Some Phonoscope sections, and picture guesses

From going back through many of my record books, books on recording, and Rag-Time books, I have come to really wonder how some of these things we know of were passed on through generations of record collectors. Many of these yarns are very hard to track correctly, as some were just told to me through geeks I know who aren't exactly record collectors, and just friends of mine. I wonder where some of those Hylands stories came from...

It's one of the major problems with The Phonoscope, you don't really know what to believe or not. Toward the beginning of the magazine, it was very candid about everything it had in its issues, but as the months went on, it began to change slightly, with new people in the business coming from everywhere, and strange things happening all around. What should we fully believe? Take this thing for example:

Hmm. I have always had suspicion around this one. It sounds like typical Spencer, truly, being one of the most highly educated members of any recording staff at that time(but not exactly naturally intelligent if you know what I'm getting at). Hmm, a lady friend? What slight scandal... It's a very odd thing really, that we want to believe everything we read in The Phonoscope because it's by all definition a primary or first-hand source, just as much as Len Spencer's notebook is. It's a very unusual specimen of primary source though. If you know anything about the people who began this magazine, you know why I'm saying this. Of course, there are also sections like these here:

(still makes me laugh every time I see it ^ )

Well, we get a sense of how they thought of and how they treated their pianist. Some words from the man himself certainly helps. These sections were specifically put in there for comedy, as they were both sections in their General News column. Well, one of them was actually the third thing listed on the news page after the beginning column. Well, they made me laugh when I read them, so that means they do exactly what they're supposed to, even 118 years later. Though of course, it needs to be noted that the first section above was the first thing about Fred Hylands mentioned in The Phonoscope, and it would seem that the last section about him is here:

That's fantastic, but who was there while he was gone? Hmm(he was probably gone for only two weeks). Clearly it's the Phonoscope people reporting this, so he clearly was still working for Columbia, but not as often, as I had expected from him around 1900. Though as we know, he returned to working there much more often in 1901 to 1903(especially 1902 and 03!). Now among the travels I have been having in looking through the 1900 issues of The Phonoscope(which the May, 1900 issue is where that section above came from), I found this curious thing here from the same page:

Oh! the terrible fights! How they were real.
That is pretty much the funniest thing I have found in The Phonoscope. It really doesn't get any better than this. Imagine it! It's fantastic. I can see any three of these studio stars fighting for them, either slyly or openly. 
 I can see Hylands coming in to the exhibition hall, looking around for one, and rather quickly taking one, dragging the wire on the stairs, hoping Len Spencer is not anywhere. But just as soon as he gets up the stairs to the big room----there's Len.  No fan for Fred. 
It's one of the best things to imagine really, you can think of any one of these studio regulars, and it would work regardless. There are times where not all of these situations would apply to all the artists, but this one does! Especially since there was this thing here:

(some of you might have caught that the scene being described here is an exhibition at their big hall on the ground floor)

107 degrees! whew! Yep, that sounds about right. 
It actually is a very good thing to know, because I was often wondering about this sort of thing after reading that 1898 section just above. But as Ryan Wishner and I have discussed before, we wonder about any sort of heater or furnace in the winter, which they did have, but it is not really likely they would have used it very much, due to any sort of racket it made. That was not wanted when making records. 

Now to move onward to the second part of this post, some guesses for that amazing picture from last evening. Here is that picture once again:
(I'm going to be using this picture an awful lot now...)

Still amazing. 

Now I had some guesses as to who I thought that man might have been when I first took a look at the picture, but it's not like the exhibition picture where everyone can be identified reasonably well. I still cannot believe that this is that  street corner that was so highly spoken of in The Phonoscope and in local newspapers. Of all the Columbia stores and headquarters, this is the one where all of those brown wax cylinders were made from January 1897 to about the end of 1905. One of the many questions I have about this picture is:

Where is everyone? This place was said to have been one of the busiest places in New York in 1898(around the time that this was taken obviously). If they're all crowded behind the camera, I swear....
Who is that there? Is that one of the studio artists? It looks like someone with the body type of Billy Golden, or maybe even one of the Spencer's(or Fred Hylands? Ooh, I hope not). I swear, if that's Fred Hylands...


There's so much to ponder when looking at this stupendous picture, though it would have been better if they took the picture like the 42 Edison artists picture here:

(Banta's no. 35!)
That very picture of the Columbia studio could easily have been taken in a similar fashion to the Edison picture from 1900 just above. That would have been amazing. Think of all the forgotten faces that would be seen there. 
They easily could have gotten everyone to stand in a long row in front of the building(because it was an immense structure!). Don't know how many people would be there, but somewhere a little less than 42 would sound about right. I bet we could pick out people really quick just like in the Edison picture above, if Columbia took one of those pictures on their street corner. What's funny is that you'd see a lot of the same people, you'd see Quinn, Denny, D'Almaine, Watson, Albert Campbell, Marguerite Newton(Watson), Geo. W. Johnson, J. J. Fisher, William Tuson, and Fred Hager. Wait a minute! I just noticed a mistake in identification here!  You see numbers 10 and 11:

Yep, them. 
I just noticed that the list of identification states this:
10; M. Guiarini, Tenor
11; Wm. Tuson, Clarinet
Wait, that can't be right. No. 10 is Tuson, not 11. Here's my evidence:

That's Tuson! Damn.  Never noticed how tall he was...The person who wrote out the identification mixed them up. The thing that really gives it away is the whiskers, the ears, and the intense and expressive gaze. Wow, did not come to notice that before. 
Anyhow, if Columbia took a picture like the "42 Edison artists picture", many faces we don't normally see would be there. These include; George Schweinfest, both Spencer's, Vess Ossman, Steve Porter, Tom Clark, David Dana, Edward Issler,  Charles Prince, Fred Hylands(notice I put three pianists here), Minnie Emmett, Russ Hunting, George Graham, Roger Harding, Edward Easton, Victor Emerson, J. W. Myers, Will C. Jones, George Gaskin, Charles P. Lowe, John Yorke Atlee and who knows who else. 
Well, I can't really figure out who that chap is standing there in that picture, but it was certainly not John Atlee, Vess Ossman, Dan Quinn, or George Watson. i am leaning more toward Will F. Denny, Billy Golden, or Fred Hylands. *Leave comments on this post on who you think it might be!*

I hope you enjoyed this! 

An Extraordinary picture that must be Spread!

My father sent me the most amazing picture, and I cannot at all believe that it exists. It is very similar to the Columbia exhibition picture:

Now what is it exactly? Well, here you go:

I was speechless. 

(I wonder who that is... It's pretty late as I'm writing this, so I'll save guesses for tomorrow)

I don't think much needs to be said about this picture. I must point out though that you can actually see much more than you think at first glance. You can pretty much see EVERYTHING in their exhibition hall. I mean it! The piano, the flags, the electric lights, the white rack,  the COLUMBIA PHONOGRAPH COMPANY printed in huge font at the top of the back wall, all the phonographs, the brass bars, some chairs, and even the stairs that go to the recording rooms upstairs! I cannot get over how amazing this is! From this picture, you can even tell where the photographer stood to take the exhibition picture! Just in case you can't really tell, that photographer stood to the right(according to the picture just above) more to the corner of the building. In this picture, the piano that Hylands was sitting at is facing slightly left, but the keyboard is facing toward the camera, unlike in the exhibition picture. 
One thing I just noticed, the stairs that are visible in the picture just above are actually visible in the exhibition picture! See it? I can't see the twig-like railing, but I can see the bottom of them. The pretty scaffolding that can be seen all over the ceilings of the exhibition picture is also slightly visible in the picture just above, with the electric lights seemingly growing out of the walls in even spacing. 
Hmm. After taking at least thirty individual looks at this picture just above, I seem to understand the setup for the exhibitions a lot more. Why? Well, imagine yourself where that single man is standing, and entering into that madness of the exhibition picture, what would you see across the street? The back of a fat piano man from afar, sitting at least five feet above the crowd, and a crowd of hundreds, of all people, men, women, children. You'd also be able to hear the cries of a leather-lunged speaker, hollering at the top of his lungs the words of how these great people on this platform will play for you all to-night, for the cost of merely fifteen cents. This building would be the brightest thing on Broadway for miles, and surely full of mirth and vigor. It's also the loudest thing for miles on Broadway, louder than all the street cars and braying horses. I wish they took a picture of the whole front of the building, so we could see those weird windows that we can see the back end of in this picture:

Now that this picture paints a clear image of the Columbia 27th and Broadway headquarters, we now have a very clear understanding as to what these elaborate and lavish exhibitions truly looked like. The rest is all yours to imagine. 

*share this amazing picture with your record friends! It needs to be spread around because of how historic it is! Columbia pictures are exceedingly rare to find anywhere! Also, it's not a studio picture either, it's showing the even more unusual sight of the exhibition hall.*

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Another Crass sense of Humor

I did a post a long while back about Russell Hunting's wonderfully crass sense of humor, which was very clear to understand by all of those smut cylinders that he recorded from 1892 to 1896, but I was digging through some of Spencer's talking records from 1898 to around 1903, and have found that Spencer's sense of humor was rather similar in many ways. 

Yep, it was him. 

I already had some notion that Spencer's humor was very similar to that of his recording friends, as from thinking of how much of a riot he was. His auction records are actually the best examples of his sense of humor, more so than one would think at first. They seem like they're just auction records, but they are actually also great examples of the real dark and rude humor that Spencer had, and all the others at Columbia had as well. He did most of these talking records with the assistance of Gilbert Girard, but at Columbia, he did some with yodeler Pete LaMaire. The first take of "An Auction Sale of a Bird and Animal Store" is the Edison take, and I particularly find the Edison take interesting, only because, well, it's Edison, and Spencer did not really work for them very much, as we know he was a Columbia fanatic. In 1902, Edison was finally able to grab him to work for them. Now the main reason I think that this take is interesting is because of how clear and ever so slightly different he sounds on this one than on most of his records, somehow, it seems that he sounds more realistic on this cylinder, and it truly catches all the tones and colours of his speech, more so than many records of his. 

Anyhow, here's that cylinder:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder2641 

Spencer spoke in a wide variety of tones, it was really something that made him so agreeable to record buyers. Some of you might have been able to notice this idiosyncrasy in some of the records I have posted a while back, as it's all over his talking records, but not exactly in all of those many hundreds of songs. I may be Columbia-biased, but I must say, those Edison records that Spencer made in 1902-07 were actually the best examples of what Spencer truly sounded like. As we have all read somewhere that these records only paint a shadow of what these people truly sounded like(though I only half-believe that statement). Though, those Edison cylinders he made were not nearly as interesting content-wise as his earlier recordings for Columbia. Without a doubt, his Columbia's were more full of history and "clan" mirth, but the Edison cylinders caught the tones of his voice better than any other records he made. 

Anyhow, now to move onward to the Victor take of the selection in the link above. The victor of this is just as interesting, and it's great like always, because Spencer often added things in the dialogue, or said things in a different tones. That fact always makes for an interesting variety when digging through Spencer's talking records. Here is that record:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000606/Pre-matrix_B-1148-Auction_sale_of_a_bird_and_animal_store

Spencer must have really enjoyed making records with Girard. Especially these auction records, as every time I hear them, I know that Spencer's loving it. Speaking of Girard, I have been meaning to share this image here for a while:

Yep, there's the reason that Spencer had him on all of those auction records. Girard must have also been a real riot! 

Now back to the Victor record, the examples of Spencer's humor can be heard in these quotes here:

"Now, these cats are noted for their gentle disposition, why they'll actually eat off your hand!" 

and this one " they are gentle and affectionate--(cats begin to fight in the cage)"

a little later in the record, you can hear "Carrie Nation, Oh! Don't Axe me madam!"

"This monkey will eat anything, very fond of children!"

I like that he specifically puts emphasis on the final word here. How that joke is terribly wrong, and no one was supposed to laugh at it anyway, though he puts more emphasis on that one than the more common-type of jokes that he tells on the record. That says something about him doesn't it. Now if you listen to the very end of the record, after Girard does the parrot sounds, they left the record going too long and you can hear them beginning to talk at the end. That's always funny, even if it is more likely than not to be unable to understand the speech when this happens. 

You can hear the Columbia version(transferred a little too fast...) here:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder7215

Pete LaMaire does all of the animal sounds and the second voices, which are all hilarious. That other deeper voice in the background is Hylands by the way, it's a little hard to hear though.(recorded in their big room)

Now for the other one of his auction records, the "Auction Sale of Household Goods". Now this one had many variations to it, as expected from Spencer. Here is the Edison cylinder(s):

You can hear Banta playing piano toward the end on both takes listed here.

You not only get Spencer and Girard, you get Banta involved as well, laughing at all those points on it, and playing at the sale of the piano. That is a great added bonus! You know what's so odd about this one, it that the piano actually sounds fantastic at that one point it's played, all the notes are fully present, and it reveals the echo of the room more than anything else on the cylinder. Both takes have this amazing characteristic, but the second take specifically has that effect more. I wish there was more playing of that piano on the second take! 

The humor Spencer throws in slyly is just as funny as it was on the Animal store record, though it's not really as dark. These include these statements:

"...there, that'll wake up yer mother-in-law."

Girard: "Why, it's lovely, sounds just like a piano!"

Spencer: "Of course it does."

Only on the second take listed you can hear these:

"Eh, Your name please...(Banta plays part of "And Her Golden Hair was Hanging Down Her Back")

Girard:"And Her Golden Hair was hanging down her back!"

Spencer:"Aww, what a sweet singer, yer address please...(everyone laughs, including Banta!)"

What Spencer says at the very end actually has a little bit of an esoteric connotation to it, more so than it actually does in the situation depicted on the cylinder. It can refer to Spencer's publishing days, as he liked her singing, so he asks for her address, as he did back in 1899 and 1900. I must remember though that this isn't a Columbia cylinder, so Hylands wouldn't be there, to get a little bit cross with him for mentioning that. I know he did a Columbia take of this selection, so I'd be curious to know if he added that dialogue on the Columbia take. Here is the Victor of it:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000375/Pre-matrix_B-857-Auction_sale_of_household_goods

The variations on this one include this:

" Why of course it is, what'd ya think it 'd sound like, a Jew's  harp, heh!" 

(that's a quick one...)

Also at about 1:50 when the Bible is being sold, his voice cracks terribly. That's fantastic! It adds to the comedy, even if we know that he didn't at all intend for that to happen. OH! Something I just noticed when listening to this record is what Spencer says here:

"The lady that sells this piano----lady that sells this piano got beautifully carved legs, double back-action, and a patent harp attachment." Oh! What a quick and sly piece of comedy Spencer! Wow, it took me five listens to finally catch the connotation of that statement. Wow. My eyes widened at that one. 

The rudeness of that reminds me of that last line of Spencer singing "I Wish They'd Do it Now" recorded in 1898(with Fred Hylands probably tipsy). Spencer says this:

" They'd take me in to sleep with them-- Ta Re Re Boom De-Ay."

Yep, that's Spencer's humor for ya. In fact, I think that's the most obviously crude piece of Spencer's speech of many of these recordings. 

Now to move to something by Harry Spencer(that Len Spencer recorded at some point). Which is another one of those auction cylinders. This one is called "Auction Sale of a Pawnbroker's Unredeemed pleasures", and it's another great creation of the Spencer brothers, though Harry was more known for it. This first example of this sketch is the 1902-03 take with only Spencer and Hylands. Here is that cylinder:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder4935

The other voice on this cylinder is--Fred Hylands. Yes indeed, and the only thing that really gives it away that it's Hylands is the thing just after Spencer says, "Say Ikey, you can go and shoot Filipinos with that!" 

What Hylands does is really hilarious, and we can actually understand him! Though he doesn't really talk. I like the "Oi! Oi!" at the end of it though...(nice political correctness Hylands). You know what's weird about Hylands on this cylinder(other than the fact that he isn't playing piano at all, and that he's sitting at the piano!), is that it's a very clear cylinder that catches Hylands' voice extremely well. He sounds a little bit like someone else---Byron Harlan. Hmm. Never noticed that before I listened to the cylinder this morning. Just an interesting observation. 

Anyhow, back to the Spencer's. The thing that he says on the cylinder above that is really the funniest thing on there is this:

"Now, this bicycle has two wheels; tireless, shameless, spoke-less, and dan-gerous." 

That, is hilarious. The double meanings really make it so. 

Now, the brown wax version of this is also hilarious, and since it's longer, there's more material. Here's the brown wax:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnGp26zpgO4

Now this one actually has two more recognizable voices behind Spencer. The voices include Russell Hunting and Fred Hylands. 

Hunting says this one thing that give it away, 

"Ow, why ye-o rememba' the Maine!" yep, that's Hunting alright. 

Hylands can be heard clearly saying "Five dollars!" at 1:02, and a little later in that same bidding, he yells "Seven dollars!"(in a little bit of a different tone of voice). It's indeed that same voice on the later take of this. Though it's hard to tell because both the records are heard at different speeds, the tones and pronunciations of the words are the same as they are on this one Spencer's "Side Show Shouter" from 1898 as well. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if these two cylinders were recorded on the same day, as they're both very similar, and have the same sound to them. Oh! I meant to mention on the 1898 take of the auction sale a little above, try to notice how Hylands says, "Five Dollars." It's very odd, but it's kind of slurred. Really take a few listens!(hmm, maybe a clue into Hylands being a drunk...) 

Also the funny little pun at the sale of the "mouth-organ"(harmonica), Spencer says, "Sold! To that red-head boy over there for 1 cent!" Ha! Hidden Hylands pun, love it. There's another voice at 3:29, and I'm not sure who it is exactly. Does anyone know? It's not Russell Hunting, and not either of the Spencer's. Hm... I don't know if it's Fred Hylands or not, as he's awfully close to the mouth of the horn. I'll try to write out the dialogue exactly as I hear it:

Hylands(?): Why, you'd look here, the tire's busted--

Spencer: So er you--

Hylands(?): I's all full a' holes!

Spencer: Ha ha ha ha! 

Hylands(?): Sa-y, take it back an' get me a ci-gar for it-eh!( said awfully close to the horns...)

Spencer: A cigar! Smoke up Rube, yer goin' out!

If anyone thinks that they know who that voice is, if it's Hylands or not, leave a comment on this post! I would love to have the observations of other ears! 

Anyhow, I love looking into the slightly obscene sense of humor that the Spencer's had, more particularly, Len Spencer's. Their sense of humor was quick, intelligent, and rude, even to modern standards, and it certainly must have been considered as such back when the records were new, take the puns that no one laughs at in the room for example.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

The Black Mirror to Fred Hylands

The famous "Rosebud Bar" owner Tom Turpin

and another, much more obscure, Rag-Time legend Fred Hylands.

Why am I putting these two greats together for comparison? Well, in many ways, they weren't all the different from each other, even though they were based in different areas of the U. S. Turpin in Missouri, and Hylands in New York. With all of those many thousand miles of separation, they were pretty much the same kind of Rag-Time performers in the areas in which they lived.

To begin:

 Turpin was, essentially, the black mirror of Hylands. 

What is meant by that is the fact that Turpin was writing Ragged music since 1896(as was Hylands!), and was said to have been playing it since 1892, as said by most historical sources. Which that does indeed make some sense, whether those people who don't believe it feel that way or not, it was probably true. Hylands essentially played the same sort of way that Turpin's Rags were written. From his "Harlem Rag" to "The Buffalo Rag" they have the same essence to them that Hylands had when playing behind Len Spencer or Billy Golden. Also, we could look to the most obvious thing here, Turpin looked like Hylands. Turpin was six feet tall, and three-hundred pounds, and Hylands was exactly the same way. Heh, in some way, they also kind of had the same lips to them, maybe? Nah. They still look like reversed races of each other regardless. Of course, as we all can assume, Hylands would probably snap at anyone who compared him with a "negro" pianist(or any other racial slur that we know very well, go on, replace it there.) Being a proud member of the White Rats Union would say for itself, and having discontented feelings toward George W. Johnson also proves that point. Without a doubt, Hylands took his inspiration from hearing black pianists when he was younger, hence the habit of playing walking octaves so often, and improvising blues-like patterns. Turpin had a similar way of playing, as from just developing his own style in being surrounded by black pianists, and also with the added bonus of all the famous Rag-Time composers being around him. It certainly helped that he knew Scott Joplin, Louis Chauvin, Arthur Marshall, and all the other Missouri Rag-Time crew. 
Now, the only way that this comparison becomes more so credible is by having some examples. So in that, I have some here for the matter. To begin, I will share a few cylinders with Hylands playing on them, much like Turpin's Rags were written. 
To begin, here is one of Turpin's famous Rags:

(from Professor Bill's website)
This rag particularly has the most "Hylands-like" characteristics to it, as it's often considered the one of Turpin's few published Rags that are written to the closest likeness to how he actually played. I firmly believe that statement, as it has much more natural melodic flow and not "simplified" sections to it, with little things sprinkled all over the music that sound odd and progressive for the time, but really weren't(if you study recordings from that time that is...). 
Anyhow, here's the Rag:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1kLW_WRFI
Turpin's added sections of improvisations even more so make for a likeness to Hylands. If you study Turpin's Rags, you are very aware of his single-keyed Rags that have two or three improvised sections after the main melody was introduced, and all of his tunes have this pattern. That sounds an awful lot like the sequencing of Hylands' playing on his 1898 cylinder of  "Roll On De Ground"with Billy Golden. Hm. You can hear that here: 
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8436
There's that syncopation! 
It's that same kind that was in much of Turpin's "The Buffalo Rag". Though it has the same kind of syncopation, I would beg to differ in thinking that his 1899 take of "Turkey in the Straw" with Golden is a little bit more like "The Buffalo rag" a little more clearly. Though Hylands' playing at the last 30 seconds of the cylinder is actually quite a lot like "The Buffalo Rag", if you listen really closely. Just to confirm what I just said, here is Golden and Hylands'  "Turkey in the Straw":
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9322/cusb-cyl9322d.mp3
(**I have come to believe that this cylinder is actually not from 1898, but more likely 1899 or even as late as 1900. Why? well, the announcement, and the sound of the piano in the big room**)

This one actually has more of a Turpin style to it, though Hylands probably only heard the name Tom Turpin probably once back in 1896 or 1897. One thing is for sure, since Hylands was a "Rag-Time" pianist, and from people assuming things about a 25-26 year old misfit, they probably mentioned Turpin to him at least once(someone had to at some point before 1900). Hylands wouldn't at all have been aware of the fact that his style was actually being played to some extent by a black man in Missouri who owned a Rag-Time saloon, while he slaved away in front of five horns for Columbia every day of the week. The solo at the last 30 seconds or so of "Turkey in the Straw" is not only just a fantastical piece of hot Rag-Time, it's also much like Turpin's playing. Turpin had that style of Rag that was, I hate to say it, frivolous and full of rhythmic notes. It's a style that is one full of quick syncopated melodies, though the tune itself may not be all that quick. It's the style that Max Hoffmann wrote out in both of his famed Rag medleys of 1897 and 1898, that pretty much sums it up. 


Now for a much more obvious and indirect comparison. Turpin wrote a tune in 1900 called "A Rag-Time Nightmare", which was actually a slight knockoff of G. L. Lansing's famous banjo piece "The Darkies' Dream" from way back in 1891. As we know very well as record collectors, Vess L. Ossman took off with that tune, starting from the year of its composition. As we also know, he recorded the tune with Fred Hylands, and probably performed it a few times with him as well in 1898. Hylands took it an ran with it when he played it with Ossman, like he did with most things he played. Here is the 1898 take of "The Darkies' Dream" by Ossman and Hylands(announced by Len Spencer). Now when I say that Hylands took it and ran off(kind of, if you know what I mean!), he really did, as he put that famous melody of "The Darkies' Dream" into his prized piece "The Darkey Volunteer", which, not surprisingly, he dedicated to Vess Ossman. He only did this because he recorded the tune with him earlier in 1898, and he wanted respect from the banjo king, and badly.  So to compare this with Turpin, his "Rag-Time Nightmare" has a little bit of that Lansing tune toward the beginning, but it's still there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1KW3v-HLFk
Other than the knockoff intro, the rag also has that signature syncopation that Hylands played just like Turpin. 

Another comparison that seems a little more direct is the style presented in the 1897 arrangement of Turpin's "Harlem Rag". There are a few things in this Rag that sounds like other improvisations that Hylands played on records. Here's Turpin's  1897 "Harlem Rag". Now the one thing that sticks out to me on this one is that section that begins at 1:19, as it sounds almost identical to Hylands' playing at the 22 seconds of  this messy cylinder here. It's almost suspiciously similar somehow. It's the one thing that makes me think that Hylands probably had a copy of Turpin's "Harlem Rag" kept deep in his case of music. That wouldn't really be surprising if that was the case. The "Harlem Rag" also reminds me of Hylands' playing on the choruses and between interlude on this cylinder here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tO_NTFTgPY
Hylands is fantastic on this cylinder by the way! He gives not a rap about Steve Porter according to his playing!
It also reminds me of this one here, which for some reason actually has more similarities to "The Buffalo Rag". That boogie-ish thing at about 0:58 to a minute is really the thing that reminds me of the last strain of Turpin's "St. Louis Rag":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkKEoSSa_4Y
It's very odd how similar these pianists really were, though they lived thousands of miles from each other, and probably only one of them knew vaguely of the other. 


Since to-day was Frank P. Banta's birthday, I thought it would be appropriate to include the famous band arrangement of his "Ragged William" from 1899:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002300/Pre-matrix_B-3159-Ragged_William
Both were recorded in 1901 obviously, and you can hear Banta count them off at the beginning after the announcement on the first take listed here. Classic Banta! 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

At this time in 1899, and other things

At around this time back in 1899, Fred Hylands and Len Spencer were beginning to start their publishing firm, the one that I talk about so often. In fact, it was on March 24th of 1899 that the announcement of Hylands' new venture into publishing was made to the Easton's. It was at one of those lavish Waldorf gatherings that came up occasionally when Easton felt contented with how all of the branches and artists of Columbia were doing. In fact, the announcement of this was made in this section from The Phonoscope: 

(there are many spelling mistakes here...)

They even said that it was May 24th, but this was listed in the march 1899 issue of The Phonoscope, so this would have to be March 24th. 

You know that Hylands strutted out to that piano and introduced himself with great confidence, and dressed better than most of the other performers there, especially before Master Easton and his wife. Anyhow, it is not at all stated in this that the publishing firm was announced, but one thing is for sure, that Hylands told everyone there about it of course.Whether it be him announcing it before he played, or just casually telling everyone later, he certainly got the word out. Well, Harry Yeager is listed as the director, so really there's no way that the firm formation was left unspoken of throughout the evening. On the page just before that section just above, there was actually a little note of General News that stated this: 

Yep, that pretty much says it. I don't think I need to explain it more(have I proved myself enough?). Since Hylands was clearly so proud of his new publishing firm, we can certainly assume that he announced the formation of it at that gathering at the Waldorf. So I would bet that within the dates of March 23-28th, Hylands and Spencer created that beautiful footer that we know very well:

That was also in the March, 1899 issue of The Phonoscope. I'm starting to think that Hylands and Spencer beginning this whole thing was a very big deal among the Columbia staff, since it was advertised to often in March and April issues of The Phonoscope.  Really get a chance to check out that March 1899 issue, you can see it here:

https://archive.org/stream/phonoscope13hunt#page/n471/mode/2up

Enjoy! 

The entire Hylands Spencer and Yeager ad on the third-to-last page is really funny to read in its entirety! 

Now to change subject, I was listening to a few cylinders by Billy Golden yesterday afternoon and found some interesting information along the way. We know of Billy Golden's specialties very well, from "Turkey in the Straw" to "Yaller Gal". He was also known for a song titled "Uncle Jefferson", which as I am guessing dates from around 1894-95, as he was known to have been singing the song for Berliner since 1895. But, like most of Billy Golden's songs, he could have been singing them since 1875, and with this fact, many of their origins are almost impossible to track in a direct line of lineage. Anyhow, the take of "Uncle Jefferson" I have here is one that I have discussed before, due to the amount of questions that surround the piano accompaniment on it. Now, for a long time, my friend Ryan and I thought that it was one of the earliest cylinders with Hylands on piano, because of the light syncopation and the trills everywhere. Since it was recorded in early 1897(probably January-March), it cannot be Hylands on piano, regardless of the circumstances of when he first began to work at Columbia. I had thought it might have been recorded in May-July of 1897 at the latest, to allow for Hylands to more likely be on the piano, but this is not possible. I listened very closely to the playing, and found that the imitated syncopation is very jagged and "dotted" if you will. It sounded much like Fred Gaisberg when he tried to play Rag-Time, though it's obviously not Gaisberg. If I'm saying all of this, who is the pianist? Well, the only logical option would have to be Edward Issler. Here is that cylinder;
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder11728
The main reason I think it's Issler is because of how steady the rhythm is. It's not a mess like Gaisberg's playing, the left hand is very steady and straight, much like Issler's on all of those Issler's Orchestra cylinders. It made so much more sense after I made that observation, it had to be Issler. Like I said in my Issler post last week, he wasn't at all part of the "Rag-Time" movement, though it's clear he tried his hand at it at some point, like when he accompanied Billy Golden. Just for a comparison with Gaisberg's Rag-Time, here's him playing "All Coons Look Alike to Me"  behind George J. Gaskin in 1896.
Gaisberg's "rag" playing was very stiff, though you can tell he's trying(he does actually play some genuine syncopation a little on the disc just above! listen for it at 1:26-27!). Gaisberg was even more stiff than Frank P. Banta(though Banta was pretty loose somewhat!).

It's very funny to just fast forward only a little over a year to about June of 1898, and you get cylinders like this one here, contrasting immensely from the 1897 recording of "Uncle Jefferson". The announcer and singer are both the same as on the last one, but the piano is really what makes the cylinder of so much contrast. From Issler to Hylands, it made some difference indeed. 

One thing that I just noticed while writing this, Banta seemed to have loosened up his Rag-Time a little bit from 1897 to 1903. Hmm, I just listened to Golden's 1897 Edison cylinder of "Turkey in the Straw", listening closely to the piano accompaniment(where you can hear many deep bass notes!), then I listened to Golden's 1903 rendition of the same thing, also with Banta. They are very much the same, though they are also very different, Banta's playing sequence is pretty much identical on both of them. Though, if your ears are good enough, you may have noticed that the main difference lies in the intro that he plays. The into on the 1897 take has a much more stiff feel to it, even in the section after Golden's laugh at the beginning, the entire take has sprinkles of that stiffness as well. However, the 1903 take has a little more of a looseness to it, in a very odd way, it seems Hylands-esque(if you know what I mean by that). He's still a little stiff, but it's a little more Ragged than the 1897 recording, though he does play it faster, as appertaining to mindfulness of time they need for the cylinder fully. 

Though of course, the Columbia end of the "Turkey in the Straw" takes differ more than any of Banta's variations on those two Edison cylinders. I cannot stress enough how historically important Golden's 1898 Columbia of "Turkey in the Straw" is, compared to many of the other takes of the tune he did. 
Why? 
-Well, it's the "hottest"(if you will) of all the take he did of it
-It's classic Golden, with him doing everything he was known for
-the pianist is OBVIOUSLY Fred Hylands, no arguments--PERIOD.
-this specific cylinder was listed in The Phonoscope that very month that they did the page with all the short biographies of the studio stars, (including FRED HYLANDS):

-if you need a place to start when wanting to understand Hylands' playing style, start with this very cylinder, and use it for a comparison with other Columbia's
-Hylands plays wildly Ragged on the take, showing off as much as he possibly can without tripping over himself(which he doesn't amazingly!)

-It's a fantastic example of what Rag-Time sounded like before 1897. Why? Wasn't it recorded in 1898? Yes, that be true, but the thing about it is that it is actually coming from a Rag-Time pianist who had been playing syncopated music since 1890, and a stage dancer who had been a popular minstrel performer since 1875. So really, you are hearing a recording from 1898, but sounds and stylings from 1895-96(maybe earlier!).
-It's exhibition work at its finest. Why? well, that's because Golden performed this very tune at many Columbia exhibitions in 1898 and 1899, with the same pianist, Hylands 

Enough talk, here's that cylinder:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder13392
The 1903 take of the same thing is also listed here, and you can do some comparing between those two, though Hylands didn't change much like Banta did, so they're pretty much identical in many ways. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Character Studies--Edward Issler(1856-1942)

Issler, c.1894

that's also Issler(no arguments! I'm 100% sure this time!)

Edward Issler was a much more brilliant and versatile studio worker than history has allowed. He has only really been said to have been a pianist in the earliest days of recording, which he was, but he was more than that. Now, Issler's origins are still awaiting to be uncovered, but one thing is clear, that he was very well trained, and was a truly "Victorian trained" pianist. What I mean by this is that when you hear him playing anything on those cylinders, you are hearing truly Victorian music played by a pianist who was trained in the 1860's and 1870's. Issler was no member of the up-and-coming "punk" movement of its time, "Rag Time".  Issler was a special case of Victorian pianist however, most Victorian or "Romantic era" playing was actually very jagged in rhythm, and was not accompanied with a strictly "straight" rhythm that we well know of to-day. Just for a good example, listen to this cylinder here from 1897 of Johann Strauss's "Pizzicato Polka" as an example of this:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8937

(they can't understand the announcement on this website, but Len Spencer says "Pizzicato Polka, played by Gilmore's Band...")

The Polka was all the rage, beginning in the 1840's, and throughout the rest of the 19th century. It had a very unsteady yet playful rhythm to it, and Strauss' polkas are among the finest there are. The "Pizzicato Polka" was written in 1867 by the way. 

Anyhow, back to Issler. Issler's was trained in the era of the polka and mazurka, when straight rhythm was considered a true gift, and a sort of rare genetic mutation. Issler had fantastic rhythm. He was far better than his comrade Fred Gaisberg, and was cherished by the record companies for this, among other things. In many ways, Issler had better rhythm than Fred Hylands, though Hylands was at a disadvantage because of his terrible drinking habit. Issler's days before recording are unknown, and it is hard to know how Edison's small staff in 1887-88 took an interest in him in the first place. All we know is that Walter Miller found Issler to be the most important and life-saving employee they found in the earliest years of Edison's company, as Miller was forced to play piano on test recordings they did before he found Issler. When he officially became a member of their staff, he was always needed there, as he was the only pianist they had employed at the time. It didn't take too long for Columbia to take an interest in him, and the Edison workers over at North American as well. In 1892 and 1893, he was working for Edison regularly, Columbia, and North American. 

Issler was a man of average height, with a full beard, hair always slicked back, pointy ears, and somewhat long hands. He was not freakish-looking chap, save for the very Germanic feature of the beard(he did much look like Bohemian composer Antonin Dvorak!). He didn't exactly speak with a German dialect, unlike a few of his parlor orchestra members. He always dressed modestly when coming to work in the studio, which served him well in the varying weather conditions. He would always be ready to make records, and when his gang of musicians came along with him, he was always keeping them in-line with sound balancing and what was going to be played for the day. He always fixed the piano so it sounded supreme on every recording he made with his orchestra. The amazing sound of the piano he made even dazzled the members of the band, Schweinfest, Tuson, and Dana alike. Issler was not one who was too extroverted, which helped when making records, but not when people asked him how he did it at exhibitions, his sound effects man Len Spencer did that for him. Issler formed his parlor orchestra around 1886-87, and they were just a small performance group who did house concerts and some performances around the Washington D.C. area. By 1893, Issler's orchestra was a very popular group to play on phonographs everywhere, as they were the elite of the studio groups in that time, and nothing really as great as them ever succeeded. Issler kept up with the company lawsuits of 1894 through 1896, and was probably a witness in some of the court hearings. The the height of his orchestra's fame, 1895 and 1896, they were making thousands of rounds a months for Columbia, New Jersey Phonograph Company,the U. S. Phonograph Company(no more North American by this time...), but for some reason, they weren't making records for Edison anymore. I never knew why Edison dropped Issler from their staff in 1895 or 1896, guess it was because of his disloyalty by working out at all the Columbia associated companies, we know who took his place from there(Frank P. Banta and Bachmann). Issler remained making records with his orchestra until early 1897 when some major changes at Columbia were made. He had still been the usual accompanist over at Columbia for the entire time that he worked there making records with his orchestra, and even a little bit after the group was dissolved. Issler faded away slowly as the year 1897 progressed forth, and his "axing" from the staff was even closer on the horizon when a new "hot-shot" Rag-Time pianist captivated Messrs. Easton and Emerson---Fred Hylands. It's almost completely unknown after 1900 what became of the studio genius Issler, though it's very possible that he started his own band sometime after his studio orchestra morphed into the Columbia Orchestra in 1897. The genius of Edison's early studio faded away and did not return to the business ever again, and vanishing from all who knew him. It's unfortunate really, as Issler was a very underrated star of the earliest recording business, who was overshadowed by  the pianists who worked alongside him and also the one who succeeded him at Columbia in 1897. 

Anyhow, to close off this post on Issler, I will have two examples of his orchestra, then I will have one record of each of his famed soloists:

William Tuson: "Lina(Yorke)" recorded with Issler on piano(it's debatable on this one though...) in mid-1897(announced by Harry Spencer)

*Just for some weird information, I just learned this evening that a "Yorke" is actually a kind of late-Victorian dance, much like the Mazurka or Schotticshe, and I don't know anything about the "Yorke", if anyone knows anything about it, please comment on this post!*

Ricard Wagner's "Evening Star" played by David B. Dana in 1895:

https://archive.org/details/EveningStarByDavidB.Dana1895(announcement by a young Len Spencer, and Issler is probably on piano here)

Schweinfest playing "The Jealous Blackbird" in mid-1897 with the other two musicians listed above, but with their master thrown out, instead Fred Hylands is on piano(I think, I did  post a while back on the mounds of debate that come with this cylinder...): http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8792

 (announcement by Harry Spencer)

I hope you enjoyed this!