Fra
Yes indeed, Frank P. Banta, the pianist of Edison who worked himself to death.
Banta, much like the other early studio pianists, is a very mysterious character as far as the early recording stars go, as his personality is questionable, and his background is also one that has briefly been challenged. The things that his son said in the 1940's are only what a four to eight-year-old recalled, and also what his polite father did, who also wasn't home too much to see his two children. Him being quiet and passive seems somewhat accurate, as there were never any reports of complaints from him, and he continued to work for Edison and Victor until the week that he died. As my friend Ryan Wishner and I discussed last evening, it's hard to know what Banta was really like, though I am convinced by the "introverted" personality he has long been described to have had. I have the feeling that he might have been extremely complicated however, but not in the way of being broken and frustrated at one time, and another time being wild and drunk(that sounds a little more like Fred Hylands!).He must have been complicated in a sort of quiet way, not constantly spreading about his troubles, and demanding for things. He would probably be staring off in the distance often, deep in thought between takes, and would have to be snapped or hollered at to get his attention fully. He would probably work even after the recording days, as he wanted to get work done, other than that he did in the studio.
Now to refer to the title of this post. I noticed in one of my sources researching a little bit on Banta recently(on Professor Bill Edwards' site) that an ad from 1892 suggested Banta to be a "Professor"(and for those of you Rag-Time nerds out there, you know exactly what that means, if not entirely sure of it, it would refer sometimes to a brothel pianist or rough saloon pianist). Reading that struck me, because that connotation being attached to Banta's name is something that could mean a few different things, other than the two things I just listed, and that it was so early on in the era of popular vaudeville accompanists, it is odd. Banta was regarded as the more "proper" of the studio pianists of the 1890's, as he was very well trained(at least said to be by others, not really from his own words... hmm...), also that he was calmly-tempered, and that he was an exceptional bandleader. The title of "Professor'' would not usually be associated by me with Banta, it would more than likely be associated with Fred Hylands. That's, if you're referring to the connotation of brothel pianist with the term. Hylands would(and could be to many) be considered as a "Chicago Professor". Why? Well, Hylands got his start playing on his own in Chicago, wandering around, and playing at saloons, small vaudeville houses, and yes, brothels. This is why he was so loud, and also why his style was so much like that of the style that some described by those who went to Chicago in the years after the World' Fair in 1893. It's a very distinct style that can be heard the best on any record of any sort of "coon song" on the Columbia label from 1898-1904.
Banta was able to play Rag-Time just as wildly as Fred Hylands, even if he wasn't really known for doing so. He probably thought doing that used too much energy for a single take, as there were plenty more takes from other singers he had to do, saving his energy for all takes was his strategy. Even with all of this supposed "culture" from Banta's playing, he was still able play things like this here. Or like these two here:
https://ia902605.us.archive.org/27/items/GoWayBackAndSitDownByWillF.Denny1901/GoWayBackAndSitDown1901_64kb.mp3
https://ia802503.us.archive.org/33/items/WillFDenny/WillFDenny-AintDataShame.mp3
These cylinders back up the "professor" title somewhat, especially the last one listed. It is odd, Banta played "Ain't Dat a Shame" very well and Ragged, more so than expected, but it's not nearly the same as Hylands' version.
Here's Hylands' with Bob Roberts.
Hear! The differences are so obvious, and are great in their own ways. Banta could get pretty ragged sometimes, not on every record he's playing Rag-Time, but on many of them. He starts off pretty tame, and plays some ragged sections here and there, until toward the second verse, he begins to get wild and all over the place, almost speeding ahead of the singer. This sequence is very much so on his takes with Silas Leachman playing Ben Harney's "Mr. Johnson Turn Me Loose". He plays exactly how I described the sequence.
Another thing about Banta, is that he probably also heard Ben Harney play onstage in the mid-1890's, just as Hylands did, and was inspired even more to play syncopated cake-walks and "coon songs", as even when he can be heard playing one of Harney's songs, you can hear the inspiration. I thought for a long time that it was Hylands on the takes of "Mister Johnson" by Leachman, but come to find out that the wild and shaky Rag-Time playing was by the supposedly "more proper" Frank P. Banta. One thing Banta could never get right about playing Rag-Time was keeping a steady tempo throughout. You can hear on many records that he was on that he could keep a moderate cake-walk tempo at first, but by the last part of the record, the speed would be much faster(and NO! It's not just because of running out of time on the records!).
Another thing that gives away the title of "Professor" for Banta is the fact that he played fifths in his left hand octaves. That is very strange to me. That was a characteristic of mid-western/southern rag players, and Banta was from New York. Hmm... I think he was in Chicago at one point, so that might be a clue. Here is one example of Banta playing quite a lot of fifths:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002497/Pre-matrix_B-3354-I_need_the_money
It's very weird that he did that, because that is something that could be expected from Hylands' playing more than Banta's. I haven't heard Hylands play that too much in his left hand, but he had the just as interesting and queer habit of playing walking octaves. Hylands had the best sense of rhythm of all the early house pianists, Banta comes second, if not last or the same as the others. It sounds slightly biased I know, but Hylands really was his own category of weird when it comes to the early house pianists. Banta was kind of the same way, but he had the same sense of rhythm that Fred Bachmann, Gaisberg, Christopher Booth, and Albert Benzler had(though Benzler's rhythm was worse than the others somewhat...).
I still don't understand where Banta playing fifths came from. It was obviously part of his playing style, but I don't know where it could have come from, it might be from how he just learned to play the piano. Doing that might have been a habit he never got rid of that he had since the beginning of playing. It certainly wouldn't be something that a piano teacher in the 1870's would approve of at all. I would imagine that a piano teacher of Banta's probably would have hit his hands in anger at seeing that he had the habit of playing fifths in octaves. Banta also played broken octaves in the right hand sometimes, which must have been an imitation of Hylands, as there's not a doubt in my mind that they had both heard each other play, either on records, or at shows. Banta tried to imitate Hylands' "boogie" sounding style by playing broken octaves in the right hand and pairing that with slightly syncopated chords in the left hand, to give the effect that Hylands' broken octaves had. He probably couldn't get how that was done, or thought it was too frivolous. You can hear a great example of this at around 2:02-2:03 on this record here. I believe that there was also another example of this on one of the cylinder by Will F. Denny toward the beginning of this post as well.
It's also funny that Dan Quinn called Hylands "Professor'' on a few occasions, which must have made him smile from the piano, you a hear that here(it's transferred too fast though...). Now that's accurate for a thousand reasons! Hylands is also pretty drunk on this one also(hear him having way too much fun laughing from the piano chair!). Quinn also called Banta that on some records, in fact, since Quinn preferred having Banta as his pianist, he must have meant the more respectable connotation of the term for Banta. With Hylands, he probably meant the opposite, even though Hylands probably thought of it either way. Hylands was a freak, Banta was a more moderate version of that.
Now to refer to the title of this post. I noticed in one of my sources researching a little bit on Banta recently(on Professor Bill Edwards' site) that an ad from 1892 suggested Banta to be a "Professor"(and for those of you Rag-Time nerds out there, you know exactly what that means, if not entirely sure of it, it would refer sometimes to a brothel pianist or rough saloon pianist). Reading that struck me, because that connotation being attached to Banta's name is something that could mean a few different things, other than the two things I just listed, and that it was so early on in the era of popular vaudeville accompanists, it is odd. Banta was regarded as the more "proper" of the studio pianists of the 1890's, as he was very well trained(at least said to be by others, not really from his own words... hmm...), also that he was calmly-tempered, and that he was an exceptional bandleader. The title of "Professor'' would not usually be associated by me with Banta, it would more than likely be associated with Fred Hylands. That's, if you're referring to the connotation of brothel pianist with the term. Hylands would(and could be to many) be considered as a "Chicago Professor". Why? Well, Hylands got his start playing on his own in Chicago, wandering around, and playing at saloons, small vaudeville houses, and yes, brothels. This is why he was so loud, and also why his style was so much like that of the style that some described by those who went to Chicago in the years after the World' Fair in 1893. It's a very distinct style that can be heard the best on any record of any sort of "coon song" on the Columbia label from 1898-1904.
Banta was able to play Rag-Time just as wildly as Fred Hylands, even if he wasn't really known for doing so. He probably thought doing that used too much energy for a single take, as there were plenty more takes from other singers he had to do, saving his energy for all takes was his strategy. Even with all of this supposed "culture" from Banta's playing, he was still able play things like this here. Or like these two here:
https://ia902605.us.archive.org/27/items/GoWayBackAndSitDownByWillF.Denny1901/GoWayBackAndSitDown1901_64kb.mp3
https://ia802503.us.archive.org/33/items/WillFDenny/WillFDenny-AintDataShame.mp3
These cylinders back up the "professor" title somewhat, especially the last one listed. It is odd, Banta played "Ain't Dat a Shame" very well and Ragged, more so than expected, but it's not nearly the same as Hylands' version.
Here's Hylands' with Bob Roberts.
Hear! The differences are so obvious, and are great in their own ways. Banta could get pretty ragged sometimes, not on every record he's playing Rag-Time, but on many of them. He starts off pretty tame, and plays some ragged sections here and there, until toward the second verse, he begins to get wild and all over the place, almost speeding ahead of the singer. This sequence is very much so on his takes with Silas Leachman playing Ben Harney's "Mr. Johnson Turn Me Loose". He plays exactly how I described the sequence.
Another thing about Banta, is that he probably also heard Ben Harney play onstage in the mid-1890's, just as Hylands did, and was inspired even more to play syncopated cake-walks and "coon songs", as even when he can be heard playing one of Harney's songs, you can hear the inspiration. I thought for a long time that it was Hylands on the takes of "Mister Johnson" by Leachman, but come to find out that the wild and shaky Rag-Time playing was by the supposedly "more proper" Frank P. Banta. One thing Banta could never get right about playing Rag-Time was keeping a steady tempo throughout. You can hear on many records that he was on that he could keep a moderate cake-walk tempo at first, but by the last part of the record, the speed would be much faster(and NO! It's not just because of running out of time on the records!).
Another thing that gives away the title of "Professor" for Banta is the fact that he played fifths in his left hand octaves. That is very strange to me. That was a characteristic of mid-western/southern rag players, and Banta was from New York. Hmm... I think he was in Chicago at one point, so that might be a clue. Here is one example of Banta playing quite a lot of fifths:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002497/Pre-matrix_B-3354-I_need_the_money
It's very weird that he did that, because that is something that could be expected from Hylands' playing more than Banta's. I haven't heard Hylands play that too much in his left hand, but he had the just as interesting and queer habit of playing walking octaves. Hylands had the best sense of rhythm of all the early house pianists, Banta comes second, if not last or the same as the others. It sounds slightly biased I know, but Hylands really was his own category of weird when it comes to the early house pianists. Banta was kind of the same way, but he had the same sense of rhythm that Fred Bachmann, Gaisberg, Christopher Booth, and Albert Benzler had(though Benzler's rhythm was worse than the others somewhat...).
I still don't understand where Banta playing fifths came from. It was obviously part of his playing style, but I don't know where it could have come from, it might be from how he just learned to play the piano. Doing that might have been a habit he never got rid of that he had since the beginning of playing. It certainly wouldn't be something that a piano teacher in the 1870's would approve of at all. I would imagine that a piano teacher of Banta's probably would have hit his hands in anger at seeing that he had the habit of playing fifths in octaves. Banta also played broken octaves in the right hand sometimes, which must have been an imitation of Hylands, as there's not a doubt in my mind that they had both heard each other play, either on records, or at shows. Banta tried to imitate Hylands' "boogie" sounding style by playing broken octaves in the right hand and pairing that with slightly syncopated chords in the left hand, to give the effect that Hylands' broken octaves had. He probably couldn't get how that was done, or thought it was too frivolous. You can hear a great example of this at around 2:02-2:03 on this record here. I believe that there was also another example of this on one of the cylinder by Will F. Denny toward the beginning of this post as well.
It's also funny that Dan Quinn called Hylands "Professor'' on a few occasions, which must have made him smile from the piano, you a hear that here(it's transferred too fast though...). Now that's accurate for a thousand reasons! Hylands is also pretty drunk on this one also(hear him having way too much fun laughing from the piano chair!). Quinn also called Banta that on some records, in fact, since Quinn preferred having Banta as his pianist, he must have meant the more respectable connotation of the term for Banta. With Hylands, he probably meant the opposite, even though Hylands probably thought of it either way. Hylands was a freak, Banta was a more moderate version of that.
I hope you enjoyed this!
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