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

[fhimpsl]

Dear Luigi,

One additional note of interest re. your posting of "Missouri Rag" by David Silverman and Arthur Ward. I wanted to mention that this is the title that the tune was copyrighted under; i.e. at the Library of Congress, the only score present is "Missouri Rag;" no copy of "That Hand Played Rag." So it's possible that "Missouri" was the first edition. Herbert Clair recorded a roll of the tune under the "Missouri Rag" title, but composer Silverman recorded it on QRS as "That Hand Played Rag."

Too many ragtime mysteries....not enough time to explore all of them!

All Best,

Frank

[tobyjj]

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the Kortlander - To save you the time spent searching your stacks (instead of scanning!) let me post up your transcriptions.
I also post (for interest only) two songs with music by Kortlander as composer.
Also a Wendling piece - which has probably been posted before, but I forget.

Deuces Wild (P-Roll Tr.F.L.Himpsl)_x.pdf

Deuces Wild (publ. version)_x.pdf

Kortlander, Max - Drop Me Down In Dixie.pdf

Kortlander, Max - Red Moon.pdf

Wendling - Frisky Fingers.pdf

nms tttos

Regards,
tobyjj

[fhimpsl]

Hi Martin,

Greetings and welcome to our little syncopated "club" here on Pianophilia. What you can't find here in syncopated music isn't worth having! I've been working for quite some time towards the goal of uploading my entire collection of all forms of syncopated piano...ragtime, stride, novelty, etc., and I don't anticipate stopping anytime soon.

Thanks so much for the Eric Plessow collection which you uploaded. For us fans of 1930s German novelty this is a real treasure. And I would eagerly await your posting of the Eric Plessow Rhythm and Melody Volume 2...I never realized there WAS a volume 2!! I'm sure it's filled with similarly gorgeous, well written out piano novelties. Good to have you aboard!!

and Dear tobyjj,

Thanks so much for uploading the Kortlander "Deuces Wild," that sure saves me a lot of time because I have all the xeroxed music stored separately from the originals. Now we have the full set. Also thanks for the Wendling "Frisky Fingers"! I remember having that sheet, but being a "W" title it might have been some time before I got to posting it! Great, and very topical since we've had multiple postings regarding Wendling and Kortlander.

To all .. happy syncopating!

Frank

[fhimpsl]

...Ohh, why not have one more syncopated night-cap this evening! Here is a very rare folio of novelty piano solos composed by the fine ragtime composer F.Henri Klickmann. Apparently Klickmann was a very popular band arranger in the late 'teens and early '20s. I know that he did the band arrangements for the Zez Confrey Orchestra for example...so all those old Victors with Zez at the piano are actually Klickmann arrangements. The solos, of course, are all Zez!

Klickmann, F.Henri - Ultra-Modern Characteristic Piano Solos.pdf

[gigiranalli]

Dear Frank, Martin and Tobyjj,
These scores you uploaded are great! Thanks!!!
I especially enjoyed the superb Klickmann folio, the rare 1939 score of “Over The Bars”, the Joe Keden pieces, etc…

Speaking of Williams, I imagine you are familiar with his "Barrel House Rag" written with Fate Marable (or as the cover shows "Fate Marable!"). How do you feel about the first strain as being very similar to "Tiger Rag?"

I’m re-posting “Barrel House Rag”(1916) by Fate Marable and Clarence Williams, featuring that riff also used in “Tiger Rag” and in a Roy Carew unpublished rag entitled “Recreation Rag no.2” (the piece indicates that floating strain was known as “Get Over, Dirty!”).
So I also re-post both Recreation Rag no.1 and no.2.
On the “Barrelhouse Rag”, this time I will also include the possibly only existing recording of this rag, played by ragtime revivalist Archibald “Muscle” Fingers: he plays very well, but I’m not very happy about the swung notes and I’d have preferred if he played it in binary rhythm (just my taste).
Anyway that’s quite enjoyable.
Speaking of Max Kortlander, I’ll add a less common piece entitled “Chicken Pranks” that he composed with his mentor Lee Roberts.
Since the piano roll of this piece, played by Kortlander himself, is very enjoyable, I also post a piano roll scan as midi file of it.
And of Pete Wendling I’d add his “Honky Tonk”.

On James Scott, are you aware that the exact melody of his "Prosperity Rag" was stolen outright with the publication of the pop song "Nothin' But" in the early 1920s..."composed" by Ferde Grofe and Adam Carroll? The verse of "Nothin' But" is note-for-note identical to the trio section of "Prosperity;" and the chorus is note-for-note identical to the second theme of "Prosperity." One of the most outrageous examples of musical piracy I've ever come across. And, btw, "Prosperity Rag" WAS copyrighted!!!"

This is fascinating! I didn’t notice it myself, thanks so much for this interesting detail, Frank!
It's interesting to see how many times composers stole from others in ragtime music...
Best,
Luigi

Marable, Fate & Williams, Clarence - Barrel House Rag.pdf

Kortlander, Max & Roberts, Lee - Chicken Pranks.pdf

Carew, Roy - Recreation Rag no.1.pdf

Carew, Roy - Recreation Rag no.2.pdf

Wendling, Pete - Honky Tonk.pdf

Max Kortlander (roll) - Chicken Pranks.mid

Archibald 'Muscle' Fingers - The Barrelhouse Rag.mp3

[fhimpsl]

Dear Luigi,

Thank you for your wonderful postings of Carew, Kortlander, Wendling and especially for the recording of "Barrel House Rag!" I had forgotten the Carew connection with "Tiger Rag". Not up to my old memory standards I guess!

A quick note re. the outright theft of ragtime music. Another outrageous example is how Charles L. Johnson's major hit "Iola Intermezzo" from ca. 1904-07 was stolen verbatim for the ca. 1940 popular song "Playmates." I have read (but can't confirm) that Johnson took legal action and won a settlement over copyright infringement on this one. Since CLJ died around 1950, he certainly would have been aware of "Playmates" (which also was a great hit) so the story is probably true.

I will search out my midi files and see if I have any recordings of these as well as James Scott's "Prosperity Rag" vs. the outrageous rip-off "Nothin' But."

All Best,

Frank

[tobyjj]

Great stuff Luigi,

I thought I had more Wendling & Kortlander, (which means I probably have), but I am very disorganised and can't find the stuff quickly.
I definitely did not have Chicken Pranks, however - nor the Wendling Honky Tonk - so thanks for those.

I have quite a few Klickman pieces of a lighter calibre than the Klickman folio - mine are mostly songs. I wasn't aware of those compositions and they're not bad at all.
Thanks for those Frank.
Here's another Klickman solo piece.

Klickmann, F Henri - Smiles and Chuckles Rag.pdf

Btw, does anyone know if Eric Spear (e.g. Man With The Limp, Meet Mr. Callgahan ...) can be posted or is he still under copyright?

Regards,
tobyjj

[tobyjj]

Oh,
I forgot to say thanks to Martin for the Plessow folio - I too am eagerly awaiting the VOl 2 !!

Another Klickman

Klickmann, F Henri - Paderewski Rag.pdf

regards,
tobyjj

[honkytonkpiano]

Hi Frank, Luigi and Toby, thanks for all your kindly words and comments !
I must say thank you very much for all your great uploads and very interesting comments about ragtime history!!!!!

Especially for Frank, Luigi and Toby, finally here's my mentioned piano folio "VOLUME 2" by Eric Plessow.

Plessow, Eric - Rhythm & Melody - 5 Novelty Piano Solos - Vol.2 (1936)(BK-20p)m.pdf

[honkytonkpiano]

For all fans of book IDX pages (like me , for the Plessow folio Vol.2 i made a content page optional (pdf file, 1 page). Cheers...

Best RAGards,
Martin

Plessow, Eric - Rhythm & Melody - 5 Novelty Piano Solos - Vol.2 (1936)(IDX, contents page only)m.pdf