Lefties, more history, and other Eccentricities

It's been an interesting evening, with knowing about all of these fascinating recording stars. I had a very pleasant but rather short conversation with my dear friend Jack Stanley, about the early studio pianists, and what's doing in the places we're at. I will get into that subject a little later in this post. 

Being a lefty, I find that finding out about other lefties a fascinating thing really, and many famous historical figures of the past have been left-handed. This recessive gene had long been suppressed through the ages, due to religious connotations with those who write with their left hand, and this is why it's something we don't really hear about too often. Some examples of fellow lefties include Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Winston Churchill(love it!)Leonardo DaVinci, and Benjamin Franklin! Lefties have long been studied by doctors and researchers, as they have long been believed to have special abilities that those who naturally write with their right hand do not have. Natural lefties first pick up a writing utensil with their left hand, rather than their right hand, it is their first instinct to pick up the thing with their left hand. From there, that's how it remains. 

Why did I get into this? Well because I have long had theories of which of these great old performers and recording stars were lefties. It can make a significant difference sometimes. Now here's the only person who I am almost 100% sure of being a lefty:

Ben R. Harney. Why? Well there's a picture of him from around 1890 out in Kentucky of him holding a banjo left handed. That's all the indication, or proof, I would need to know that this is true. Every other trait of Harney is that of a lefty, and those who are so, usually are the most creative of people who ever live in their eras. Harney was the most creative and progressive of the earliest Rag-Time pianists and performers, doing all of his own original acts and music. Harney was certainly a genius in his own way. And was a lefty! Which makes him even more interesting  as a character. Usually the best Rag-Time pianists are made when they're lefties anyhow, just saying...

Now another who I am really starting to think was a lefty was:

Freddy Hylands. 

Why? Well, first of all, hear all of those notes he plays in his Rag-Time paired with the right hand patterns he played. Secondly, look at that part of the Hylands Spencer and Yeager logo:

 I'm referring to the slogan part of it. This part:

Yes, that part. 

Now the reason I think that Hylands did this part is because of all the notes and the comical and creative nature of it.  It isn't in the same hand as the beautiful script of Len Spencer just below it. It's the work of a true eccentric, and that Hylands probably knew how to write music better than most of those involved in the firm. I'm not saying that he was the neatest when doing this, but he was certainly very skilled at doing this. Look at how that treble clef is drawn, it's very left-leaning, and that is unusual. Hylands also must have been a lefty because of how he played. There's too much going on most of the time for most people to understand sometimes, not even people who heard him play back then probably knew what was going on when he played something very complicated. Since he was so eager for attention, he practically owned the rhythm that any song was played at, as his rhythm was purposely unsteady sometimes, or he was drunk, which was another problem with him. His playing is the work of a lefty, by how his left hand was always perfect in its own way, very strong, complicated, yet simple somewhat. I have enough examples of his playing on other posts here, so I don't really need to put up any more of them. 

Save for the last 15 seconds of this cylinder here!

So perfect! Every bass note can be clearly heard. 

Now into the second part of this post. I was speaking with Jack Stanley not long ago this evening, and I asked the question of where he first  heard of Fred Hylands, as I am still trying to solve the mystery as to why he is forgotten so widely. Jack told me that he met with Jim Walsh back in 1978 at a gathering of all record collectors and historians, which just happened to include Walsh in the bunch. I don't think I've mentioned on this blog that it's important to note that Walsh was a true eccentric, who talked in a southern dialect that was hard to understand, and told all sorts of weird stories, some that didn't have to do with early recording. Once he got through the bizarre side of Walsh, all the collectors began to converse about the two main studio pianists of the 1890's-1900's. It began first with Banta, just as any one of those conversations would. Frank P. Banta, the much more well-known and praised of the early studio pianists, they spoke of Banta's high praise by the studio artists for a while, until someone mentioned Fred Hylands. Jack could not easily recall who it was that mentioned him first, but it might have been Walsh himself. Now that is interesting. If it was indeed Walsh who said this, that would indicate that he did indeed know about Hylands, and that he was a studio pianist for Columbia. It's really interesting though, you cannot find Hylands anywhere in Walsh's writing nor in any of his files that are kept by the Library of Congress. Hmm. Why is this so? It's clear that he knew about him, and that he wasn't forgotten, but who told him of this?

You know what, it just occurred to me that Billy Muarry made a bunch of records with Hylands between 1902 and 1904. Here are two of them:

Murray singing "The Whistling Coon"from 1903(amazing accompaniment, all around!)

"Has Anyone Seen Our Cat?" 1902(amazingly weird accompaniment!)

Now, if it was Murray who told Walsh of Hylands(which he probably did at some point) he would only have known him toward the end of his term as studio pianist, which would be a whole lot different than someone like Len Spencer telling tales of working with Hylands. Murray saw him in his decline, not at the height of his recording term, which would be 1898 to 1901. Murray came in just after that obviously. He saw Hylands a little more "Ragged"(like physically, not musically...) and beat-up from working there. In fact, I don't think very many of the artists who worked with Hylands in the 1890's were living after 1930(0ther than Dan W. Quinn obviously), they were all dying off by 1920, which was before Walsh was out there writing down interviews and gathering mounds of information. So there really isn't a great example out there of describing what working with Hylands was like before 1900. Quinn was probably more likely to have spoken of Hylands more than Murray, as he saw more of him, and had to work with him ore regularly. Murray worked with him in a very short timeframe and probably only remembered him because of how much of a thing it was dealing with him. Something about Hylands stuck with those few recording pioneers for decades, with Joe Belmont, Dan Quinn, George Schweinfest, Billy Murray, Byron Harlan, Steve Porter, Henry Burr, S. H. Dudley, Albert Campbell, and all the rest of the recording stars who lived past 1930. 

Columbia Rag-Time vs. Edison Rag-Time(also some Victors too!)

A little list of Columbia cylinder offerings from 1900.

Here's a section from it:

Some of you real nerds out there might have been able to see right away that these are all Len Spencer and Fred Hylands selections. Three or four of the selections listed here were published by Spencer and Hylands in 1899, so this would indicate that the list of records was issued in earlier 1900. You can see some very attractive selections here, such as "Whistling Rufus", "You Don't Stop the World From Going Round", "Hello Ma Baby", "Smokey Mokes", "At A Georgia Camp Meeting" and several others that seem they'd make for a great listening. That's the thing about Columbia cylinders from that time frame(the later brown wax era), is that they had the few artists that hit the Rag-Time hard in 1898 to 1900, even if they didn't have Arthur Collins in that time, they had Spencer, and that was enough. In 1898-1900, Collins was just getting started, and wasn't exactly the most popular Rag-Time singer on records until after 1900. The reason Columbia didn't take Collins until 1901 might have been because of the popularity of Spencer and his minstrels in that time, and Collins was an independent outside of the "Columbia crowd"(if you know what I'm saying...). Spencer did not want to have to compete with someone who did exactly what he did, minus everything else Spencer recorded other than "Coon songs". 

Now with Spencer and Hylands at Columbia in the 1898-1900 timeframe, you get Collins and Banta at Edison. The only thing about Banta is that he wasn't paired with anyone on the staff as a specific act. He wasn't like Hylands who clung to the richest of the staff members, Banta was more independent that that. He did fill much of the Edison catalogs from the late 1890's with great and tasteful Rag-Time selections. With Banta leading their "Peerless Orchestra" from about late-1896 to about 1901, you get a great variety of Ragged selections, well orchestrated, and not at all a big cluster like Hylands' " Darkey Volunteer". 

Here is Banta and the Edison Peerless Orchestra playing Fred S. Stone's Ma Rag Time Baby" recorded in 1899(with a comical intro by Arthur Collins!).

In 1899 and 1900, Banta also did arrangements of "Smokey Mokes", "Whistling Rufus", and even "Ma Tiger Lily":

(My copy of it, that isn't the more common song version)

Banta's leadership of the Peerless orchestra was ended in 1901 because he became more infatuated with leading Victor's(before 1900 it was Berliner's house ensemble) Metropolitan Orchestra.

Banta did keep the Rag-Time flowing over at the somehow more conservative Edison company toward the end of the brown wax era and into the Gold Moulded era. You can hear Banta playing all sorts of very fun and Ragged accompaniments behind Arthur Collins, Will F. Denny, S. H. Dudley, and especially behind Vess L. Ossman. This is where you get these two Rag-Time gems from 1898 and 1899:

Collins and Banta with Lyn Udall's "Zizzy Ze Zum Zum" from 1898

Denny and Banta with "The Change Will Do You Good" from 1899

The Rag-Time factor at Edison dropped dramatically after Banta began working much more with the Metropolitan orchestra in 1901, even though in 1903 and 1904(after Banta died mind you), we see some more fun pieces of Rag-Time again, such as Justin Ring.'s "Jovial Joe" and E. Harry Kelly's "Peaceful Henry". It wasn't the same without Banta. 

Meanwhile, at Leeds, Columbia, Zon-O-Phone, and American, you can hear fantastic Ragged renditions of popular songs scattered all over the catalogs(by Hylands of course!). Banta's Rag-Time was popular more to record buyers, but Hylands' was more advanced and rugged, with more of the soul that Rag-Time needs.

Some more of the fun Rag-Time arrangements that Banta did from 1897-1902 include his own "Kareless Koon", "Ragged William"(which you can hear Here!)

"At A Georgia Camp Meeting", "Cotton Blossoms"(of which you can hear a German version here!), "Sambo At the Cake-Walk"(hear Banta's arrangement in action here, recorded actually in 1899-00, not 1901), "The Gridiron"(by Arthur Pryor, which can he heard played here in 1901),  and so many others you can find listed on this page here:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/14357/Metropolitan_Orchestra_Musical_group

I will write more on this soon, as the UCSB site is down this evening, and that can be a real problem when wanting to compare these records, when half of the records I would have used on this post come from there. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Organ on cylinders and notions similar

I got a Harmonium this week, and it's the most queer instrument I own currently. It's an amazing portable organ from around 1905, and made by an Indian company, that no longer exists. With this sudden interest in organs, I got into the few cylinders I know of with organ accompaniment behind a singer. These organ accompanied cylinders are always interesting, even if they are usually just sacred songs by Steve Porter.

That's Porter, in c.1897 

Porter had a fondness for recording sacred songs from 1897 to about 1901. This fact is slightly odd, because he did quite a lot of comic songs and minstrel records with the Spencer's. I haven't the least idea why he felt he needed to load up the phonographs with all the sacred songs(rather than splitting the takes with Len Spencer or something). He did share some of the same cylinder numbers with J. W. Myers, which indicates a little bit of splitting up of work. Other than that fact, Porter was know to many phonograph buyers as a singer of the best sacred songs that were sold, and his were always indicated as the best of their kind. 

To begin with these organ accompanied oddities, here is Porter's rendition of "Abide with Me" from 1898, with organ accompaniment by Fred Hylands:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/15000/15522/cusb-cyl15522d.mp3

(sorry, it's played too slow, and could sound better on the transfer...)

Now the first thing about Hylands playing the organ is that he wasn't very skilled on the instrument. Hylands probably hadn't had the best experiences with the organ at Columbia, as it must have been a real project to try to get it balanced correctly on the cylinders. Since this was really the first attempt to record the organ commercially(I have heard of Len Spencer trying to record a church organ around 1891-92), it must have been a time for experimentation at Columbia, both on Hylands' part, and all the staff at their studio. 

I can imagine things like the pedals snapping and squeaking with Hylands getting all flustered by this, when they were experimenting with it in 1898. It must have been really something to see, with all of them trying to figure out the thing, and have their Freddy play it to the best he could. 

Since he was a quick-minded anxious piano man, Hylands could more likely than not have been heard playing things like these two Cakewalks here:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LCizTjtGAc

Even if reluctantly, Hylands had to play all the frivolous things that J. W. Myers and Steve Porter demanded.

This next one is a cylinder that I have shared on here before, but it's the best example of Hylands' less-than-great organ skills:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9764/cusb-cyl9764d.mp3

Why didn't Myers say anything? I would have turned around after the take and asked about some of this weird things that he played. It's a fascinating cylinder nonetheless, because you can tell that Hylands tries to play some of the things that he was used to playing on the piano, like the trills in the middle of the melodies. I just cannot get over Hylands playing the organ, it's funny and almost great. 

Now to turn to Banta for a moment. 

There's Banta in c.1902.

Now Banta had a much better skill on the organ, and he must have played the instrument more regularly than Hylands did. Here is another rendition of "Abide With Me", but this time by Frank C. Stanley in early 1903.

That's a damn good sounding organ. Edison's organ sounded much more like a pipe organ than Columbia's, I don't know why, but I would love to. One thing that would be great to know is what instrument these recording studios actually used, because there were several kinds of small organs that could have been used, from a small pipe organ to something small like an American version of a Harmonium(which are very small, with only 38 keys).

Here is another Edison example of organ accompaniment by Frank Banta, here you go from 1902. Now this makes the thing sound very interesting, sounding more like Columbia's organ. Here is another one from 1903, with S. H. Dudley.

I have the brown wax Columbia of the cylinder in the link above, so that would mean that Hylands would have to get all the organ parts set up, which must have been something he always dreaded when he came to the studio. Here is the last example I have of Banta's organ skills, and it's one of the most beautiful records I know of from pre-1910. 

I have few records that would fit in this category, but Frank C. Stanley's "The Bellman" from 1902 is certainly one of them, here is that cylinder.
Every time I hear that cylinder I almost get into tears for some reason. It must be Stanley's perfect tone, the powerful chimes, and Banta's organ mastery. (Also because Banta only lived another 13 months after it was recorded...)

Now back to Hylands. This one I have next I have also shared here before for the same reason as the organ accompaniment. This one feature Len Spencer's brother Harry:

(He's the taller guy)
This one is a funny example of Harry and Len Spencer's abilities to capture real-life scenes of the 1890's. That cylinder is here.
It's an interesting cylinder for a lot of reasons, but really try your hardest to focus on the organ playing under Spencer. There's Rag-Time there! Now that way, it's pretty obvious who the organist is( ehm! Hylands). Another thing I just noticed about this cylinder is that other voice toward the beginning, and at the end.  Hmm... Who is that? I know that Len Spencer is also on this cylinder other than Harry, but could one of the three different voices be that of the organist? Freddy Hylands perhaps? He was pretty close to the recording horns on the organ, more so than usual with the piano as you may be able to hear. Here is the other cylinder I think Hylands can be heard on(from the same year):
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9828/cusb-cyl9828d.mp3
It's very possibly Hylands' voice you can hear at the singing toward the end. 
Hear any resemblance? I certainly do, after really taking a few close listens to the two brown wax cylinders. That's really fascinating, as most record collectors would think of those house pianists of this time as silent and solemn workers, but as Hylands worked, he had a loud mouth and wanted to be heard in any way that he could be. These two cylinders above really say true for that notion. Especially the one with Harry Spencer, as now I am convinced that that voice yelling at the end(that's supposed to be a policeman) is probably the voice of Fred Hylands in its clearest form, and at the best volume. The voice also sounds very young, has a slight dialect, and is a trifle scratchy. It's also very different-sounding from anyone I know of at Columbia in 1898. If that's Hylands, he had some voice. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Billy Heins, the long-lived minstrel

I realized this evening that I had never spoken at all about this man on this blog. He is a very mysterious and interesting character in the early recording business. My dear collector friend Craig Ventresco has a very clear affinity with Billy Heins' voice and singing style overall, which means that he has several of his relatively few records. He made only just a handful or so of Zon-O-phone's in 1900 and 1901, which as I have been told, are VERY uncommon to find anywhere. Here you can hear Heins singing "Strike up the Band" from 1901.

I kind of see why my friend Craig likes him so much. 

He started making records in 1899 where he can be heard on all of those minstrel brown wax cylinders that Edison put out at that time. The cast of these productions usually consisted of Arthur Collins, S. H. Dudley, Billy Williams(whom I don't know anything about unfortunately!), Harry MacDonough, and several more in the cast. Here are a few of these cylinders:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5222/cusb-cyl5222d.mp3

https://archive.org/details/JustOneGirlByBillyWilliamsAndS.H.Dudley1899

https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SRP-0202-22

(nice mispronouncing of "Potpourri" Collins!)

Collins was always an absolute riot on those 1899 minstrel cylinders! 

Anyhow, amid that mix of familiar voices, is that of Billy Heins. I cannot pick him out of the mix personally, and I don't really know of anyone who has done so yet. The only reason he is known to be there is because he was written to be there and remembered to be present at those sessions by artists who lived a long time. This is also because he made a few solos appertaining to the minstrel show process, with the overtures, dancing, and solo vocalists, in which Heins was one of. 

He stayed with Edison for only 1899, and resumed recording again for Zon-O-Phone in 1900 and into 1901. After that, he was dormant from recording for a few years, he returned to the studios in 1904, this time for the American record company. This company was the one who made those blue coloured records with the Indian smoking the peace pipe on the label, one of which is seen here:

They are certainly among the most beautiful labels that ever were made prior to 1910. And other than just appearing beautiful, they sounded fantastic too! 

So here is one of Heins' Blue American records, this one is called "Pepita Maguire" from 1904.

I have actually had the chance to hold and play a pristine copy of the exact record in the link above. Heins made a few blue American records, but not enough to be called a "regular" in their studio. I wouldn't really consider him a "regular" in any of the studios he worked at anyhow, as he didn't make enough records to really sustain work from a single company. He again remained dormant from recording for a few years after 1905, and this time, he didn't return until 1917. When he came back, he replaced Billy Golden's performance partner James Marlowe(who was probably about as old as Golden when he died in 1915). He made a handful of records with Golden from 1917 to 1921, which was toward the end of Golden's life interestingly enough. 

Here are two of these records, one is a cylinder, the other is a disc.

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5565/cusb-cyl5565d.mp3

https://archive.org/details/GoldenAndHeins-TowserIsDead

I just found out as I was doing this research on Heins this evening, that he was playing the banjo on all of those records he did with Golden! I didn't realize that, and it really makes sense, even if I had never known that he played the banjo. 

He completely disappeared after 1920. So to clear something up, I really don't know anything about Billy Heins other than the records he made, I just know that he was a minstrel man who just happened to play the banjo, and was taken in by someone at Edison in 1899. I don't know where he came from, or what he did other than recording(which may have been minstrel shows and vaudeville). He needs to be found out more, as he's pretty much completely obscure in the early recording business, even more so than Fred Hylands. 

To put his obscurity into perspective, Fred Hylands was at least mentioned as a popular pianist in the old recording artist books back from the 1970's and 1980's, not once was Billy Heins listed there.  That really says a whole lot about Heins. His lifespan is not really even confirmed, but he did live a very long time. His birth date is estimated as November 29, 1874, and he is believed to have died in July of 1971. Yes, he would have been 96 when he died. I can believe that somehow. As he wasn't a hardcore recording artist like Len Spencer or Vess Ossman, and it wouldn't seem that he was too popular all around as a performer. He did also manage to stay pretty "off the grid'' from all these wild recording stars as well, that in itself is amazing. He would have out-lived literally everyone he knew at the recording studio, and everyone he had heard of, but never really met(also, he outlived many of his friends' children!). That---is amazing. Here is a brief list of who he would have outlived:

Arthur Collins, Byron G. Harlan, Vess Ossman, Frank Banta(both Frank Bantas, Frank P. died in 1903, Frank E. died in 1968), Len Spencer, Billy Golden, Fred Van Eps(died in 1960), Fred Hylands, Harry MacDonough, Edward Favor, Billy Murray, George Gaskin, Steve Porter, Joe Belmont, Silas Leachman, Russell Hunting, Dan W. Quinn, Albert Campbell, Max Hoffman, etc, etc, etc.

Pretty extraordinary! I think it's a real pity that he was never interviewed later, as I'm sure he would have had the same amount of stories as Joe Belmont did. I still have yet to learn about Heins' life, and if anyone has any information, please comment on this post with information! 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

The Genius of Hylands' playing and other ramblings

I meant to do a post last evening, but there was a big failure with the electricity and the Internet yesterday. Other than listening to a healthy dose of early Jazz lately, I have listened to a lot of  Fred Hylands accompaniments closely, and I have noticed some things I haven't really thought about before. One thing that I kind of had a slight idea of before was the fact that Hylands didn't just play the traditional Rag-Time chord and octave or note left hand, he played things over the syncopated right hand that are indirectly related to the style of boogie-woogie. Yes indeed, some boogie players may challenge this notion to death, but I find an indirect relationship between these two seemingly completely different styles of piano. 

This idea of Hylands playing two completely different things at once is the work of a true genius no doubt, and it seems that even when the man was drunk he could still do this! Two perfect examples of this are here:

one from 1898.

And one from 1902.

The two records in the links above are extraordinary examples of Rag-Time from pre 1904. The second one is especially amazing, because Hylands is much easier to hear than on the first one. I have tried many a time to play the weird thing that he plays in the choruses behind Collins, it's a mixture of walking octaves in a specific melodic pattern, and a slightly blues-y right hand pattern. It's really a hard one to dissect, and just to try to play in general. 

I know of another very good example of Hylands' "two-sided" accompaniments(as I call them now), which is a Climax record from 1901 entitled "Baby Mine(Sand Dance)" by S. H. Dudley(which I should ask the friend of mine who owns the record for a transfer!) where as I recall now, he plays a bunch of chromatic patterns under the melody of the song, and even at the "Sand Dance'' part of it where Dudley does his signature whistling chorus.I just know that it is in the same format as this record here. 

It is a different song, but done in the same sort of sequence, as are most of Dudley's solo records. 

In my post a few days ago, about the sheet music thing, I meant to point out a few pieces of music with J. W. Myers on them, and how great the pictures are! I found these two pictures on two pieces of music both dated 1894:

Now I know for a fact that the first picture of Myers is older than 1894. It just looks quite a few years older than 1894, also because of how different his hair is, and collar and tie as well. He looks very young as well you may notice. So if I were to give a date to these two pictures of Myers, the first one is from c.1889 and the second one is from around 1893-94. The unusual thing about the first picture is that you can really see how bright his eyes were, in most of the other pictures of him, his eyes looked very dark, but not at all in that one. They look more blue or green than brown as one can be at first be misled to believe. It would make sense that Myers was photographed so early on in his career as the late-1880's, as he was already gaining stage fame by 1888, and by 1890 was a big star as far as the solo baritone singers went. 
It's not surprising, because of this picture here:

Yep, Len Spencer in 1889-1890. That's always a picture that interests me. It does for several reasons:
1: that look in his eyes!
2: His weird looking tie
3: his old-styled 1880's looking coat and collar(that particularly gives the date away better)
4: the fact that he still looks like a college student
5: and his hair!
I'm not really sure if this picture came from a record catalog, or was ever used for one, but it's very unlikely. I always see this picture and think about Spencer when he made those early records back in 1889 with setting five phonographs atop a crappy old upright with him singing to his own accompaniment. I known of a few of  his records from 1891 and 1892 under pseudonyms that still exist, but I have heard only one of them. 
Since I have been listening to quite a few Spencer and Ossman records this evening, I wonder now, did Ossman ever have the time to travel around with Spencer's minstrels? Or just maybe come as a guest artist? It's very possible, but since Ossman was so busy, I thought of this with speculation. Though, Spencer's minstrels toured extensively in late 1899 and early 1900. I just wonder about this because Spencer first teamed with Ossman in late-1896 and began recording with him in 1897, with records such as this one.
A collector friend of mine owns all of Spencer and Ossman's Victors, and when I was visiting the man's house last, I dug them all out and listened to them closely. Spencer must have enjoyed Ossman's playing, since he teamed with him so many times between 1897 and 1906, even though he had his musical affair with his piano man Fred Hylands in that exact time frame. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Les Copeland and other eccentric anomalies

Within this past weekend at Sutter Creek California, I learned a few interesting more things about the eccentricity Les Copeland. Most Rag-Timers who know of him know him as Dave Jasen said in Rags and Ragtime , "An anomaly among eccentrics". He was more than that though. He was one who drank like a fish, ate odd edible flowers(how "hippie" of him!), dressed as a cowboy and told western tales, and even had a glass eye! 

He was some freak. More so than any of the other Rag composers or singers I have read about. He was actually known for being a weirdo. It's so funny, he looked like a completely normal guy, but how he wasn't... Just like San Fransisco "Rag-man" Jay Roberts. His Rag style however is where all the other great elements of his personality came into play. He had a style that was distinctly old for the time that he was composing in, as Trebor Tichenor once said, his style was the archaic style of "Rags" from fifteen years prior, as of say 1912. I really love his rags, and I don't think I know any Rag-Timers who dislike them. They were just as weird and filled with an explosion of old and new all over the place. He must have been a wonderful performer to witness do his schtick, as he would dress up in queer clothes sometimes and play in that always weird way of his, with jolty but great rhythm. 

An example of the handful of Copeland cartoons I have done. 

His hand-played piano rolls give us a very good example of how he played, and that odd almost broken rhythm he had, wherever that came from...

Here is his very rare roll of his own "Texas Blues" from 1917:

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

See what I mean about the jolty tempo. It was just how he happened to play, it must have been weird having him in the pit with Lew Dockstader's troupe(which is where he was employed in 1911 and 1912. With all the singers and minstrels and whatnot. He was a queer singer and storyteller as well as being a great eccentric and piano roll artist. Here is a link to the listing of the only known recording he made on disc record in 1916:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/900001073/Trial_1916-01-27-01-The_old_soaken_bucket_sic

I hate the boys at Victor who decided not to issue this. I absolutely hate who ever's idea it was NOT to issue this record. I always will.

But! One of his more popular rags from 1913 was recorded on a Little Wonder disc in that same year. It's still great, even if it isn't the man himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOooA1V-Xaw

SO ADDICTING! I really love this record. Not just because of the music, but because Charles Prince is probably conducting the band, and he was really great at arranging and conducting Ragged songs. As he did all the great Rags of the early teen's with his band at Columbia, such as "The Oceana Roll", "Temptation Rag", "King Chanticleer" and so many more! 

Now this is how he would have played it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql7KsdFnH8A

Yep, that's about right. 

The thing about him that made these rags a breeze for him is that, as according to the great Max Morath, he had extremely long hands. This fact can be heard in how many tenths are in the right and left hands of his written music and his unpublished music. That can be seen here on these two pieces by him, the first one unpublished and the second one became one of his most popular pieces:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkHk6068mBw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0mGC9kWAak

On the second one, all of the tenths are actually written out, and can really be seen. His piano roll version of this can be heard here, with that usual jolty and unstable tempo of his:

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

It's still a great Rag, that is oftentimes the most heard of Copeland's Rags. I have heard several people play it before, including Tom Brier! He really must have been a great kick to see perform, and sing, and do whatever the heck he was planning on doing when he performed. I'm just really surpised at the fact that the Victor boys dragged him into their studio in 1916. That was when S. H. Dudley(Rous) was still the personnel manager! So is was partially on him for that. That must have been an interesting encounter, having him in their studio. With the notorious weirdo Les Copeland performing one song amid the mix of the other singers on January the 27 of 1916. 

I just want to thank Ryan Wishner and Vincent Johnson for all the great conversation and interesting conversations we had at Sutter Creek last weekend! Thanks for the info Vincent! 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Banta's Victor and Edison Adventures

(from a picture of Charles D' Almaine, source: Tinfoil.com)
Yes, that IS Banta, I guarantee it. It's the hair slim figure that got me wondering.

We all know Frank P. Banta well from them old records. Those who know him are most likely to know him from the hundreds of Edison cylinders he devoted the last five years of his life to. While he was the great and beloved pianist of Edison's studio, he was also the pianist in the Metropolitan orchestra in the late 1890's and into the 1900's. As I have explained before on this blog, Banta was the one who you can hear counting off the band at the beginning of many of the Metropolitan orchestra records. It's very odd how the engineers let that pass for so many years, and that they didn't seem to do a thing about it. They let a surprising amount of things pass over them o the records in the late-9
0's and early 1900's, such as an out-of-sync piano and chatter in the background.
 There are a few early Victors that indicate that Banta was the pianist, but after that they didn't credit them, probably because they had three different pianists at Victor after that, and Banta was getting very busy back at Edison. Here is one of them where he isn't identified, but he was on a previous take of this same selection by Clarke:
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002555/Pre-matrix_B-3412-Grand_Russian_fantasie
I found this record years ago and fell in love with the piano accompaniment from the first time I heard it. I would never have thought that I would ever know who the pianists was...
Here is the Edison cylinder with the same accompaniment for a comparison:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9232/cusb-cyl9232d.mp3
Banta was not identified as their pianist at Victor, even when he was the pianist on several records where it's really clear such as this next one.
Here's the Edison cylinder with Banta:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5273/cusb-cyl5273d.mp3
This song is very funny and odd for 1901, but it's great all the same paired with S. H. Dudley's voice. Anyhow, the one thing that makes Dudley's Victor of this easy to tell that the pianist is Banta is because of the weird solo at the end in all octaves. It doesn't go with the song very well, and it's slightly jarring to the listener. Here is the Victor with the same accompaniment:
There's two takes here, and I'm referring to the second one listed, the first one is with a different pianist 
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000540/Pre-matrix_B-1090-Not_by_a_dam_side
Two identical accompaniments is something to get curious about. This happens a lot with Hylands as well with Columbia and Zon-O-Phone. It proves that they alternated time in the Victor piano chair. Most of the time, they wouldn't stay playing at Victor for several days in a row, they would split the weeks and even days. Banta must have tried his best to keep together the scattered Metropolitan orchestra on the many records they made, they sounded broken half the time. 
Even though the Victor ledgers often said that S. H. Rous(Dudley) was the leader of the Metropolitan orchestra, he probably just did sounds effects and other various things, much like Harry Spencer did for the Columbia orchestra. it was Banta who counted them off and did some of the arrangements. Before the whole Metropolitan orchestra business, which began in 1899, he was the pianist in Edison's studio ensemble the Peerless orchestra. Banta, along with Arthur Collins,(on later records) Ed Meeker, and who else in the Edison concert band was able to get there, made up Edison's Peerless orchestra.
Here are a few Ragged examples of their playing(featuring Frank Banta on the piano)
From 1899:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/0000/0054/cusb-cyl0054d.mp3
I have a feeling that this cylinder was played too fast. 
This next one is from 1900:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/10000/10025/cusb-cyl10025d.mp3
Collins' announcements were always hilarious. Because,

HE'S SHOUTING FROM THE BACK OF THE ROOM!
and also because mispronounced words a whole lot too. 
Banta must have found Collins and absolute crack-up in the studio, also because he had to accompany him on his earliest solo records in 1898. 
This next Peerless orchestra cylinder is from late-1898 or early 1899:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5243/cusb-cyl5243d.mp3
Ha! On this one you get to hear young Arthur Collins speak, and you get to hear that god-awful sound that jingle bells made on brown wax cylinders. That's what that high-pitched scraping sound is. they could never really get it right. Even on this high-grade Columbia cylinder of Sousa's Band from 1898:http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8833/cusb-cyl8833d.mp3
"Hey!-Hey!"-from one of the Spencer's and the Sousa band!

These next few are early Arthur Collins Edison cylinders. This first one is an unusual Collins brown wax from c.1899(the date is not listed but that is certainly the date of it:
https://archive.org/details/SlideKellySlideByArthurCollins
You get to hear Banta's signature trills all over the place on this one. 
This next one is very early Collins. This was recorded when he and Len spencer were starting to get into recording fights about who could record more Rag-Time. This is the period where the record collectors fight over who recorded more vocal Ragtime in the 1890's. I love to see them argue, because it's pretty obvious that Spencer recorded more of it in 1897, 1898 and 1899. Collins came close though. 
Here you go with an unusual Rag-Time ditty by Arthur Collins and Frank Banta from late-1898:
https://ia802300.us.archive.org/31/items/ArthurCollins_part2/ArthurCollins-ZizzyZeZumZum.mp3
This is a fun piece to play. As Banta is loud enough to where you can actually hear what he's doing behind Collins, and Edison's old piano sounds fantastic! 
Now this last one is one that I know everyone has heard, but it's a good one in representing so many things about the brown wax era and early Rag-Time as well.
Well, here you go from 1899, Collins' first number 1 hit! 
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8650/cusb-cyl8650d.mp3
Banta is really playful and fun on this one, much to the likeness of Collins on it. It's still a very funny and overall great record in itself. I'm sure Spencer learned of Collins recording this after he recorded his version on Berliner with Fred Hylands. For an interesting comparison, here is Spencer's Berliner recorded around the same time in 1899:
https://archive.org/details/HelloMaBaby1899
Kill it Hylands! He really is a riot on this one! And Spencer's pretty drunk too...

Those Hylands and Spencer collaborations from their publishing days were absolutely perfect. Great examples of Rag-Time. But so was the duo of Banta and Collins. Banta had not as much a voice as Hylands, well, he had better control in keeping his mouth shut than Hylands that is. We will never know the whole story of Frank Banta's adventures at the record companies. 

I hope you enjoyed this!