In the last post I talked about the style crossover between a few of the early studio pianists, but in the short time since that last post I have found a few new things regarding studio pianists. When we get right down to listing the names of all the known studio pianists, it can get confusing when attempting to match the sound with the name. In case you're wondering, here's a list of all the pianists I have kept in mind in this process(in chronological order in which they started):
Theodore Wangemann(1888)
Henry Giesemann(1888)
Fred Gaisberg(1889)
Edward Issler(1889)
George Schweinfest(1889)
Frank P. Banta(1892)
Noble McDonald(post 1894)
Christopher Booth(1897)
Fred Hylands(1897)
Fred Bachmann(c.1898)
Albert Benzler(c.1898)
Fred Hager(1898)
Justin Ring(1899)
Arthur Pryor(c.1900)
So that's about it for now, but there are very likely to be more names found in the near future. Some of these names should be familiar to the readers of this blog, Banta and Hylands included, but there are a few that are still very mysterious to me and other studio pianist scholars. Recently a copy of one of Mr. Noble McDonald's solos sold on ebay, who was one of the three Berliner pianists of pre-1898. I know nothing of Mr. McDonald, but he is likely the other pianist than Banta on many of those 1898 Berliners with rag-time piano accompaniment. I would place his name on many Berliners from 1897-98 that don't necessarily sound like Banta, but are still interesting to dissect. His style was likely the very mild one that we can hear on many Berliners around 1897, when Gaisberg was getting phased out as their main pianist.
Soon we may be able to hear that piano solo by Noble McDonald, how that would definitely solve a lot of our issues with the Berliner accompaniments. Just like the succeeding company, Victor, Berliner's are a great source of frustration with me, as it's rather complicated with them after Gaisberg left in 1898. With Berliner, we keep seeing names pop up at accompanists, so at a certain point it becomes very odd and much more confusing than it should be.
With Berliner between 1897-1899, about 6 different pianists' names have shown up, but only four of them have been confirmed as regular studio workers.
Above I mentioned George Schweinfest, and I actually have come to realize something in the last few days regarding him.
Schweinfest in 1898
For awhile now I have assumed Schweinfest to be one of the Columbia pianists other than Hylands. In 1889, Schweinfest and Issler made a handful of piano duets for North American, none of which are known to survive. Despite this tragedy, we can piece together a few things in terms of what Schweinfest did in the studio after Issler. While working with Issler, Schweinfest played piccolo, flute, and violin, but did not often take over Issler's chair. But after the orchestra broke up in 1898 or so(I know there are later ones from around 1899 of Issler's orchestra, but for the sake of keeping things in order, let's keep the idea that they broke up in 1898 or so at Columbia), Schweinfest remained at Columbia, even though Issler didn't. Schweinfest continued to make solo records for Columbia(as did the other Issler musicians, Tuson and Dana) until around 1903, but where did he go from there?
Actually, I don't think he went anywhere. Recently I saw a record listed that genuinely surprised me.
There's a piano solo by Schweinfest floating around out here, and it's not one of the handful he made in 1889. Around 1905, Schweinfest made a piano solo of "Yankiana Two Step" for Columbia(it was issued on a 6 inch Columbia "twentieth century" cylinder).
Wait what?
You heard me right.
So I guess that Schweinfest didn't leave Columbia in 1903. So let's say that he hung around that changing Columbia crowd for a few more years, playing the latest piano accompaniments that we hear on Columbia. I don't think that Schweinfest is on those strange 1905 Columbia's of the 3000 series, but some of the others I would wager his presence. When you look up Schweinfest on findagrave, in his little bio there is an obituary from 1949 that states that he was a long time musical director for Columbia, beginning around the time that he stopped making solo records(c.1905). But what about those "20th century" records? Clearly he still worked for Columbia by then, doing more than just accompaniments and solos. With all that in mind, Schweinfest was also likely in the Columbia orchestra.
I do not know how long Schweinfest was at Columbia, though his obituary stated that he was there into the early 1920's, which is quite late for an old-timer as him.
So here's something curious, I was recently flipping through an 1898 Columbia catalog that was reprinted by a friend, I found myself looking whether Hylands' "Darkey Volunteer" was recorded that early. Turns out it was, but I found it rather curious who recorded it first(according to the catalog listings that is). Well it seems that Schweinfest was the first to record it.
That was rather odd to see, as I always thought Ossman's take of it was the first one, a the piece was dedicated so highly to Ossman:
So with this in mind, and considering the amount of exceptional records Schweinfest made with Hylands, it would make sense that Schweinfest be one of the first musicians that Hylands befriended when he joined Columbia in 1897. Schweinfest may have been Hylands' studio mentor, as Issler was for Banta back in 1892-93. Even though we know Issler was still present at Columbia in 1897, Schweinfest is proving to have been more present toward the end of the 1890's after Issler left Columbia.
Going through all of this begs the question, which pianist is Schweinfest?
Well, I do not really know yet. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this pianist may be him here:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder5349
The only reason I think it may be Schweinfest is because of the obvious quoting of the piccolo part at the end of the record. The year that this was recorded also helps, as it was most certainly recording 1897, with the loud and clear announcement by Len Spencer as they were. On any of those 1897 Columbia's where the piano playing is very good but generic sounding(not too much going on to distract from the main performer), I would bet that that's Schweinfest. Of course hearing one of his c.1905 Columbia piano solos or one of the 1889 piano duets would really solve this mystery, and until we have one of those to hear, we just won't know.
Just before Christmas, I got a copy of Noble McDonald's 1897 piano solo "Little Nell", and luckily I made a crappy transfer of it very soon afterward. McDonald's playing is very similar to how Banta played a swung schottische, with bits of syncopation and more, here you go:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iKbEjOLtfsHpWxA9sIXKRrNMWrtM8nZE/view?usp=sharing
It's quite a step up from the musicianship of Gaisberg's "Honeymoon March" and "Little Kicker" solos, also recorded on Berliner.
For comparison, here's the record from c.1895:
https://archive.org/details/TheHoneymoonMarchByUnknownPianist1890s
Here you can also hear Gaisberg's "Little Kicker":
https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fapp.box.com%2Fs%2F6c4x0tenjw1xc7ssw6fvwty0eb5d1vdl
It's quite fitting that I speak of Mr. Gaisberg on this particular day, which just happens to be his birthday!
Before I move on, here's my favorite picture of professor Gaisberg:
Happy birthday Mr. Gaisberg!
So now to move on to Hager's.
Since digging up all that information on Fred Hager's brother James, I have come to wonder what his role was exactly with his brother's orchestras and such.
Fred and James Hager.
Obviously we can assume from that big portrait of Hager's entire orchestra that brother James was working for Fred in the orchestra around 1902(the approximate year of the picture above). But at some point Eddie King got into the orchestra and took brother James' place. When that happened I don't entirely know. From what I have gathered regarding this matter, and from lots of listening to records, Eddie King became the accompanist for Hager's orchestra around 1904. The later years of his orchestra on Zon-O-Phone had King's percussion, and the earliest years went to brother James.
So if this is true, where did James go from c.1904-1913(he returned to work for his brother again for Rex)?
Recently I went digging again for James on ancestry, but wasn't able to find anything between 1900 and 1913, just as the last time I did that. So unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything on him in that essential period, though we know he was working for Zon-O-phone as late as 1904.
When I searched for him on the DAHR website, there were a handful of records that included his name, most of them were from 1918-1926, far removed from his young days at Zono with his brother. He was playing traps, drums, chimes, and xylophone, just as he was listed playing in the c.1902 picture of Hager's orchestra. James made his way to Okeh in the earliest days of their existence. That's funny to note because on his draft card around the same time it says that he's an independent music contractor. Rather than having the Okeh name sprawled in the employer section, his draft card has a generic employer's name. Later than same year he was working for Okeh, as the ledgers indicate.
So with all this in mind, we can safely assume that James Hager is that funky percussionist on the earliest Hager's orchestra and Zon-O-phone orchestra( and concert band) records.
So here we should be able to hear James Hager playing the percussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdrCRA6XVug
This record is from 1901, which fits perfectly into the period that James would be in the orchestra.
So this record would have Eddie King's percussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHSm1YTCzxo
After listening to a few records from the 1910's with Eddie King's percussion, I can really hear his playing and understand it better, here are two good examples of him with the Van Eps trio:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200014888/B-14589-Chinese_picnic
(Van Eps quotes the old Ossman piece "Sounds from Africa at the beginning of this medley!)
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/700000083/C-15093-Old_folks_rag
King's percussion was a little bit out of whack sometimes, but it's definitely good. From what I've heard of James Hager, he was quite talented as well, considering he was basically forced into musicianship by his brilliant brother. Keep in mind that Fred would have been teaching brother James to be prepared for the orchestra job when he was around 14(c.1896).
Well, I have more things to share, but I don't want this post to get too hectic and complicated. So with that I will end it here.
I do not know how long Schweinfest was at Columbia, though his obituary stated that he was there into the early 1920's, which is quite late for an old-timer as him.
So here's something curious, I was recently flipping through an 1898 Columbia catalog that was reprinted by a friend, I found myself looking whether Hylands' "Darkey Volunteer" was recorded that early. Turns out it was, but I found it rather curious who recorded it first(according to the catalog listings that is). Well it seems that Schweinfest was the first to record it.
That was rather odd to see, as I always thought Ossman's take of it was the first one, a the piece was dedicated so highly to Ossman:
So with this in mind, and considering the amount of exceptional records Schweinfest made with Hylands, it would make sense that Schweinfest be one of the first musicians that Hylands befriended when he joined Columbia in 1897. Schweinfest may have been Hylands' studio mentor, as Issler was for Banta back in 1892-93. Even though we know Issler was still present at Columbia in 1897, Schweinfest is proving to have been more present toward the end of the 1890's after Issler left Columbia.
Going through all of this begs the question, which pianist is Schweinfest?
Well, I do not really know yet. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this pianist may be him here:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder5349
The only reason I think it may be Schweinfest is because of the obvious quoting of the piccolo part at the end of the record. The year that this was recorded also helps, as it was most certainly recording 1897, with the loud and clear announcement by Len Spencer as they were. On any of those 1897 Columbia's where the piano playing is very good but generic sounding(not too much going on to distract from the main performer), I would bet that that's Schweinfest. Of course hearing one of his c.1905 Columbia piano solos or one of the 1889 piano duets would really solve this mystery, and until we have one of those to hear, we just won't know.
Just before Christmas, I got a copy of Noble McDonald's 1897 piano solo "Little Nell", and luckily I made a crappy transfer of it very soon afterward. McDonald's playing is very similar to how Banta played a swung schottische, with bits of syncopation and more, here you go:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iKbEjOLtfsHpWxA9sIXKRrNMWrtM8nZE/view?usp=sharing
It's quite a step up from the musicianship of Gaisberg's "Honeymoon March" and "Little Kicker" solos, also recorded on Berliner.
For comparison, here's the record from c.1895:
https://archive.org/details/TheHoneymoonMarchByUnknownPianist1890s
Here you can also hear Gaisberg's "Little Kicker":
https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fapp.box.com%2Fs%2F6c4x0tenjw1xc7ssw6fvwty0eb5d1vdl
It's quite fitting that I speak of Mr. Gaisberg on this particular day, which just happens to be his birthday!
Before I move on, here's my favorite picture of professor Gaisberg:
So now to move on to Hager's.
Since digging up all that information on Fred Hager's brother James, I have come to wonder what his role was exactly with his brother's orchestras and such.
Fred and James Hager.
Obviously we can assume from that big portrait of Hager's entire orchestra that brother James was working for Fred in the orchestra around 1902(the approximate year of the picture above). But at some point Eddie King got into the orchestra and took brother James' place. When that happened I don't entirely know. From what I have gathered regarding this matter, and from lots of listening to records, Eddie King became the accompanist for Hager's orchestra around 1904. The later years of his orchestra on Zon-O-Phone had King's percussion, and the earliest years went to brother James.
So if this is true, where did James go from c.1904-1913(he returned to work for his brother again for Rex)?
Recently I went digging again for James on ancestry, but wasn't able to find anything between 1900 and 1913, just as the last time I did that. So unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything on him in that essential period, though we know he was working for Zon-O-phone as late as 1904.
When I searched for him on the DAHR website, there were a handful of records that included his name, most of them were from 1918-1926, far removed from his young days at Zono with his brother. He was playing traps, drums, chimes, and xylophone, just as he was listed playing in the c.1902 picture of Hager's orchestra. James made his way to Okeh in the earliest days of their existence. That's funny to note because on his draft card around the same time it says that he's an independent music contractor. Rather than having the Okeh name sprawled in the employer section, his draft card has a generic employer's name. Later than same year he was working for Okeh, as the ledgers indicate.
So with all this in mind, we can safely assume that James Hager is that funky percussionist on the earliest Hager's orchestra and Zon-O-phone orchestra( and concert band) records.
So here we should be able to hear James Hager playing the percussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdrCRA6XVug
This record is from 1901, which fits perfectly into the period that James would be in the orchestra.
So this record would have Eddie King's percussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHSm1YTCzxo
After listening to a few records from the 1910's with Eddie King's percussion, I can really hear his playing and understand it better, here are two good examples of him with the Van Eps trio:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200014888/B-14589-Chinese_picnic
(Van Eps quotes the old Ossman piece "Sounds from Africa at the beginning of this medley!)
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/700000083/C-15093-Old_folks_rag
King's percussion was a little bit out of whack sometimes, but it's definitely good. From what I've heard of James Hager, he was quite talented as well, considering he was basically forced into musicianship by his brilliant brother. Keep in mind that Fred would have been teaching brother James to be prepared for the orchestra job when he was around 14(c.1896).
Well, I have more things to share, but I don't want this post to get too hectic and complicated. So with that I will end it here.
Hope you enjoyed this! Happy new year everyone!
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