The first thing on this gets me wondering.
One thing that I do quite a heap on this blog is challenge traditional information about these old records. Why I do this is because I want things that have remained unknown and lost for just over a century to be filled in with the rightful accreditation's. These small but also important things cannot be forgotten. We cannot just read all of the good stuff about these wonderful people, but they were normal beings of their day, exhibiting all of the things that were customs in their day. Even the most peaceful and quiet ones.
For example, I am very open about saying Hylands was an alcoholic. Why so? HE DIED AT 41! What more needs to be said? But that's just the "dirt" part of what I find, what I really mean by defying the traditional information is saying that Hylands in the pianist on many records rather than the traditionally thought Frank P. Banta. That is going against the scholars, even the most respected ones of all, Jim Walsh. I love Walsh's writing, but some things here and there are not written correctly or aren't the most accurate. The whole pianist mystery is a real brick wall for most collectors. Most of them still think it's Frank P. Banta(as said in the picture from the back of a record sleeve above), even a few little progressive ones would say "C. H. H. Booth", which is sometimes plausible, but not as often as many of the "odd collectors" would think. On this blog, we all know those pianists very well:
The most common guess, and the traditionally known pianist to most record collectors, Frank P. Banta
They all know Banta because the few old-timer recording artists who lived beyond the 1920's often spoke highly of Banta(even though they probably at least mentioned Hylands at some point when they were interviewed).Banta was just mentioned more often by the recording artists themselves. Dan W. Quinn was one of them, and Arthur Collins may have been another. Most of his lasting fame among the record geeks is due to his very popular son, Frank Edgar Banta, who became a much more popular pianist behind Fred Van Eps and others in the 1920's.
The more "progressive" and educated record geeks turn to Christopher Henry Hudson Booth(C. H. H. Booth as often called when he was listed those few times). Booth was a more recent discovery to the record collectors, but since he was listed more often in the old Victor ledgers, the geeks immediately found him as the other pianist who rotated in and out with Banta, the collectors also thought this was so for Columbia, Zon-O-Phone, and even Leeds. This was found not to be true much later however. C. H. H. Booth did record piano solos and this is why he is becoming a more identified pianist on many of these old records.
If you're a real oddity and geek of these records, if you have ever dug through the 1898 issues of The Phonoscope you will have heard of him.
This sweet-faced fat man is Frederick Hylands, Columbia's star pianist.
He is the most unknown of the pianists who raided the record studios with their playing, and is a very recent discovery in the world of early record collecting. VERY few record collectors and enthusiasts are aware of him. But surprisingly, he hasn't been completely forgotten since his untimely death in 1913. He was believed to have been re-discovered back in the 1990's. Somewhere on the internet, a blogger spoke quietly of Fred Hylands, saying that he was Columbia's pianist, who was later ridiculed on the stage for his still movement in his musicals and his size. His identification however went vacant and faded away for two decades, as the record geeks had not gone back through issues of The Phonoscope ,which many have, but haven't really noticed the significance of these things here, if they ever happened to stumble upon them:
(September 1898 issue)
(Also September 1898 issue)
How could a record geek not notice these clearly written pieces of evidence! How!
Clearly, by as early as September, 1898 Hylands was finding working there at Columbia a real tiring and painful job, which it certainly was. Hylands can be found as early as the March, 1898 issue of The Phonoscope, but this doesn't mean that they hired him then, he can be heard stylistically in late-1897 as well. Just after Columbia expanded out to Paris(which was about August or September 1897), they hired the 25-year-old Hylands on their staff as pianist, then replacing George Schweinfest.
Banta held Edison's piano chair from late-1896 to the week that he died, and he also was one of Victor's pianists from its beginning in 1900 to 1903. Booth is a mystery still, even if more record collectors are beginning to identify him on records. The way to identify them is to listen to a Columbia brown wax cylinder from 1898, and Edison brown wax from 1898, and then a Victor monarch from 1901, then you can get and idea of piano styles, techniques, and feels.
Here is what I mean:
Columbia(two of them for better proof):http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8436/cusb-cyl8436d.mp3
Edison:(two of them again):http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5271/cusb-cyl5271d.mp3
I hope you enjoyed this!
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