In the last few weeks, I tried once more to find any new information regarding Justin Ring. Well, just as last time, I didn't really find anything new on paper. well at least in the essential time frame that I am attempting to dig on. However! On my dig, I was curious to see if I could gather anything from seeing what neighborhood Justin Ring grew up in. I compared a few locations of some of these early recording stars, Banta, Issler, Eddie King, etc. The most curious thing I observed is where Justin ring grew up.
Never could I have expected what I was to find.
Justin Ring grew up right by the Bowery.
Well there ya have it folks. So apparently what I had assumed prior to this research on Ring was entirely not true. I guessed that Ring was(based on his relationship with Hager for so long) a more reserved and focused character similar to Banta. I assumed Ring was the more quiet and obedient type, as he did so much work for Hager, Prince, Hylands, and who knows who else.
Well, none of these could have been true considering where he grew up.
This finding has completely changed my thoughts on Ring, and as I pointed out in the last post on Ring, maybe that bruise on his face was a common thing with him. There's almost no way he was a submissive obedient little pianist like Banta was, considering he essentially grew up on the Bowery. There's so much lore around those folks who grew up in the Bowery, so many songs, so many sayings and poems. And there's a reason for this. This neighborhood is where all the thugs and fallen folks lived, going way back. Many unfortunate tenement camps were out near there as well in the 19th century. Considering all of this is exactly what is so intriguing about learning that Justin Ring grew up there.
So, now that I know this, what can we do with it?
Well, we can place a little Justin Ring amid all the rough folks and lore that we hear on so many records from this era.
Just as a side note, I observed this piece of information from the 1880 census.
So, as expected, this has been on my mind a lot lately. As I still don't have any information about Ring in the 1880's and 1890's, though something clearly was intriguing and troubled about him. Observing his childhood neighborhood says a lot.
This could be tied to his accompaniment style. I have always been wondering where in the world Justin Ring could have learned to play the rough and wild way that he did, but I guess we kind of have our answer.
So without a doubt Justin Ring would have heard a lot of interesting music growing up in the Bowery. A lot of that uneasy and wild playing of his was developed from all the rough places he passed through in that area. It also couldn't be helped that he's hear all these things because his father was a musician, who likely played in venues in the area.
But where else would he have heard such interesting music to develop that style?
It's certainly evident that Ring heard some really rough music. Based on the kind of things he often played on Zon-O-Phone records, he heard black and white musicians.
Here are a few good examples that illustrate this well:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By7WuiOUrg7YUmpBODV5dXpxbHhjYzlGUmZKdEJDelZCQmtn/view?usp=sharing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVP33Ix8sp0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi8K8iKZyXM
So there's a lot to take in with Ring's accompaniments. I have been meaning to write a little bit on how I am almost certain which pianist is Ring. Thanks to a few people sending me transfers of records Ring was on in the 1920's, I have backtracked that style back to most Zon-O-Phone's. In fact, this record here was the one that made me realize which pianist was him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EzduEIiVd0
It hit me like a slap in the face. It became instantly obvious which pianist is him on all those Zon-O-Phone records. He's that extremely pushy and aggressive pianist. I can hardly believe how anyone could keep up with his rush, I've tried dozens of times and always get lost.
This didn't just mean I was checking all the Zon-O-phone records I knew of, I would be checking Columbia's from post-1900. Since that hit me, I have been listening to Columbia's and Zon-O-Phone records back to back so much more often. It all makes sense(kind of). When I did that post a little while ago regarding company crossover with Justin Ring, it turns out that it wasn't just a crazy idea. Ring may or may not be in that Columbia band(or orchestra) picture, but he's in that big group portrait of Hager's orchestra, that was taken in the Columbia lab.
That sweet young face up in the right corner might be him. I am still unsure, though I do think it is him.
Despite that, we do know for sure that's him labeled as no.7, and that this picture was taken in the Columbia lab.
So we know he was at Zon-O-Phone all the time, but what about Columbia?
Just this evening I went back and did some more Columbia-Zono comparisons, and noticed more striking similarities than I have before. In fact, I would wager that the fact Ring worked at Columbia is why he picked up so many Hylands characteristics in his playing. This all makes sense now, as for a long time I thought I heard many similarities between the pushy accompaniments at Columbia and Zon-O-phone in a certain time frame. I was a bit timid to say anything definitive about it because I would have no ideas as to why these similarities would be present. After looking to see that Ring lived a short walking distance to Columbia, the likeliness of his employment there keeps-a-coming.
I am not certain when he would have started at Columbia, but I'm thinking it goes as far back as 1900. In 1900, Hylands once again became engaged more often with Pastor's, and was still determined to keep his publishing firm with Spencer going. So this would mean that he'd be at Columbia less than the previous 3 years. So who would they have instead? That little, tanned, blonde headed Bowery boy of course!
I mentioned in my last post about Ring that he would be the most likely pianist on Zono and Columbia around 1900 to 1905 because he had little responsibilities. Unlike Hager, Ring had no family at home, and was willing to take any money and work that was offered. He'd also be content crashing anywhere for the night where he could work(remember I still haven't found him in the 1900 census). He kind of pulled a Banta, taking on multiple studio responsibilities, not realizing how tiresome it would become.
Considering the amount of work he did between 1901 and 1908, I'm surprised he didn't drop dead like Banta, but anyhow, I'm really happy he got himself together and abandoned the double company life by the 1910's.
Anyhow, that's all I got on Justin Ring since the last post I did on him. I am still determined to find the information I need!
Anyhow, I would highly recommend digging around on the UCSB disc site, as they have finally added all the lovely Zon-O-Phone's and Columbia's. As expected, I have been quite busy listening to those, as i keep finding new one's every day!
Just to give you an idea of what I went searching for first, here are a few that I have already saved:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000261902/Zo_cat_C_5260-Little_Nell
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000135456/140-Ill_follow_thee
This is one of my favorites so far:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000137335/1101-Turkey_in_the_straw
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000254687/5315-Reels_and_jigs_Selection
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000263984/Zo_cat_G9467-Melodie
Anyway, that's all I got, I have been engaged to write some more, so I haven't so much to write about here right now. Hopefully I'll find some more new stuff pretty soon.
So, now that I know this, what can we do with it?
Well, we can place a little Justin Ring amid all the rough folks and lore that we hear on so many records from this era.
Just as a side note, I observed this piece of information from the 1880 census.
So, as expected, this has been on my mind a lot lately. As I still don't have any information about Ring in the 1880's and 1890's, though something clearly was intriguing and troubled about him. Observing his childhood neighborhood says a lot.
(a cartoon I did illustrating my new discoveries on Ring)
But once again, what can we actually do with this information? This could be tied to his accompaniment style. I have always been wondering where in the world Justin Ring could have learned to play the rough and wild way that he did, but I guess we kind of have our answer.
So without a doubt Justin Ring would have heard a lot of interesting music growing up in the Bowery. A lot of that uneasy and wild playing of his was developed from all the rough places he passed through in that area. It also couldn't be helped that he's hear all these things because his father was a musician, who likely played in venues in the area.
But where else would he have heard such interesting music to develop that style?
It's certainly evident that Ring heard some really rough music. Based on the kind of things he often played on Zon-O-Phone records, he heard black and white musicians.
Here are a few good examples that illustrate this well:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By7WuiOUrg7YUmpBODV5dXpxbHhjYzlGUmZKdEJDelZCQmtn/view?usp=sharing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVP33Ix8sp0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi8K8iKZyXM
So there's a lot to take in with Ring's accompaniments. I have been meaning to write a little bit on how I am almost certain which pianist is Ring. Thanks to a few people sending me transfers of records Ring was on in the 1920's, I have backtracked that style back to most Zon-O-Phone's. In fact, this record here was the one that made me realize which pianist was him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EzduEIiVd0
It hit me like a slap in the face. It became instantly obvious which pianist is him on all those Zon-O-Phone records. He's that extremely pushy and aggressive pianist. I can hardly believe how anyone could keep up with his rush, I've tried dozens of times and always get lost.
This didn't just mean I was checking all the Zon-O-phone records I knew of, I would be checking Columbia's from post-1900. Since that hit me, I have been listening to Columbia's and Zon-O-Phone records back to back so much more often. It all makes sense(kind of). When I did that post a little while ago regarding company crossover with Justin Ring, it turns out that it wasn't just a crazy idea. Ring may or may not be in that Columbia band(or orchestra) picture, but he's in that big group portrait of Hager's orchestra, that was taken in the Columbia lab.
So we know he was at Zon-O-Phone all the time, but what about Columbia?
Just this evening I went back and did some more Columbia-Zono comparisons, and noticed more striking similarities than I have before. In fact, I would wager that the fact Ring worked at Columbia is why he picked up so many Hylands characteristics in his playing. This all makes sense now, as for a long time I thought I heard many similarities between the pushy accompaniments at Columbia and Zon-O-phone in a certain time frame. I was a bit timid to say anything definitive about it because I would have no ideas as to why these similarities would be present. After looking to see that Ring lived a short walking distance to Columbia, the likeliness of his employment there keeps-a-coming.
I am not certain when he would have started at Columbia, but I'm thinking it goes as far back as 1900. In 1900, Hylands once again became engaged more often with Pastor's, and was still determined to keep his publishing firm with Spencer going. So this would mean that he'd be at Columbia less than the previous 3 years. So who would they have instead? That little, tanned, blonde headed Bowery boy of course!
I mentioned in my last post about Ring that he would be the most likely pianist on Zono and Columbia around 1900 to 1905 because he had little responsibilities. Unlike Hager, Ring had no family at home, and was willing to take any money and work that was offered. He'd also be content crashing anywhere for the night where he could work(remember I still haven't found him in the 1900 census). He kind of pulled a Banta, taking on multiple studio responsibilities, not realizing how tiresome it would become.
Considering the amount of work he did between 1901 and 1908, I'm surprised he didn't drop dead like Banta, but anyhow, I'm really happy he got himself together and abandoned the double company life by the 1910's.
Anyhow, that's all I got on Justin Ring since the last post I did on him. I am still determined to find the information I need!
Anyhow, I would highly recommend digging around on the UCSB disc site, as they have finally added all the lovely Zon-O-Phone's and Columbia's. As expected, I have been quite busy listening to those, as i keep finding new one's every day!
Just to give you an idea of what I went searching for first, here are a few that I have already saved:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000261902/Zo_cat_C_5260-Little_Nell
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000135456/140-Ill_follow_thee
This is one of my favorites so far:
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000137335/1101-Turkey_in_the_straw
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000254687/5315-Reels_and_jigs_Selection
https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000263984/Zo_cat_G9467-Melodie
Anyway, that's all I got, I have been engaged to write some more, so I haven't so much to write about here right now. Hopefully I'll find some more new stuff pretty soon.
Hope you enjoyed this!
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