This afternoon I went digging on the Santa Barbara website for new things I had not heard. While on this dig, I came across a piano solo.
On Santa Barbara's site, there are quite a few piano solos buried on there. Without doubt these records are interesting, but none so far have been perfect contenders for being possible test recordings for pianist auditions.
This one particular piano solo is pretty boring, and is something that I would usually skip over if I saw it on a list of records.
The title is boring, but the circumstances of the record are too interesting to pass.
So here's the thing...It's a brown wax era Columbia piano solo, with no performer mentioned or a record number. All of these strange circumstances correctly align with the possibility of a Columbia piano solo. Even by the time that this record was made (1900-1903), Columbia was still making records to fill specific orders Of course by 1902 much of that portion of the recording business had passed, but a piano solo recording even as late as this wouldn't be surprising. At this time Edison issued the brown wax version of "Violets" by Banta, and around the same time Victor issued Banta's "Hello my Baby" piano solo, and Christopher Booth's "Creole Belles". I have still heard neither of those solos, but as usual I am still on the lookout, as are many other record scholars.
So here's the record that's the subject of this post:
To think that we may have a Hylands piano solo on our hands!
This solo is really astounding, despite the deceptive title, and unusual extraction. So, unfortunately there aren't too many telling characteristics in the playing that point to a particular pianist, but there are a few things that lean toward Hylands.
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Hylands, c.1912. |
Much of this solo is a harp imitation. Yes, a harp imitation. In reality, a harp imitation isn't too different from a banjo imitation. In certain aspects, the strings are plucked in a similar way on both instruments. And very often Hylands' solos on records have string-like effects to them, which stems from his background as a violinist.
Secondly, the rhythm at the waltz section is exaggerated very nicely, similarly to how Hylands played accompaniment to sweet songs such as this one. Also later in the accompaniment there are walking bass octaves, of course not in the way that Hylands used them in rag-time, which are significant to note.
Also, take note of the announcer. That voice is unlike any that was recorded for Columbia. It's so distinct, and has a very particular twang to it that most voices on early records don't typically have.
The dialect sounds very mid-western, as the way that announcer says "piano", is very telling. With all these things lining up, I had to listen to a few records from around the same time as this piano solo, just to get an idea of a year, and to see if the pianist is similar.
To begin with the comparison, one record struck me as having a similar sound, this Arthur Collins Columbia: https://ia800209.us.archive.org/16/items/ArthurCollins_part1/ArthurCollins-MoonMoonCoonSong.mp3
It sounds very similar, and the characteristics are all there.
Well, it doesn't help that they're both in the same key.
On this Collins record, the pianist(likely the same one on the solo) plays a banjo imitation rather than a harp imitation. With that, we know that Hylands was known for playing accurate banjo imitations, as this was stated in a 1909 newspaper article. While 1909 would be a bit late for banjo imitations, he was still playing them that late, and rather well as reporters commented.
Well then, One thing is for sure, that pianist isn't Banta, Issler, or Booth. The pianist easily could be any of these pianists:
Fred Hylands, Charles Prince, Fred Hager, Justin Ring, or even someone as out of the circle as Burt Green.
But since this was likely a late made-to-order Columbia, it's more likely a solely Columbia employed pianist.
And I know what some of you may be thinking...This could very well be a fake! It could have been made long after the brown wax era, but this is one time where I assure you that pianist knew how to make records. The playing is very balanced, and styled very specifically to the ability of the phonograph, with no speeding up of the song, and a preference for the higher treble. This record was clearly made by a pianist who had skill in the record business, and the balancing would indicate a professionally made recording, not a strange out-of-whack home recording. There are lots of crappy home recordings of piano solo's on Santa Barbara's website, here's one just to contrast the professionally made Columbia solo:
Quite different, and not in a good way.
There's also this one, that's much better recorded and a more pleasant listen as well:
This record is more like what those Issler/Schweinfest solos probably sounded like. Those solos were made in 1889, and we all continue to await the day when one of them is finally found. It may never happen...
Anyway, in no way am I definitively saying who the pianist is on that mystery cylinder, I just did this post to share it with everyone, and provide some insight as to who it may be, and why it's worth looking into for Rag-Time pianists and recording scholars alike. Once I gather more information on the record I will write some more on it in a succeeding post.
That's all I got to-night folks! This record was really peeving me today so I just had to write a little post on it.
Hope you enjoyed this!
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