Pianophilia

Dear Luigi,
Thank you for uploading "That Dog Gone Rag" by Petway. I've never seen this rag before. There is a tune with a similar title: That Dawggone Rag" by Maurice K. Smith which has turned up in sheet and roll form. But this Petway piece is a genuine rarity.
I will check your manuscript of Bowman's "12th St. Rag" against the manuscript versions of "6th St. Rag" and "10th St. Rag." It would be interesting if they're the same (and would lead to more speculation about Bowman vs. his daughter writing out the pieces). As I understand it, back in those days there were a lot of arrangers for hire. You could go to a sheet music or piano roll publishing house, play your tune over for the arranger, and for a fee walk away with a manuscript suitable to send to LOC for copyright purposes. That's another way the Bowman rags could have been copyrighted originally.
Re. Bowman recordings, the 1924 recording of "12th St. Rag" for Gennett Records may not only exist, but it could have been actually issued. You might even have it in your record collection. Rust's book should be consulted for details of this, but in essence through a little bit of research Mike Montgomery and I worked up a theory about the "unissued/lost" Bowman master of "12th St. Rag." At about the same time Bowman was in the Gennett studio, Black jazzman/composer/pianist Richard M. Jones came in for a recording gig. Jones was not known to be a great pianist. That session resulted in Jones' only piano solo record, having "Jassin' Babies Blues" on one side (a recent and considerably popular hit by Jones) and of all things "12th St. Rag" on the other. Mike proposed that it's very hard to understand why Jones, who was a songwriter and blues-man, would elect to record this rag, written by a white composer, and which in its original form is not trivial to play. And RMJones playing on the "Jassin' Babies Blues" side is nothing to write home about. After checking dates and matrix numbers, we theorized that it was Bowman on the "12th St. Rag" side, and Jones was credited on the label by accident. Kind of makes you want to play over that Gennett record another time, doesn't it??
All Best,
Frank

Hello Folks, Here attached is a 1927 novelty solo folio entitled "Jazzapation - Six Hot Piano Solos Just Off The Stove!" It was published by Perry Bradford, who along with Clarence Williams was a leading Black publisher in New York City in the 1920s. Featured are two James P. Johnson solos; two by Fred W. Longshaw and two by Perry Bradford (all Black pianists). The arrangements are very good, and in the case of Johnson and Longshaw they are reasonably close to the recorded versions. Enjoy!

Frank

Dear Frank,
that’s a fascinatine theory!
Now that you said that, I relistened to the disc and I must admit that difference between the two recordings in the Richard M. Jones disc, “Jazzin’ Babies Blues” and “12th Street Rag”, is appalling! I also heard the orchestral recordings of Jones and his piano solos in those recordings, even the fast ones, sound quite different from the “12th Street Rag” 1923 recording.
It’s also interesting that the 1923 of “12th Street Rag” attributed to Jones and the 1924 recording attributed to Bowman were both recorded in Richmond.
That seems quite a mysterious subject.
And it’s interesting to notice the great difference between the two 1923 Richard M. Jones recordings!
But, on the other side, I’m sure the “12th Street Rag” of that 1923 disc cannot have been played by Euday Bowman, maybe it was a Gennett studio pianist, I don’t know, but certainly one with a very different an a more intricate and advanced style than Bowman's.
I’m sure about that because I do have the 1938 and 1946 recordings of Bowman which are a bit improvisative, but they also are exactly in the style of his published rags and manuscripts. He apparently never changed his style and those rags he self-published were almost “transcriptions” of what he played.
I post here these rare recordings for evaluation.
In the zip file you’ll find the Euday Bowman recording of “12th Street Rag” from 1938 (the one mentioned in the Campbell article), then two recordings of Bowman from 1946 circa, again playing the “12th Street Rag” (on a piano in tune, this time!) and a song that he plays and sings, “Baby, Is You Mad At Me?”.
If you compare these two recordings of “12th Street Rag” played by Bowman in 1938 and 1946, they’re very similar (but not identical) and, although there are variations from the score, they represent quite the same arrangement published in 1914 and 1915 (and the manuscript), featuring a heavy harmony and the three-over-four riff of the first strain played in octave chords (see sheet music: http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/cgi-bi ... th_3&Rag&2 ).
The 1923 recording attributed to Richard Jones instead (I post also a zip file of both recordings of that disc) is much more filled of improvisations, but it has a thinner harmony and seems to start from the more common later arrangement of “12th Street Rag”, the one written by C. E. Wheeler (see sheet music: http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/cgi-bi ... 12th&Rag&3 ).
I think these Euday Bowman recordings from 1938 and 1946 are some of the most fascinating and very best examples of great folk ragtime piano playing.
A friend of Euday Bowman has said of him:”he did not merey play his piano – he assailed it”. Another one said:”he’d strike his piano keys like a blow from a sledge hammer”.
I think that the recordings confirm these recollections! Especially in the 1938 recording, it seems he wanted to destroy the piano….
Best RAGards
Luigi
It's interesting to notice that Bowman plays a particular ending for the strains in his recordings of "12th Street Rag", that was not the one written down in the published score, but the one used in "11th Street Rag". His ad libs are a confirmation of a very recognizable and individual style.

fhimpsl wrote:Hello Folks, Here attached is a 1927 novelty solo folio entitled "Jazzapation - Six Hot Piano Solos Just Off The Stove!" It was published by Perry Bradford, who along with Clarence Williams was a leading Black publisher in New York City in the 1920s. Featured are two James P. Johnson solos; two by Fred W. Longshaw and two by Perry Bradford (all Black pianists). The arrangements are very good, and in the case of Johnson and Longshaw they are reasonably close to the recorded versions. Enjoy!

Frank

Bradford - Jazzapation Folio - Six Hot Solos.pdf

Dear Frank,
that's one of the greatest folios! I also have and LOVE it!!!
Almost everybody here certainly heard the two James P. Johnson solos, but maybe very few have heard the two Fred Longshaw recordings from 1925 of "Chili Pepper" and "Tomato Sauce" mentioned by Frank. I have ready recordings of them to post.
Here they are
Luigi

Dear Luigi,
There is something about the history of "12th Street Rag" which has always created controversy and new theories, now as in the past!! I am unfamiliar with the 1938 Bowman recording and would ask the source of this (I assume it is a privately made acetate perhaps?) I know the 1940s version Euday personally financed and issued on his own "Bowman" label...with 12th St. Rag on both sides. I guess this was to have a back-up side in case you wore out the first one!!! One would have wished he might have recorded "Petticoat Lane" or "Shamrock Rag" or anything else, but I've seen this very rare record and it does have 12th St. on both sides.
In any event, I think it's clear that the pianist is the same person on the 1938 and 1946 recordings. To me he sounds rough around the edges as a pianist...octave technique is pretty bad, even given that the original version of TSR is tough to play. But highly spirited playing for certain! The 1923 Gennett side doesn't sound like the 1938 or 1946 recordings; but the fact remains that Bowman did record his tune for Gennett, which was supposedly unissued...and it's pretty clear that the pianist isn't Richard M. Jones as the label states. Is the flipside of Jones' record really Bowman playing (maybe on a bad day)...who knows...it's just a theory, which like any theory has its holes and flaws to attack. Mike and I feel that it's too much of a coincidence for the Gennett track not to be Bowman, but nobody can ever know for certain. Euday L. Bowman was certainly one of the most colorful figures in ragtime history, and there's always more to learn about him! Many thanks for all your hard work in posting the recordings as mp3 files to walk us through this controversy. That is of enormous value in studying the intricacies of ragtime history.

gigiranalli wrote:Now I seem to remember that Richard Zimmerman wrote that Bowman had actually first composed the "12th Street Rag" in 1908 and played it for years, improving it until he finally self-published it in 1914.

I don't think this has been uploaded yet, but I picked up a copy of this rag today, and include it here. Regards
Fred

fredbucket wrote:

gigiranalli wrote:Now I seem to remember that Richard Zimmerman wrote that Bowman had actually first composed the "12th Street Rag" in 1908 and played it for years, improving it until he finally self-published it in 1914.

I don't think this has been uploaded yet, but I picked up a copy of this rag today, and include it here.

Euday Bowman - 12th Street Rag.pdf

Regards
Fred

Thanks Fred,
that's in fact the original arrangement, consistent with Bowman's playing style, as the recordings I posted show.
Luigi

Dear Frank,
this story about the Euday Bowman recordings is very interesting...and intricate.
I agree that Bowman's piano playing sounded rough. After all it's the same style of his self-published pieces.
Personally, I'm especially fond of early folk ragtime styles, so I have a great liking for the piano styles of Bowman, Dink Johnson, Brun Campbell, Les Copeland, Chauf Williams, etc...
But I'm also very fond of more advanced styles as well.
Anyway here's what I can say about the 1938 and 1946 recordings of "12th Street Rag", both played by Euday Bowman:
a) the 1938 recording: I'm attaching a photo of the disc. That's the recording played by Bowman on a detuned piano and that's the one you also mentioned in your previous message, self-produced by Bowman and featuring the same recording on both sides of the disc.
Bowman died during a business trip in 1949: he was promoting this disc (Bowman A-17748, Forth Worth, Texas).
BUT while commercial copies of this disc were probably issued around 1948 (1948 circa is the date proposed in the liner notes of "Piano Ragtime Of The '40s", featuring that recording), this recording WAS NOT recorded then, but 10 years earlier, back in 1938.
I recently found that very same recording in a CD ("Jazz & Blues Piano (1934-1947)". link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001VA ... B001VA5YMW ).
This disc is made of rare discs and acetates provided by music collectors and the copy of the recording (again that same recording, Bowman A-17748) of Bowman was taken from an unissued recording dated December 8, 1938. The place was Dallas, Texas. This 1938 recording is the very same recording later issued on Bowman A-17748, issued in 1948 circa.
In the attachment I also included the disc notes with the details about the Bowman recording (underlined in red).
b) the 1946 recordings of "12th Street Rag" and "Is You Mad At Me": I'll tell you the story. Young and very talented pianist Adam Swanson was quite interested in listening to how Euday Bowman played, so I sent him the 1938 recording, the one of which I wrote above, that I had. Then I told him about an article on the Bowman recordings I had read some years earlier on an internet journal, the e-Discographer, that went off-line then (now is back online, but with very few articles and the article on Bowman was not re-uploaded). Anyway, the article mentioned the 1923 recording, the 1938 recording (then I found that was the one I had, which I also used to know being of the late '40s) and then a disc from 1946 (I don't remember the label at the moment) including these two recordings of Euday Bowman, a song and another version of "12th Street Rag".
Adam got interested about this matter and once he was at Mike Montgomery's house looking for things to copy and asked Montgomery about those Bowman recordings. As far as I know, Mike Montgomery gave him information about some unpublished pieces by Bowman and made Adam listen to this 1946 disc (a 78 RPM). Adam got a copy of the two tracks and sent them to me.
So we both happened to have three recordings of Euday Bowman.
This happened very recently. From what you said I assume this disc is quite a recent find of Mike Montgomery, since you and Mike didn't consider it at the time you were looking for the Bowman recording of 1923.
I can try to ask the e-Discographer website to re-upload the article on Bowman (it also included a picture of the 1946 disc), but if you ask Mike Montgomery he will tell you the label of the disc, which I don't remember.
I think that all that clearifies the issue of the 1938 and 1946 recordings by Euday Bowman, but there's still a
c) the 1924 "lost" recording: I definitely agree with you and Mike Montgomery that the Gennett recording from 1923 doesn't sound like Jones. But certainly it doesn't sound like Bowman as well.
I'd suggest that was a piano wizard that Gennett may have been failed to acknowledge in the record, or a very good staff pianist recording it to fill the flip side of "Jazzin Babies Blues".
But now I'd like to add some mess to the already intricate issue of the 1924 Bowman recording . I don't have the "Jazz Records" book written by Brian Rust. Is the information about Bowman recording for Gennett in 1924 from that book?
Instead I looked for info about that 1924 recording on the "Tantalizing Tingles" book by Ross Laird and found slightly different information about the 1924 track....I wonder if that's a mistake...well, the Laird book seems so precise and accurate... did he really mess things up with Bowman?
I'm attaching the detail of the Bowman 1924 recording as indicated in the "Tantalizing Tingles" discography: the date is February 2, 1924 and the place Richmond (where was Gennett records), but the record number is 11748 (like the 1940's issue of the 1938 recording !) and it indicates it was again issued by Bowman, not Gennett....it seems like a mish-mash of the info on the 1924 recording and the 1940s (1938) recording....
Which details do you have for the 1924 recording of Bowman? Both the 1938 and the 1946 recordings sound too well to be from the 1920s I think and I'm actually suspecting the 1924 take doesn't exist, but is the product of mixed up data in the discographies.
Sorry for the long and boring message...that's quite an intricate issue...
Best RAGards
Luigi

Dear Luigi,
Ragtime needs more researchers like you...I applaud your thoroughness and attention to detail! I checked Brian Rust's book "Jazz Records" and the recording date 2/2/24 and matrix number 11748 match the information in "Tantalizing Tingles." Last I talked with Mike M. was probably two months ago, and it wasn't about Bowman. So, I was completely unaware of the 1938 recording. Our Bowman theory (i.e. that the missing Gennett take is ELB's recording) is ages old, at least 25 years back. So in light of the new information I think your arguments have a lot of merit. We can never know for certain about the mystery 1923 pianist; surely both Mike and I were hoping with our theory that it was Bowman, just to plug up one of history's gaps. But theories are just that, meant to be updated with new information when possible. Good work and thank you for taking the time necessary for the detailed write-up on Bowman. I certainly share your passion for this composer's music!
All Best,
Frank

gigiranalli wrote:

fhimpsl wrote:Dear Luigi,
Certainly I will scan "Hot Coffee" and "The Candy Rag" for you...I just need to get through the unfiled music stacks which are still in storage after our move! However, I do have a midi file of "Candy" which I made from the sheet music score, and am attaching that. The second and third themes are so close to 12th st. Rag that I personally have always felt that Bowman at least got the idea from "The Candy Rag," as the similarities are so blatant. Thanks for the Piano Price Rag score, that is a nice piece of ragtime history. Keep the rags rolling along!
All best,
Frank

CandyRag2.mid

Thanks so much, Frank!
THat's a great rag! I love this midi!!!
Tomorrow I'll post the manuscript of "12th Street Rag", as notated by Euday Bowman's sister (she wrote down all the pieces Euday played): there's an interesting detail about that....
Gratefully
Luigi

Dear Luigi,

Here as promised is the score to Sid Reinherz' "Hot Coffee". I'm still in the process of searching for "The Candy Rag." With a red cover you'd think it would be easier to find!

All Best,

Frank