Well folks, It has been a hell of a month!
Since my last post, it has been particularly difficult to sit down and write a decent blog post. A lot has happened in terms of research, so much so that it has been difficult to conjure a single thing into a decent write up, so hopefully this post goes somewhat well. If it's more scattered than usual, I do apologize.
So...
Regarding Hager's collection...with the access to some of it, a whole lot of mysteries have risen. One particular thing has got me at a frustrating cliffhanger. In 1923, as many collectors know, the OKeH boys went out to the south to take on the earliest successful group of field recordings. From this trip there came about the start of the hillbilly record. When you look up these significant field recordings, the sole manager of these you see is a fellow named Ralph Peer. Mr. Peer is a familiar figure in the early jazz world, as he was the one who got King Oliver's first records on the market, and for dozens more things that more collectors of records care about(you know, who cares about records from before 1920?).
So here's where the conflict begins.
(Hager, second from left, and the Heinemann's and all, 1920. Notice the GENERAL PHONOGRAPH sign in the background.)
We know about Hager's high management role at OKeH in the 1920's, being the big kahuna(quite literally I might add!) in the studio. His prestige earned him lots of mentions in histories of the OKeH label, from Mamie Smith to Clarence Williams, but what about the Hillbilly records?
According to every source I have checked, Hager had nothing to do with these field recordings. BUT! Hager's own writing proved otherwise. In some of Hager's writing dated to 1950, he states that he had something to do with these recordings, and more than once I might add.
He claims that:
"Fred Hager[I], then the recording manager took his[my] recording crew to the South, where he[I] recorded many hillbilly troups..."
But this isn't the narrative that I've been led to believe. Hager a few lines before claimed that Vernon Dalhart's record of "Wreck of of '97" was responsible for the hillbilly record craze.
And, he says all this more than once, almost as though he knew someone would be reading through his typo-ridden stories(typewritten) decades later.
So this begs the question, why is it that we can't find Hager associated with these famous recordings anywhere but in his own private writing?
In my past experiences of cross referencing the words of the stars themselves, oftentimes there are some serious issues. Like for example, Fred Gaisberg's writing. His writing was full of misinformation, so much of it that it took 50 years for a lot of scholars to finally set everything straight. He claimed outrageous things as George W. Johnson getting lynched for his murder trial, and so many more fallacies I won't take the time to list.
In my experience with researching Hager's own words, he did get things wrong. He mixed things up, reversed orders and names. A good example is a piece that was written in Record Research in 1973 by Jim Walsh. Walsh quotes a long letter from Hager received decades ago, and Hager went on about the details regarding his association with vertical labels. In this valuable letter, Hager gives a good idea of what the order of succession was, from Phono-cut to OKeH, but since this letter was published, scholars have proven otherwise.
Hager reversed the order of a few things, and didn't at all consider the interference of the Starr piano company(later Gennett records) that was part of the deal done by Phono-cut, and later Keen-O-phone. Hager also claimed little responsibility for the Keen-O-Phone endeavor, though without doubt we can prove he was part of it somehow. Based on catalogs and supplements from these labels, Hager's words have been proven wrong.
So there's that issue. Even with this in mind, why would Hager make this up? Why would he restate the matter in his writings(in two different places)? It wasn't really too far removed from the era in which he worked for OKeH, so it wouldn't seem too out of place. But okay, let's say that Hager was part of this trip, he went with Ralph Peer and the boys to the southern states. The thing that I am not comprehending is why didn't Hager mention Mr. Peer? In every source I've dug through so far, Mr. Peer is regarded as the mastermind and director of these trips. With his youth and vigor, Peer would be in the right place to direct these recordings, being a similar age to most of the performers they recorded.
(OKeH group photo, taken in 1918. Hager is standing at center)
Hager was one of the oldest managers at OKeH in this period, nearly 20 years older than the very hip young Mr. Peer. As progressive minded as Hager was(as I have learned through reading through more of his writing, typewritten and handwritten), he could only go so far. This is why he left OKeH around 1926, but his buddy Justin Ring stuck around till the end. I don't imagine Hager had the means and physical strength to carry along all the way to New Orleans in 1923, but who knows. I'm judging by the fact that he had wildly spent much of his song hit money and ended up looking quite aged beyond his years by 1918(he was only 43 then).
Something isn't right here. Something is amiss, and I have no idea what it is. Since there are so many collectors of OKeH records of this type out there, I ma hoping some of you can help in solving this tantalizing mystery.
Why would Hager so fondly write about these field recordings, but is nowhere to be seen in every historical analysis of them?
Is Hager wrong? Was there some kind of odd conflict?
Who knows. if any of you can help, I'd be happy to cross reference with you and include any of your findings in a future post.
Anyway, time to move on!
UCSB has been quite busy as we know, they have been putting up all these lovely Zon-O-Phones, which have kept my ears busy. It is difficult to choose a few transfers to highlight here, as there are so many good ones to analyze.
What's good about some of these new transfers is that they have gone back and taken on a lot of records I have been wanting to hear for years. Many really beautiful brownies!
To begin, I'd like to highlight a new 1897 Columbia transfer. In my ever present research of Hylands, I am always searching for "...New York City" announced Columbias. Columbias from this period are essential for pinning down a more exact date of pianist style changes. These in particular were made in that period that Hylands was supposed to have been first employed by Columbia. This therefore would indicate the beginning of the hottest rag-time piano heard on records of the entire era(1896-1914). So here's the newly added 1897 "Whistling Coon" by George W. Johnson:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder9963
Unfortunately, the piano is quite distant on this particular take. There is only one thing that stands out in the accompaniment here, and it is that one little addition at 1:25. However! I can tell that this pianist is Hylands. Even with so little distinctions, I am so aware of Hylands' accompaniment on this particular song that it's got to be him on this take. Thanks to a c.1902 Columbia take on UCSB's disc site, it's definitely the same pianist, even though the approach is more ragged. Here's the 1902-ish take:
Aren't convinced yet?
Well, there's an 1898-ish Columbia of "The whistling girl" with that same accompaniment style, particularly that lumbering vamp:
So hopefully you are hearing that this is the same pianist here; one dating from 1897, 1898, and 1902.
And these dates line up perfectly with my Hylands research. In 1897, 1898, and 1902, Hylands was free to work at Columbia with little outside work keeping him from them. These dates correspond well with his availability.
The next pair of brownies are by John Yorke AtLee. We all love Mr. AtLee!
I very much enjoy AtLee's records with Hylands. Something about combining the old world man AtLee with the hot young pansy Hylands makes for some brilliant records. AtLee was used to working with straight-laced Fred Gaisberg, so I always imagine that when AtLee walked into Columbia to see big redheaded Hylands there glaring down through his 'spects he must have been somewhat intimidated. The first record to listen to is their 1898 record of "The Mockingbird", which is almost an exact imitation of AtLee's c.1890 record of it with Gaisberg.
Clearly AtLee wanted to this to sound a specific way, but Hylands couldn't help but cut it ragged. This record illustrates Hylands' brilliant talent for split second improvisation. It is kind of a mess, as he plays a lot of the wrong chord changes at times, but manages to keep a confident swagger in his playing.
To continue the AtLee and Hylands theme, they recently put up two very different takes of "Marchin thro' Georgia". Here you go:
(the first one is listenable, the second one is so messy I wouldn't try it if your ears are delicate)
It really is a damn shame that these records are so mess, as the first one is absolutely great! The tempo they agreed on is perfect. Hylands' variations on this piece have encouraged me to learn this piece in the way he played it.
AtLee and Hylands worked oddly well together, even with the 18 year difference between them.
So to close off, I'd like to leave you with a beautiful(but transferred too fast) take of a Latin piece "Pro Peccatis". This has a rough and heavenly piano sound that was often typical of early Zon-O-Phone's. Their piano sounded like a harp sometimes, particularly when Ring played it(that's who I think the pianist is on this particular record).
I have really built a love for Gogorza's voice recently. I really think he was one of the best singers to record in the 1890's and 1900's. He's up there with J. W. Myers, Silas Leachman, and Joe Belmont. The texture of the piano sound is so intense and precise, in that lovely way Zon-O-Phone records sounded.
In a future post I will finally explain my recent findings on Ring. I am pretty sure he is the pianist on that Latin Zono based on recent findings regarding him.
Anyway,
Hope you enjoyed this!
In his 2015 book Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music, author Barry Mazor discusses the numerous significant OKeH field recording trips of 1923-26, noting that these excursions, and follow-up sessions by some of the same artists back in NYC and Chicago, were "often, but not always, led by Ralph Peer personally." So maybe sometimes when Peer was absent on the road, Fred Hager took his place?
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