Burt Green, Fred Hylands, and Irene Franklin

Hey look! It's Burt Green! 

Yes indeed. Burt Green, the husband of Irene Franklin and one of Fred Hylands' musical thieves. Burt Green was not considered one of the the best accompanists in vaudeville, unlike Fred Hylands and Seymour Furth, and it's pretty evident by how he plays from the few records he's the pianist on. He wasn't the best accompanist in the world, but he must have been a riot of a guy, and he and Fred Hylands must have been unstoppable as publishers. 

Now what I just said about Burt being one of Hylands' musical thieves is referring to his piano style. I just listened to the two cylinders from 1912 and 1913 of Burt and his wife Irene Franklin:

There she is around 1910. Gorgeous ain't she? 

Well, on the few records that Burt made with Irene, with him accompanying her, he plays some things that sound an awful lot like this familiar chap:

Hm! Fred Hylands. Now I'm not really saying that Green stole from Hylands, I'm saying that he heard and practically lived with the man for a year at his publishing firm back in 1899. From doing this, he got an "overdose" of  Hylands' shenanigans to imitate his playing almost exactly. Green was a great imitator, as he was known for being one of the the first to play and dance Rag-Time, under the intention of mocking Ben Harney's style to perfection as it was once said. Here is that one cylinder that I really mean:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder13864

Really take a listen! Franklin's singing is really fantastic no doubt, but listen closely to Green's accompaniment. Hmm...where have I heard a trill like that at the very beginning? 

Take these two cylinders as examples:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder14242

Listen for the trill at the "song and Dance" part at the end on this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZRxrz8nmYw

There are countless examples of Hylands playing like this. The fact that Burt Green really did play like Hylands, struck me first this evening when listening to that cylinder by Green and Franklin above. So with Green's great mimicry, he was easily keen on using this gift in his piano styling. He first imitated Harney and Mike Bernard, then later Fred Hylands. 

He was probably anxious to learn from Hylands when he began the publishing firm with him in 1899, and when they came in together after recording days, or on days off, they must have exchanged all sort of ideas. Burt must have watched Hylands play in the closest of detail. He must have watched how he played everything that was distinct to his style, how he used the pedals, and what he did with his left hand. Hylands may or may not have been aware of Green's close examining, or he was, and was being all showy for him. The 24 year old Green must have been cross examining Hylands' mastery in amazement and took in everything he heard. These times of creation must have been fascinating. Burt Green was the sponge absorbing all the music he heard, and Hylands was the genius with the love for Rag-Time in his blood.

Just for another comparison, here is the other cylinder by Green and Franklin from 1912:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder6483

He still sounds like Hylands. After 14 years, he still perpetuated that queer style of his old friend, who by the way, was still alive when this was recorded. It may have been issued the year that Hylands died, but it was recorded the year before that. I even hear in Green's accompaniments the rare characteristic of the fifths in the octaves that Hylands used quite often on his records. You can faintly hear it twice on the cylinder above. The ending of Green's accompaniment is also a mess, which I'm pretty sure was not intended. It just falls apart in a single line. 
The only thing that Green could never steal from Hylands was his feel and sense of rhythm. He could never get it right, in fact, no one could. His was perfect in many ways, and his time was far better than any of the usual accompanists heard on records, he had an even better sense of time than Frank P. Banta, and C. H. H. Booth. Banta had already a fantastic sense of time, but when you put Hylands in the picture, that changes it entirely. 
You can hear the wonderful stylings of Banta on these two cylinders here, with wonderful rhythmic choices:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder2649
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=groIZgk0EJU(music starts at 3:30!)
These may be near perfect sounding examples of Rag-Time on cylinders, with exceptional tempo choices by Banta, but compare it with Hylands:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder8436

https://ia700407.us.archive.org/17/items/ArthurCollins_part1/ArthurCollins-BillBaileyWontYouPleaseComeHomeCoonSong.mp3(Hylands' time on this one is a little shaky, only because he must be a little but tipsy, but it's still one of the best examples recorded Rag-Time from the Rag-Time era itself.)
https://ia700407.us.archive.org/17/items/ArthurCollins_part1/ArthurCollins-EveryDarkyHadaRaglanOnCoonSong.mp3
Banta had great rhythm, but his choices of tempo were not always perfect, and his time coordinating with the right hand syncopation didn't always work either. Hylands had mastered this style and skill by 1896, and perfected it by 1898. Banta was a natural pianist, just like Hylands, but like Burt Green, he had to catch on and really think about how to play this "Ragged" music. Burt Green was only able to keep Hylands' styling alive until 1921, which was only 8 years after Hylands died. That's really unfortunate to think about, and there are less than 20 pianists, at least, in the entire world to-day who have ever acknowledged Hylands' playing and have ever tried to imitate his style, just like Burt Green did. 

I hope you enjoyed this!