to Ossman, as seen above^^
Four: He hand-wrote all the arrangement parts for all the members of the orchestra, and they must have just LOVED(sarcastically), having to read those...
It's a hell of an arrangement, and there's so much going on at the same time that it's hard to keep up with the amount of sounds that are going. But that's the beauty of Hylands and his music, it was all exquisitely tangled up in his mind, until he found a way to make it somewhat less perplexing to the musicians who had to read it. It's still very hard and strange music to read, and to listen to. That's Hylands for ya.
I'm not really sure it you'd consider "The Darker Volunteer" a Rag-Time piece, but it must have been considered that in its day, and perhaps by the composer himself, who hadn't a title(or a written score) of it until about a month after he had the idea sprouting. Banta was a little less scattered.
Banta was one who had his idea, and then got to writing it down the night after it came to mind, not letting it linger and somehow recollecting the melodies, after a multitude of harsh drinks. Banta had more music written out, and more arrangements full and ready for the musicians to read. They didn't always fall together so well with the Metropolitan orchestra, such as on this mess here. Yes, that record is pretty much the definition of the music falling apart, but it's still interesting, because if you're listening close enough, you can hear Banta count them off at the beginning, like he did so often. The problem with Banta leading an orchestra is that he was rushy, and pushed the rhythm sometimes, so that can be uncomfortable to some of the other band members. But minus the tangled up ones like "The Sleighing Party", there are also fantastic Rag/Cakewalk arrangements by Banta, such as his great and very "tight" arrangement of Kerry Mills' lesser known Cake-Walk "Impecunious Davis" recorded in 1901. That is an outstanding early recording of Rag-Time, enough said, Banta did well on that one.
Well, there's so many more great examples, but I would need to save them for other posts, as I've exhausted much of the material I know of off-the-top-of-my- head, more will come soon!
I hope you enjoyed this!
Just a side note about "All I Wants is My Chickens." The song was published by the black vaudeville duo Deas and Wilson. Lawrence Deas went on to choreohraph Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along. James Wilson (AKA Jack the Bear Wilson) went on to win several ragtime piano contests around 1901 at Madison Square Garden (according some newspaper reports) and in 1916 was sentanced to 5 years in prison on a murder rap.
ReplyDeletewow! That's extraordinary! I didn't know any of that, and that's fascinating. I hope to see you in Santa Cruz later this month!
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