I have been listening to several records by Dan W. Quinn and Hylands from last evening to this morning. They make for an interesting duo, as we all know Quinn had a special friendship with Banta, but when he wasn't recording at Edison, he had Fred Hylands to accompany him. Same for his Zon-O-Phone records.
Quinn, we know him and we love him.
Some of his records from after 1900 can get obscure and unusual, such as this first one I want to share from 1903. I think this is a Columbia(if not, my next guess is a Zon-O-Phone not having an announcement is a problem sometimes), well here you go:
Anyone know what dialect that's supposed to be?
I think it's a mix of a bowery dialect and something else. I have never come across it on these old records, especially from Quinn. The piano just makes this record very fun and interesting, the piano is a very wire-ey sounding one, more so than most of the pianos I have heard on these old records. The only other piano that really sounds like the one on this record was Columbia's old piano(the one that Hylands played in late-1897 and early 1898). Here is an example of that piano from Columbia:
I can tell that that piano was kind of a mess. I can be hard to hear a little bit, but it comes through once they get to the section in A flat. It sounds like a rugged old piano alright. And by late-1897, Columbia had found its match for the piano.
Anyhow, back to Quinn and Hylands. This next one is for sure a Zon-O-Phone, as it is said in the announcement by Quinn. It's for sure that Hylands is on the piano behind him, I am pretty certain, as from the Ragged things he plays in the accompaniment.
(the record is played way too fast though...)
I don't know if I have shared this on here before. I think I probably did a while back. This is really an obscure one, every time I hear it I think that Quinn only recorded this one on Victor other than this, and that's really saying something for him. Hylands is really good on this one though, the perfectly Ragged accompaniment really compliments Quinn well sometimes, and Hylands and Banta really knew how to make it work well.
This next one is al old favourite of mine as far as Quinn goes. I learned how to play this song after hearing this record, and it was one of the first ones I did from learning from cylinders. Here you go, with the great accompaniment of Hylands(not being very Ragged, but missing plenty of audible notes!):
Yep, Hylands is pretty, eh, interesting, on this one...
I still love this record because of the memories I have with it. I loved it from the first time I heard it, not knowing who the pianist was of course. A long while after I heard it and learned the song, I figured out who the pianist was, and the mistakes made more sense to me. It's fun record all the same, and you know that Quinn liked the song, and that Hylands was confident, and maybe a little drunk(of course!). Hey, it was recorded in 1898, so that was when Hylands was at his height of love and respect from the staff at Columbia.
Now this next one I know I have shared on this blog before. I still love it because the piano is wild. It's Hylands not using any music is what it is. Basically, what the sequence of this round was is this:
-Quinn hands Hylands the music
-Hylands reads through it, plays it quick, (not the whole song though, just the melody), and everyone in the studio gets the cheering cue
-Hylands hands the music back to Quinn(no music needed)
-Hylands shakes out his hands(takes a drink), and Quinn gives the ready to the engineer(probably Harry Spencer)
-The round begins, and this is what we hear of it:
Hylands had no time to figure out an ending, so he just made it up as it came along. I can tell that Hylands hadn't the music in front of him when they did this. It's pretty obvious that he just figured out the melody, and played. All of the very quick but simple trills show for it(and only playing the melody occasionally).
This next one is another one that I have a great love for. Only because it's absolutely charming and really fun. I have indeed shared this one before, but for a good reason. This is that cylinder that you can hear Hylands clapping quick and cheering from his "perch" high behind Quinn. Here you go with Quinn's second Vaudeville Specialty from 1900:
Ha!(literally...) Hylands back there is having way too much fun!
One thing that I didn't note last time I shared this cylinder that I have noticed is that there's an awful lot of chatter behind Quinn when he's speaking. It's a little hard to hear, but if you're listening closely, you can hear it. I also like that Quinn calls Hylands "Professor", that is something that I have always found funny about this record, other than Hylands being the only one laughinHag and clapping, also yelling "Encore! Encore!" at the end. I just love it. Quinn's Vaudeville Specialties on the Victors are not as charming as these Columbia's, even though Banta's accompanying him on those. Here is the one that came to mind when I thought of this:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002432/Pre-matrix_B-3290-Vaudeville_specialty_no._2
Ha! San Francisco jokes...
The only thing is that I could only wish Quinn did was let the "Professor" talk(he calls him that again!). My friend John Reed-Torres loves the rendition of "Coon, Coon Coon" on this and I do to. I just wish I could verify the pianist for him, I'm still stuck between Hylands and Banta on this, it can go both ways, that's the problem. I lean more toward Banta on this one though.
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002432/Pre-matrix_B-3290-Vaudeville_specialty_no._2
Ha! San Francisco jokes...
The only thing is that I could only wish Quinn did was let the "Professor" talk(he calls him that again!). My friend John Reed-Torres loves the rendition of "Coon, Coon Coon" on this and I do to. I just wish I could verify the pianist for him, I'm still stuck between Hylands and Banta on this, it can go both ways, that's the problem. I lean more toward Banta on this one though.
I hope you enjoyed this!
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