Sunday, October 21, 2018

The Mystery Box and Blue American records

Well, what a week it's been! 

Hot damn this has been quite a week for records on my end. Whew!
This last Thursday, I took a trip over to my favorite antique store, thinking there may be something there, as I hadn't gone in about a month. I usually like to go to this place once a month or more if there are interesting lots of things to pick through. Never could I have anticipated the sort of things I'd be picking up that day...
This place I go to is one that I have frequented rather often for the last 6 months or so, grabbing piles of records and other old things of interest. I have gotten a ridiculously good stash of records overall from this place, but of course the only records I was getting, or ever saw from this place were disc records. I was just grabbing all the records, asking no questions and remaining modest and quiet when digging and later buying them. Since I've been going so often to this place, the proprietors have become familiar with the the sort of old things I'm looking for. 
After 6 months of stacking up the disc records from this place, with all colors and rarities of the phonographic rainbow, I finally asked the owner if there were any cylindrical records. The moment he told me there were some stashed up in the house(away from the customers poking around), he made me wait a little while. He had to go drop something off for one of the local customers, but with the promise he made, I was so anxious it was hard to maintain my antique store poker face. I waited about 20 minutes poking around mindlessly, as this was after I combed through all the usual spots here. When he came back, he went upstairs to grab a box of cylinders. 
I still was able to keep my cool as I opened the box and saw a few curious French brown waxes that weren't Pathé's. I inspected those thoroughly, and was interested, but of course I had no idea of their value, but I planned to buy them anyway. 
As I kept digging in this box, there were layers of records stacked on one another. There was a curious old looking case right under these French rarities, it looked to be from the 1890's. I was still keeping my poker face pretty constantly at this point, but it broke in a snap when I opened that old box. 
When I saw what was inside I just about screamed, I threw my hands up and nearly tore the 110 year old sleeves on my coat. 
That's what was inside. 
All brown wax, and only one of them was so moldy it can barely be saved. Unfortunately, as I started digging through all the slips and inspecting each record, a percentage of them were broken. But! despite that, I became passionately determined to take them all. That includes every last shard and piece of brown wax I could find. All the old slips were scattered around in the box and I kept looking over those to get some sort of idea of what was in this box. There were some interesting titles there. All the titles were handwritten in pen, in an almost familiar Spencerian script. The most tantalizing slip I saw in the batch was this one here: 
Yep, that's definitely a good sign. 
A brown wax with that title could either have been and original Hunting or a later Jim White take. That writing looks familiar doesn't it?
When I finally got through the box, I took 7 of them home with me after paying the owner. I was too afraid to grab them all at once, as I had a long and somewhat bumpy ride back home. 
I wasn't originally going to do anything the following day, but I became so bubbly over what sort of titles were in the first batch of 7. So the next day I got up early and got over to the place earlier than usual, to grab the rest of the old box of records and go. I spent no extra time this go around, the records needed to get home to be played and correctly identified. Don't get too worried, I only played the announcements and maybe a little more to get what they were and stored them back in their cozy 1890's box. Every one of these beauties was covered in dust, but under the dust, there's no mold or anything, just flawless recordings all from a very specific period of time. 
So after I finally spent several hours trying to get all of these correctly paired with the matching old slips, I got more into the strange circumstances of this almost flawless box of brown wax. 
So here are a few interesting things about this box:
-They are all Columbia's
-All from 1895-1899
-All the slips are written in pen
-there are two of each artist(almost)
-there's a lot of Len Spencer related selections
-no mold anywhere
-all the same shade of brown wax
-there's quite a variety of selections, from sacred to hot rag-time
-all the titles on the slips are abbreviated like Columbia studio slips I've seen

This box was carefully put together. Someone had quite varied tastes in records. These records were originally sold by Allen Koenigsberg, probably over a decade ago to this collector in Berkeley. The collector's name was on lots items I had previously picked up from this place, so without a doubt these brown wax beauties belonged to him at some point. 

Funny accompanying story, when I bought that batch of Berliners and Zon-O-Phone's from this place, I noticed that most of them were kept in distinct yellow sleeves from Kurt Nauck. With that, I contacted Mr. Nauck about these records, and he promptly told me to whom he sold the records. This collector in Berkeley died a few years ago, so it seems that all of these extremely valuable records were dropped off at this antique store I frequent. 

So the fact that these brown waxes came from Koenigsberg would make sense, since they are so outstanding and prime examples of mid-1890's recordings. 

So all of this is great without a doubt, but what was in the mystery box? I spent hours attempting to grab all the titles on these records, and match the slips with the proper record, as they seemed to have been scattered when I found them. At the current time I still have not gotten all the slips to match every single record, as I do not have a very good phonograph to present them in a decent fashion. I have only an 1898 Columbia Q that is definitely not a high quality machine, but I can play brown wax on it safely. So do not expect any transfers from me soon...
The first one I was anxious to play when I got home was of course the "Casey" sketch. That record was far more intriguing and valuable than I could have ever expected. Hunting's records alone are very rare, especially the brown waxes he made. But one thing is for sure, his pre-1897 cylinders are the most desirable of them. Well it turns out that this one in the mystery box was one of them. This cylinder was recorded probably in late-1895 or early 1896, before he got arrested with Charlie Carson for the smut cylinder scandal. It's got that same pristine sound quality as the few Original Hunting's that are online, such as this one:
https://ia802308.us.archive.org/4/items/RussellHunting/RussellHunting-CaseyattheTelephone.mp3
Now think about this, the record I got was recorded right there with Hunting. It was made under his own supervision, it was in the recording room with him, and he recorded directly onto that surface that I can now hold and handle. 

This is exactly why brown wax is so intriguing in a way that no other recordings are. If the record is old enough, it was likely recorded directly on by the recording star who's on it. The record witnessed the musicians and performers in person, and depending on the performer may have been handled by that very performer. This adds a level of personal touch that later records from this time just don't have. This is exactly why this Hunting record in the mystery box is so valuable to me in particular. 

There were several records by Len Spencer in this box. There were as follows:
"What Shall the Harvest Be" from 1896-97
"My Gal is a High Born Lady" with Ossman, 1897
"Crappy Dan" with Ossman, 1897
"-----Honey Boy" with Hylands 1898(I couldn't get the title of this one very well but it's likely something called "Lucinda Does you Love yer Honey Boy?")
Of course since these records are all Columbia's from around the same time, as to be expected, there are quite a few of them with Len Spencer announcements, which is perfectly fine for me!

There were two standout Edward M. Favor records in this box. Usually the Edward Favor records that collectors have are his Zon-O-Phone's from 1900-1903, and his Edison records from the late-1900's. But I assure you these two Favor's were the rarest and most desirable of all the kinds he made. Both of these Favor records are from 1896. They both had that distinct "...of New York City" announcement(as 80 per cent or so of these records have) and that beautiful clear piano accompaniment that was on those Columbia's he made in 1896. The two records sound exactly like this record here:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder11859
Same pianist, same recording room, and overall beautiful quality. 
The titles unfortunately I could not make out just yet, and they are hard to match with the remaining slips. 
There was a Gaskin, Steve Porter, and a surprisingly clear Will F. Denny record. 
The Gaskin is a really pretty love song titled "Answer", with that pristine mid-1890's Columbia recording quality. The Steve Porter is an unusual one titled "She Lives on the Same Street with Me". The Denny is a very distinctly early 1897 Columbia titled "Then and Now". 
There were two Clarinet solos by William Tuson which really got me excited! I have a lot of love for those Issler soloists, as they were fantastic musicians that really stood out from the rest of the musicians in the orchestras. 
The two Tuson's were "Southern Plantation Echoes" from 1897 and "Old Black Joe" from 1897-98. Both of these records are online, but the ones I got in the mystery box are definitely different takes. There are some distinct differences between my takes and the ones I've heard online, which is great! To give you an idea, here are the two Columbia takes of these online:
"Old Black Joe"
"Southern Plantation Echoes"
My take of "Southern plantation echoes" is the longest one of the takes I've heard. It hovers right around the three minute mark and there's another chorus of the Tapioca played at the end. The clarinet and piano also alternate playing the Tapioca toward the end which is a really nice added touch. This take also sounds really nice, even on my crappy cheap old Columbia. 
There were a few Columbia orchestra records in the box too, such as an 1897 take of "Ecstasy Waltz"(with a cornet solo by Tom Clark!), and a curious recording of an unnamed "lanciers". 
There was also a super nice early 1897 take of "Stars and Stripes forever" by Sousa's Band, which added a nice touch to all the obscurities in the box. 
I know I'm missing a few to describe here, but I really want to get to the next part of this post. I will do another post once I know what everything is and when I know I can get decent electric transfers of them. I have already been given and offer to get them transferred!





All-right then!

Yesterday I had a serious aha! moment. Amid a moment of thoughtless listening(this is usually how is goes...), I realized something big. 
Many collectors try to grab those Blue American records when they can, as they're very attractive records that stand out from all others in pre-1910 recordings. I have quite a stack of them myself, this hot one included:
I am always amazed at their beauty. 
(in case you're wondering, this curious record is basically like one of Spencer's brown waxes with Hylands but half a decade later!)
Last night I went back and listened to the handful of American records that are online, and was reminded of how hot and tight their house orchestra was. Their orchestra was called the regimental band of the republic, which is quite a generic name for a studio ensemble. No one really knows who they were, as this company was shrouded in secrecy, but for good reason. They were started by a few sketchy Edison employees in 1904, but somehow these sketchy Edison workers managed to create the best sounding records of the era. Their records boom in ways that others just didn't! And how their orchestra did just that, and more!
so as many have been long wondering, who was the regimental band of the republic? Well, you know what, I may have come to a possible answer. 
That orchestra was just absolutely outstanding to all the other studio groups, with familiar sounding musicians. Who do they sound like the most?

Hager. 

Of course! It made so much sense once I started thinking through ways that could prove this idea. Before I go forth with the explanation, here are a few of their records:
Perhaps the hottest ever, "a Southern Belle(Cake-walk)"

"Cocoanut Dance"(written 1891)

"Princess Pocahontas"(buck dance)

Hager's own "Handsome Harry"

"1863 medley"

So why would it make sense that Hager could have led this this orchestra? They recorded "Handsome Harry" to start, which is Hager's piece from 1904. Of all the record insiders Hager would make the most sense in terms of having his hand in this mysterious and dreaded record company. Hager was part of the Climax scramble in 1901-1902, as he was working for Columbia-Climax-Zonophone when the tensions were boiling hot, but he was taking his orchestra to the more reliable and better quality Climax and Zon-O-Phone instead of Columbia. He managed to escape the battles over patents and record talent unscathed, but he gained ever more knowledge of the recording ropes and where the best fortune would be. With this heightened knowledge, Hager would have seen the great opportunities that American possessed. 
The sound of the orchestra on American nearly mirrors Hager's Zon-O-Phone orchestra from the same time period. This frame of 1904-1907 is also when Hager was working the most overall, so maybe this American notion went into his crowded work schedule. 
Also, I may add that the "1863 Medley" listed above sounds like many of hager's arrangements that were written down and the ones that were played at Zon-O-Phone around the same time. By this I'm meaning a tune of his like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrdarM0xKgs
Indeed so. 

Now all of this is very tantalizing indeed, but it's just a possibility. No one really knows what was the deal with those American records, and another thing that particularly intrigues collectors of them is that orchestra announcer. That announcer was always so unenthusiastic and not theatrical about the announcements. It's a very familiar voice though, very recognizable to those who own some of these American records. That announcer very well could be someone in the band. But think about who would be right there with no instrument to keep his mouth shut...



Anyway, I think I'll end it here. I really want to do another blog post this week but I'll be traveling for a week, back this following Tuesday. When I return however, I will be giving a lecture on Hager! Let's hope that turns out all-right, there's quite a lot to cover with his long story...


Hope you enjoyed this!


















Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Victor Herbert, Hager and Justin Ring

In the last few weeks, after doing that last post on the Hager brothers, I have been digging into trying to really create a definitive piano style to use to identify Hager. It seems that I have finally gotten a baseline for what piano style is Hager's, and it actually came to me in a flash. 

I have been searching around for a compositional style that could be connected to and sound a lot like Hager's, based on the orchestra records and piano accompaniments, and amid a moment of idle listening, it hit me, this piece transcribes out that very Zon-O-Phone pianist style:

Victor Herbert! Of course. It made so much sense after thinking it through for a little while. So why does this make sense? Well, think of all those "Victor Herbert's Band" records from around 1900-1903, those were directed by Hager. As noted from that panoramic portrait of Hager's orchestra, it's clear that Hager plucked most of Herbert's musicians for his own studio ensemble. With that in mind, I did a playful mocking cartoon of this:
Of course, Hager's all decked out for Mr. Herbert's Babes in Toyland, showing his unbound respect for Herbert. 
I have no idea how Hager got to know Herbert, and what he had to do to get so many of his musicians to record with him. With that aside, Hager was close friends with Herbert, and now that I've studied a bunch of Herbert's piano music, I would be assured enough to say that they were such close friends that Herbert's style rubbed off on Hager. Now to get into some of the technical aspects of this connection, take a good listen to that version of "Panamericana" in the link above. Much of what I've previously described about Hager's piano playing corresponds very well with that piece. The quick and jumpy octaves in the right hand, the dense chords in the left hand, and more bass heavy inversions of chords in the left hand as well. Do take into consideration the exotique rhythm that the piece takes on, it's similar to the daring, advanced "west Indian" style rhythm that I have heard played on many early Zon-O-Phone's. Much like Hager's musical mindset, Herbert's very complicated orchestral outlook comes through in his piano pieces. There's a lot going on at any given time, and there's just enough space left for unusual rhythms and really rather jagged syncopation. Herbert's "Panamericana" is really what ties Herbert's and Hager's styles together, as every characteristic is there, and it combines an older musical mindset with the modern syncopation idea. 

So this all makes sense when taking into consideration Hager's upbringing musically, as he wasn't really from too far west to have a very distinct piano style, and being much younger than the older rag-timers and minstrel performers he knew, his style was really neutral to start with, though maybe having traces of the Indiana-Ohio style, being that he was from rural Pennsylvania. Being as curious and open-minded as he was musically, it would make sense that he become so infatuated with someone like Victor Herbert or John Philip Sousa(in this case thinking more of his comic and operetta works). Hager was also a music student, taught in the New York conservatories with a full scholarship to get him through, so he was basically exposed to everything. What Hager heard was likely twice the diversity of what Hylands or Banta heard throughout the first 20 years of their lives. But like Herbert, Hager had an especial affinity for the more taboo syncopated negro music. That was something he was likely told to stay away from while in music school, as he was studying violin under Antonín Dvorăk, despite obviously studying syncopation, it could have only been looked down upon in that environment. 
To provide another good example of Herbert's and Hager's crossover styles, here's another characteristic dance by Herbert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoJ-w5FcZSE
I'm pretty sure this one was recorded around 1905. But anyway, seriously take a close listen to all the distinct characteristics in the piece. They are quite similar to that early Zon-O-Phone style that I am rather certain of being Hager's. 
Here are a few Zon-O-phone records with that accompaniment style, just to give you a refresher on this:
https://ia800609.us.archive.org/34/items/CollectedWorksOfJohnTerrell/TaintAGoinToWeepNoMore1902_64kb.mp3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi8K8iKZyXM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X59v3OASjVg

This brings me to the next part of this post, Justin Ring. 
On my digging ventures for Ring and the Hager brothers, I noticed how similar Ring and Fred Hager were. Their relationship starts around 1900 or so, as Jim Walsh used to write(the picture above of them was a little vignette in one of his articles). Even with Walsh dropping that early date of them being together, I am still not entirely sure when they got together. Though, it is likely however that they got together around 1899, thinking of the starting of Zon-O-Phone. I would guess that at the beginning of Zon-O-Phone, Hager dragged in the young and fresh Ring, along with his 17 year old brother James. With Ring stuck at Zon-O-Phone, Hager got him to work  as the pianist for his studio orchestra. On records as early as the beginning of 1900, such as this one here:
https://ia800604.us.archive.org/7/items/CollectedWorksOfTheZonophoneOrchestra/DarkiesJubilee1900_64kb.mp3
It's highly likely that Ring is that pianist we're hearing. In 1900 it wouldn't surprise me if that's the case, as this picture was taken only a year or so later:
(I have come to the assumption that this picture is from 1901-1902 because the description states that they're in the Columbia studio, which at that time would have been Climax-Columbia-Zonophone, etc)
There's Ring, the young hot dandy of the orchestra. 
Other than his recording history, I know nothing of Ring. I know he was a composer his entire life and married rather late, but not much more. Overall, it seems Ring followed Hager wherever he went in the recording and publishing business, but that's not a bad thing in this case! Ring started at Zon-O-Phone with Hager, tagged along until the bitter end in 1912, then went to Rex right after, and after the fall of Rex stuck with Hager until Okeh let them go around 1922. 
(that's Justin Ring with the baton! This is the Okeh studio around 1920)
So what about his piano style?
Well, that's where it gets a bit sketchy. Now that I have a pretty good understanding of Hager's style, I need to figure out what any other different pianist sounds like on Zon-O-Phone. Luckily, I know of a few records that contain suspiciously different accompaniment styles than the dense and complicated Hager style. The first one that comes to mind is this Zon-O-Phone from 1903:
https://archive.org/details/MustYou1903DanwQuinn
This has vey different accompaniment from say, the "Bill Bailey" take a bit above. Now this pianist on this particular record is very precise but also loose at the same time, similar to Hager, but much less daring with improvisation. Though I must admit that this pianist is very outstanding as an overall accompanist, much to the likeness of Edward Issler actually, and that's quite a high comparison. Despite the little technical hiccups throughout the record, the pianist has exceptional rhythm, keeping constant the entire record, just like Issler did a decade before. This constance with the accompaniment definitely shows quite a dramatic contrast to the more rowdy and dense style that Hager played on early etched label Zon-O-Phone's. Something that ties these styles together is the preference to play more bass heavy chords in the left hand, which ties together Hager, Ring, and  Victor Herbert's styles. This slight characteristic is all over the place in Hager's written music, and even in Ring's rags as well. 
So let's say this more tame but musically outstanding pianist is Ring. It would most certainly make sense according to the logic, and taking into consideration the things that tie the styles together. I do not know about Ring's musical background, and of course knowing something would be helpful in trying to figure this out. I do know that Ring was the son of a musician, so he had been playing music earlier than Hager most definitely. what that has to do with his piano style, I cannot say. I know Ring didn't attend music school, unlike Hager, who did and studied under great masters form Europe and the U.S., so in this case I would assume Ring to have more natural talent musically. Usually almost perfect to perfect rhythm yields the highest natural ability musically(0ther than perfect pitch, that's what Banta had!)
So let's listen to Ring's rags, just to get some kind of foundation for this style:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvbqEUoZS-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3Vaj_YEloY
One thing is for sure, there are definitely some quirks in that style. 
Like Hylands' and banta's styles, Ring's was just enough quirky and weird to well be distinguished, and this is purely from the sheet music! In Ring's style there's also a mix of all the styles on records in the brown wax era, which makes sense, considering his age and propensity for music. 
When I listen to a lot of these piano accompaniment, I often switch who I think is who on these records, since I really have no idea which feel goes with which. Though, as I'm writing this I'm starting to get a strong feeling that this pianist is Ring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBZLwO5P7jM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaTarCSS6gc
I hear very unusual eccentricities in those accompaniments, the kind that are scattered all over his "Sweet Potatoes". I have assumed the slightly more bluesy style on many Zon-O-Phone's, as the one I associate with Hager is much more classical and controlled.  I have heard some early Zon-O-Phone's with pretty strange and whacked accompaniments, full of small mistakes and unusual bits of syncopation, more so than the dense Hager accompaniments. One thing is for sure about these Zon-O-Phone accompaniments, there is definitely more than one pianist scattered on their records, and it seems to really only be two distinct styles throughout, which makes narrowing down who they might be much easier. 
Keep in mind that I do not know which pianist is Hager and which one is Ring, and sometimes I switch the style with the guy, maybe because of something I heard, but what I explained here is overall what I think Hager and Ring were in terms of piano accompaniments on Zon-O-phone's. 

One thing that I've always found rather funny about Hager and Ring is that they seemed inseparable to the end. Even after they went their own ways after the studios in the mid-1920's, they still lived rather close afterward, eventually both moving to places in close proximity in Florida for retirement. Though Hager died before Ring, they were exactly the same age when they died, 87. 




Since I've exhausted this topic so much, I promise that I will speak of my recent sheet music acquisitions and my meeting with John Levin in the next post. I promise I'll stay away from pianist analysis in the next post! Before I close out, here's an outstanding Arthur Pryor piece played by Gilmore's band in 1902. This is a recent addition to the Santa Barbara website, and how it's great:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder17130
Whats's especially great about this piece is that Pryor's stylistic extraction is exactly the style that this piece is imitating. Pryor's regional style was of Missouri-Arkansas, which is one of the most dense and authentic styles out there. This piece has a lot of trombone action going on(well durr...of course it does), and some really nice syncopation, executed very well by the peerless Gilmore band. 



Hope you enjoyed this!