In keeping with a similar theme to the Eddie King post, I have potentially dug something up that will impact a large portion of my record listening.
To begin, here's this picture:
It seems like forever since I've used this curious group picture. As you can see, at the very bottom this funny group of musicians is The Columbia band(or orchestra) led by Charles Prince. Last evening, something struck me to remember seeing this picture years ago, and at that I dug it up from the depths of my computer. I stared at it long because I wanted to see if I could recognize any faces from this photo compared to the Hager's orchestra picture from around the same time. I stared back and forth at the two pictures for over an hour, trying to see if I could pick out familiar faces. Now in the end, this proved to be a great idea. A long while ago when I first saved the picture, I recognized Frank Mazziotta right away.
Mazziotta as pictured in The Phonoscope
And Mazziotta in the group picture above.
That's definitely Mazziotta, no debates there. We know definitively that Mazziotta was identified in the Hager's orchestra picture:
There he is!
So that was easy enough, and it does indeed make sense that he be in that Columbia group picture.
But is there anyone else I could pick out? Well, in referring to the title of this post, one particular fella in the Columbia group picture looks extremely familiar. Up in the right corner of the picture, there's this one guy who quite naturally sticks out because of his obvious age difference.
Who is that?
That face looks awfully familiar. After I looked closely at that face, it hit me, that's likely Justin Ring! So what does this mean? This is a game changer.
Just the mere fact that he's in that Columbia band(or orchestra) picture proves that Hager and Ring had a hand in every active major company in the era before 1910. But this also means even more. If Ring was working for Columbia around 1902-1903(the approximate date of the Columbia band/orchestra picture), then he was likely the pianist that succeeded, and likely worked alongside, Hylands.
Now I do not know if this guy is Ring or not, but I did do a lot of staring at the other pictures of him:
This of course is from the c.1902 portrait of Hager's orchestra.
Ring at Okeh, c.1921.
Hager and Ring, c.1902.
So if this hot young sport in the Columbia band(or orchestra) is Ring, this means that much of the Columbia piano accompaniments beginning around 1902 were becoming more of Ring's. Around 1902, there was a shift in pianists at Columbia, as the whole Climax scandal forced some serious changes to be made. From many examples I've heard, Hylands was indeed still working at Columbia as late as 1904, but more often we hear another pianist who sounds somewhat like Hylands, but with a sort of style that was heard on Zon-O-Phone at the same time.
How can I back up this idea that this guy is Ring?
Well, after I realized who that probably is, I went back and listened to a lot of Columbia orchestra records from 1902-1904, and I noticed a few things. Let's start with some material Columbia recorded in this period, a few of these things were suspiciously related to Ring.
There's his famous piece!
At around exactly the same time, this piece was recorded for Zon-O-Phone, as well as Edison. Here are the two other versions:
At around exactly the same time, this piece was recorded for Zon-O-Phone, as well as Edison. Here are the two other versions:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8074
What's so curious about all three versions is that they all have even the same feel and aggressive rhythm that I associate with Ring. It's almost like he was present at each session(sounding suspicious yet?). Another Ring piece that I've seen a lot of crossover with is his "Scarecrow dance", of which is was recorded on each of the labels mentioned.
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder6432
From my recent research travels, I got to hear the first recording of "The scarecrow dance":
So this is quite a lot of crossover, more than what was usual in the era. Usually we wouldn't associate this much crossover within three competing companies that swore to the public that they hadn't anything to do with each other. When I went back and listened to about a dozen Columbia's from 1902-1904, I noticed that around that time there was some shockingly hot rag-time recorded by them. The Columbia orchestra wasn't really known for playing hot rag-time pieces, odd to say as such, because they had Hylands there for that crucial time. Around 1901-1902, the Columbia orchestra and band began to record some classic rag-time, such as and instrumental of "Coon coon coon","Peaceful Henry", and J. Bodewalt Lampe's "Dixie Girl".
Listen to this here:
(it's not performed by Hager's orchestra, haha, maybe it is if you count Ring's presence *wink wink*)
This surge of rag-time repertoire also seemed to hit the accompaniments of this time at Columbia too, and in a way that wasn't as antiquated or banjo-centric as Hylands'. It's the progressive kind, the hot and bluesy kind. Even as late as 1905 that distinct aggressive accompaniment remained at Columbia, take this record for example:
Now I am almost certain that that pianist on Dockstader's Columbia's is Ring, mostly because of Ring's connection to the publisher of "Everybody works but father". Remember that Hager published "Everybody works but father".
Even though Ring is likely that other Columbia pianist post-1902, there are indeed exceptions where I'm sure the pianist is Hylands, despite the obvious Hager-Ring influence. A great group of late Hylands records are Joe Belmont's solos from 1902-1903. Those definitely have the distinct antiquated Hylands touch of the late-1890's. Here are a few for reference:
The dead give away on this record that its Hylands is that distinct ending. It sticks out and is as unique as his fingerprint. That walking bass outro I've heard on dozens of Columbia's from 1897-1903.
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder4686
So now I have a basic outline for the pianist cutoff for Columbia, and that's the end of 1902. Around the beginning of 1903, that's when Justin Ring(or if not Ring, just someone else) stepped in for worn out old Hylands. The 1903 cutoff date actually lines up really well with what I've done on my tracking of Hylands' locations by date. Before 1903, Hylands stayed in and around New York for the most part, and in 1903 he took the position as music director at the Majestic Theatre in Boston. He remained tied up with the folks in Boston until 1904, when he began writing his musical flop The Yankee Doodle Girl as well as his more successful The Beauty Doctor. So everything works out quite well with this Hylands thing. Also, I have finally come to a pretty solid idea that Hylands began working at Columbia in early 1897, but I'll get back to that later.
So, what about this Ring deal? If that is indeed Ring in that Columbia group portrait, that means Ring was working for three companies at the same time; Zon-O-phone, Columbia, and Edison. And it's important to wonder whether he was actually able to pull this off. Well, in 1901, the whole Climax-Columbia thing did allow for Hager and Ring to work for Columbia, Zon-O-Phone, and Climax all at the same time. So even after the Climax bust in 1902, it was possible to work for a company threesome. Indeed Ring had the ability to handle all this, because he hadn't any responsibilities at home, by that I mean he didn't have a wife and kids and in-laws to tend to. He had plenty of free time on his hands, as he was young and ambitious as well as industrious, all the qualities that a performer working for multiple phonographs would need. Hager was somehow less connected to Columbia, though he must have had some deal with them as he had many of his musicians record in their orchestra(Ring included).
So I really hope that's Ring in that group picture. That would actually solve a lot of issues I've had with accompaniments on Columbia after 1902. Awhile back, I had this idea that one of those Zon-O-Phone pianists sounded an awful lot like the post-Hylands Columbia pianist, and if it is indeed Ring in that picture, that would pretty much prove this theory once and for all.
So a little farther up in this post I mentioned that I have a pretty solid idea of Hylands' term of Columbia. For years I have been puzzled whether or not Hylands started at Columbia in 1897, but it seems pretty evident now that he did. I have been hearing more Columbia's from 1897 recently, and have had more time to really dissect the accompaniments on them, also because I have been going back occasionally to make sure I know which pianist is Hylands. Just to circulate the image some more, here's that infamous Columbia studio picture from 1897:
Despite every one's still peeved opinions, I still think that pianist is Hylands as he looked when Columbia hired him in early 1897.
Anyway, i listened to a handful of 1897 Columbia's recently to cross reference them with the later Hylands accompaniments, and they seemed to line up perfectly.
I am convinced Hylands was on more "...New York City" announced Columbia's than previously thought. The NYC announcement was phased out by the middle of 1897, so the dates do work out quite well with the emergence of queer syncopation on Columbia records. Here are three good examples:
All three of these records are NYC announced Columbia's, so they all date from early to mid 1897. I made sure to cross reference Indiana-Ohio rags published around the same time to be assured that the styles line up just enough, and they do. Here are two:
In the first record example I used, note how eccentric and broken the syncopation is. It's just as accurate as the two rags listed directly above. And to further cross reference, I used Columbia's from 1898-99 that I know have that distinct Hylands "rag-time" accompaniment that the boys at The Phonoscope so avidly solicited.
There's that Cincinnati swing we all know!
Before I finish off, a few things I've been noticing very clearly with Hager and Ring's accompaniments, is that they definitely listened to Hylands' accompaniments. Both Hager and Ring played that walking bass that Hylands played naturally so often, and even took bits of the Cincinnati stylings that one would only pick up if they really studied the records.
I have no idea what i might write about next, so stay tuned folks!
Hope you enjoyed this!
