School of Syncopation - Jazz, Stride, Novelties & the Like

[liveforpiano]

Peter (liveforpiano) here.

I was going through my music looking for works for the site and found the following pieces. Would you let me know if you would like them on the site.

George Botsford: Black and White Rag
Ribe Danmark: The Turkey Trot
Joseph M. Daly: Chicken Reel
Wallie Herzer: Tickle the Ivories
Felix Barnard and Johnny S. Black: Dardanella

These are all printed copies. My dear friend Walter Ryan sent them to me some time ago and I have just found them again.

Many thanks

Peter.

[gigiranalli]

Dear Frank and everybody,
thanks a lot for these fantastic piano roll scans!!! I love them and apart from the Blythe roll of "Underworld Blues", I haven't heard these performances before!
About the coda in the Blythe piano roll, it's interesting that's the same riff played by Jimmy Blythe in the "I've Got The Yes! I Have No Bananas Blues" that you transcribed (everybody re-check Frank's transcription on the Piano Roll Transcription section: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=441&start=30#p5868 ).
Of course that's also one of the MANY things by Jimmy Blythe that Axel Christensen used for some of "his" pieces (when it'll be the moment I'd like to write something on Christensen's "The Walking Blues" and "Pomeranian Blues"...).
This particular coda is one of the most exciting I've heard! Anyway Christensen used it as the first strain in his "Syncophonic no.4" (he wrote 6 Syncophonic numbers, most of which took parts of music played by Jimmy Blythe, Fred Longshaw and James P. Johnson...none of whom were credited of course!).
I'm very sorry but I've been pretty busy in the week end so I didn't hav emuch time to think to the things of George and Hersal Thomas I must prepare.
Don't worry, I'll post those things in the following days and those who are listening carefully to those great piano rolls will find interesting to see the sheet music and the recordings of some of those pieces.
I'll copy parts of Clarence Williams' reminiscences on George W. Thomas since they're also very interesting. I just ask for some more time...sorry for being late.
For the moment, I only post the sheet music of the early "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" composed by George W. Thomas.
Let's relisten to the two great piano rolls already posted by Frank here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=178&start=260#p6805
The one played by Lee Jackson (Frisino) in particular is a pure joy to listen to!!
Then I'm also attaching the sheet music of "Syncophonic no.4", with that first strain that you can also hear as the coda in the Blythe piano rolls of "Underworld Blues" and "I Got The Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues" (of which you can also watch a video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qkgdFqdxoYo ).
More soon...very soon...
Best
Luigi

[gigiranalli]

Peter (liveforpiano) here.

I was going through my music looking for works for the site and found the following pieces. Would you let me know if you would like them on the site.

George Botsford: Black and White Rag
Ribe Danmark: The Turkey Trot
Joseph M. Daly: Chicken Reel
Wallie Herzer: Tickle the Ivories
Felix Barnard and Johnny S. Black: Dardanella

These are all printed copies. My dear friend Walter Ryan sent them to me some time ago and I have just found them again.

Many thanks

Peter.

Dear Peter,
thank you very much for your kind offer!
I save you the time to scan the pieces (all very good rags!), because the InHarmony sheet music collection includes all of them in digitized copies.
Here are the links to the downloadable pdf files:
Black and White Rag (George Botsford): http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly ... 05-0025-01
The Turkey Trot (Ribe Danmark-pseudonym for J.B. Lampe): http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly ... 05-0386-01
Chicken Reel (Joseph M. Daly): http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl//lill ... -201027-02
Tickle the Ivories (Wallie Herzer): http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly ... 05-0375-01
Dardanella (Felix Bernard and Johnny S. Black): http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl//lill ... -247046-02
By the way, would you like to hear the popular "Dardanella" played by an original ragtime pianist of the ragtime era?
I already talked a little about Barbary Coast in California, while speaking of Sid LeProtti.
Among the talented ragtime pianists who performed there, together with LeProtti, there were Jay Roberts, Oklahoma Red, Mike Bernard, Jimmie Blyer and this Ms. Byron Coffin (also known then as Pearl Reno): in the late 1930s she recorded some of her reminiscences of the ragtime scene and played some of the numbers popular in that period.
Among the pieces, she demonstrates a waltz, "Sleep Baby Sleep", followed by its syncopated version with walking bass, that is "Dardanella" in fact - a trick some players used in those days.
Then, among the various numbers, you can also find her version of "Popularity".
And, remembering Jay Roberts, she plays a bit of the "Entertainer's Rag" (according to her, originally composed by a Jimmie Blyler - but that must be Jimmie Blyer actually - as the "Irish-American Rag"), preceeded by "At A Mississippi Cabaret". Here's a list of her recordings, including some with his husband, a singer:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/0151.html
If you'd like to find the recordings I was writing about, you can enter these pages: Sleep, baby, sleep and Dardanella, the Irish American Rag and Popularity.
Enjoy! That's another document of REAL ragtime of the 1900s-1910s!!
Best RAGards
Luigi

[fhimpsl]

Dear Luigi (and all PP members!)
Thanks for posting the sheets for "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" and "Syncophonic!" It is amazing that Axel Christensen had the audacity to steal outright Jimmy Blythe's tunes...like he did with "Chicago Stomps" just changing the title to "Walking Blues". He recorded at least one of the Syncophonics...I think I have the disk on the Broadway label. Also, your memory is so much better than mine! I forgot completely that I had transcribed the Jimmy Blythe roll of "I"ve Got The Yes! We Have No Bananas Blues" which has the fantastic coda (same coda as "Underworld Blues"). One of the unfortunate aspects of growing old!! Please take your time on posting the George Thomas material or any other stuff...we have to remember that while the history of all this jazz is so important and fascinating as well, these projects have to remain FUN (and not work). There is certainly no time pressure here...I enjoy posting material when I have the time.

Now back to the George W. Thomas rolls - GWT late period (1926-1928) Rollography

"Dead Drunk Blues"

QRS No. 4292 issued June 1928; played by J.Lawrence Cook
USM No. 44859 issued June 1928; played by Cal Welch (a pseundonym for J.Lawrence Cook)
Imperial No. 0687 issued June 1928; uncredited, but certainly played by J.Lawrence Cook
Capitol A-Roll No. 2113, selection No.3; played by either James Blythe or Clarence Johnson

"I Keeps My Kitchen Clean"

QRS 4006 issued August 1927; played by J.Lawrence Cook

"Sho' Is Hot"

Meloart No. 1581 issued 1927; played by Lee Jackson (pseudonym for "Woody" Frisino)

I will probably post a few more "gap fillers" of George W. Thomas tunes on nickelodeon rolls, but with the above most of the GWT roll material has been posted now!

Frank

Thomas - Dead Drunk Blues - QRS 4292.mid

Thomas- Dead Drunk Blues - USM No. 44859.mid

Thomas - Dead Drunk Blues - Imperial No. 06887.mid

Thomas - Dead Drunk Blues - Capitol A-2118-3.mid

Thomas- I Keeps My Kitchen Clean - QRS No. 4006.mid

Thomas - Sho' Is Hot - Meloart No. 1581.mid

[thalbergmad]

I think this thread is superb and has given me much piano and banjo fun.

One would have thought that much of this music would have been lost forever, but thankfully the reverse appears to be the case.

Thal

[fhimpsl]

Hi Thal,

We always appreciate your words of encouragement. So much has been completely lost over the years, and I think what we've collected needs to be shared, with Pianophilia being the best forum to do so.
I am very happy to hear you like to play this stuff on banjo and piano. Have great fun with it!

All Best,
Frank

[gigiranalli]

Now back to the George W. Thomas rolls - GWT late period (1926-1928) Rollography

"Dead Drunk Blues"

QRS No. 4292 issued June 1928; played by J.Lawrence Cook
USM No. 44859 issued June 1928; played by Cal Welch (a pseundonym for J.Lawrence Cook)
Imperial No. 0687 issued June 1928; uncredited, but certainly played by J.Lawrence Cook
Capitol A-Roll No. 2113, selection No.3; played by either James Blythe or Clarence Johnson

"I Keeps My Kitchen Clean"

QRS 4006 issued August 1927; played by J.Lawrence Cook

"Sho' Is Hot"

Meloart No. 1581 issued 1927; played by Lee Jackson (pseudonym for "Woody" Frisino)

Dear Frank and everybody,
these latest piano roll scans posted are fantastic! I'm very glad that a piano roll version of "Sho' Is Hot" exists, since I like this piece very much!
I think it would be interesting to compare it, and also the piano roll of "Boot It, Boy!" that you previously posted (this message: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=178&start=260#p6812 ) with the recordings of George W. Thomas' Devils, one of Thomas' bands.
Here's the member list of this group:
Piano: George W. Thomas (the one and the only!)
Vocals: Dave Cross (very enjoyable!)
Clarinet : Ed Boudraux
Drums: Tommy Taylor
Trumpet: Mutt Carton
The recordings of the Thomas' Devils I'm posting are "Sho' Is Hot" and "Boot It Boy", both recorded in 1929: although Thomas doesn't play piano solos in these recordings, his piano accompaniment can be heard in them, in spite of the poor sound quality.
It's interesting to compare them with the piano rolls: the rolls are more jazzy, while the recordings are in an unsophisticated rural style
Then, since I recently posted the score of the "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" and Thomas never recorded it himself, I post the 1923 recording of this piece, sung by Sara Martin with a very heardable piano accompaniment by Clarence Williams, whose piano style is quite close to Thomas actually.
P.S.
With my next messages, you'll find other scores of Thomas and a bunch of recordings from 1923, that are sung by Tiny Franklin with piano accompaniment by George W. Thomas in person! Fortunately, in those recordings Thomas' piano is even better heardable than Franklin!
In the meanwhile, you can find some great information about George & Hersal Thomas, Clarence Williams, early boogie piano on this interesting page: http://www.nonjohn.com/History%20of%20B ... Woogie.htm
There are also quotes of Clarence Williams on George W. Thomas!!
Enjoy the music!
Best RAGards
Luigi

[gigiranalli]

Ok, now it's time to start posting some other piano recordings of George W. Thomas.
In a previous message of mine, I've already posted his 1923 recording of "The Rocks" (the first boogie woogie recording), also including the first strain of "That Rat Proof Rag" (the message is here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=178&start=240#p6665 ).
Then Frank Himpsl posted some great piano rolls of "The Rocks", including one also featuring parts of "That Rat Proof Rag". You find them here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=178&start=260#p6794
Now I'm attaching the sheet music of "The Rocks", plus a couple of recordings by George W. Thomas (piano) and Tiny Franklin (voice) of which I don't have scores, but of which you can find piano roll scans posted by Frank.
The titles are "Up The Country Blues" and "I've Got A Man Of My Own": Thomas' piano is very clear and heardable and if you've listened to his recordings of "The Rocks", you'll immediately recognize his slow and meticolous piano style.
Enjoy the music!
Luigi

[gigiranalli]

The Clarence Johnson or Jimmy Blythe Capitol piano roll of "Houston Blues" posted by Frank Himpsl is a fantastic interpretation! Let's relisten to it here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=178&start=260#p6805
Then there's also the Kimball piano roll, that is clearly based on the 1918 published version of this piece, that I'm posting here.
This piece, "The Houston Blues", is very interesting in several respects. If you're familiar with the music of Cow Cow Davenport, you'll know of a certain riff he used in his "Cow Cow Blues" and in the second strain of his "Atlanta Rag" (both composed around 1910!), that was to be remembered as "the mess around". That was also used several years later by Ray Charles in his famous "Mess Around" (let's listen to the great Ray Charles version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqz876VkwwY - as I wrote before, this kind of underworld music was the one that had to stay).
Anyway, the Houston Blues is possibly the very first published example of such a riff (I'm posting a picture of the measure featuring it).
The back cover of this nice blues also includes advertisements of other pieces by Thomas, including the never found "That Rat Proof Rag"
Fortunately there are those two piano rolls of That Rat Proof posted by Frank Himpsl!!
Well, I'm also attaching the George W. Thomas recording of "The Houston Blues" with Tiny Franklin, from 1923. Thomas' piano doesn't sound very similar to the 1918 published version, but maybe quite closer to the later published version from 1922, that you can find here in pdf format: http://library.indstate.edu/about/units ... ouston.pdf
Enjoy the music!
Best
Luigi

[gigiranalli]

So here's another recording by George W. Thomas, with vocals by Tiny Franklin.
The piece is "Shorty George Blues", of which you can also find interesting piano rolls posted by Frank Himpsl some days ago.
This piece is quite repetitive, but very enjoyable!!
I'm also attaching the sheet music, quite close to the recording, with the exception that Thomas plays the pieces in swing notes. But if you check the last page of the score you'll find a solo part variation for dancing that is not featured in the Franklin and Thomas recording.
A note: these pieces of Thomas I'm posting have lyrics. Anyway, since they're scored quite well, including riffs and things belonging to real piano performance practices, I think it's proper to post them here.
Best
Luigi