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

[tobyjj]

Hi Frank,

QUOTE from other forum - Hi Tobyjj,

Glad you liked the Pauline 4-hander. I cant' remember ever hearing about Luckey's Spanish Rhapsody. I do remember a tune he wrote entitled "Sparnish Venus" though. Could that be the one you are referring to? If so I have a manuscript arrangement by Eubie Blake of the piece, which he told me was written out just the way Luckey played it. I'll need to really dig to find it, but will be glad to try and then post on the Syncopations thread.

UNQUOTE

Frank - entirely my fault for confusing you - the piece I meant was Spanish Fandango by Charles Luckyeth Robert's - here is a midi file (played by Perfesser Bill) - .
However, the error may be fruitful, since I have never heard of "Spanish Venus", which if you do dig manage to dig out would be wonderful.
I might also have been confusing it with Eubie's "Rhapsody in Ragtime", but I think I have that.

Here is the midi.

Regards,
tobyjj

fandango.mid

[tobyjj]

Hello All,

A few queries ...

Did Jesse Greer write any other piano pieces (worth knowing about) other than Flapperetee ?

I have a 1 page "sampler" of a piece by Jack Arden called Grilled Cutlets - it looks interesting. Does anyone have a complete version or indeed any other piano pieces by him? He is unknown to me. (c. 1938)

J.S. Zamecnik wrote a piano piece said to be in the style of or similar to Felix Arndt's "Nola" - it was called "Polly", Preety Polly, Polliana ?? or something like that. Does anyone have that ?

Thanks for any help / info.

Regards,
tobyjj

[fhimpsl]

Hi tobyjj and All,

Jesse Greer is best known as a popular songwriter, and he has many hits to his credit. On the novelty piano solos, the only other piece I can remember of his is entitled "Farmerette," which of course was a follow-up on his extremely popular and catchy "Flapperette." I have the music and will post it for you. I also have the Jack Arden piece, which will be easier to find and I'll post that one later today. So far I haven't located "Spanish Venus" by Luckey Roberts, but it's just a matter of time, digging through the piles of the ages...

All Best,

Frank

[fhimpsl]

Forgot to answer the other question...J.S. Zamecnik was a classically trained composer (studied with Dvorak if I remember correctly) and he specialized in composing "mood music" for the silent movies. His novelty you're referring to is entitled "Polly," and it is a catchy number but blatantly a rip-off of the famous "Nola." Another one I'll find and post asap...

[fhimpsl]

Here is the novelty "Grilled Cutlets" by Jack Arden as requested. I don't know a thing about the composer, but the solo is unusual as being a rather late entry into the novelty idiom (1938!)

Arden, Jack - Grilled Cutlets - Rhythmic Piano Solo.pdf

[fhimpsl]

Certainly the "Father of the Stride Piano" doesn't need any introduction to this thread. I'm in the process of scanning my JPJ scores and want to post first his most ambitious piano work, entitled "Yamekraw - A Negro Rhapsody." This piece has not been performed many times in public, and I think one of the reasons might be that the only available source copy was a faded and poor quality multi-generation photocopy. This scan was from an original, and hopefully this will help give the piece the public exposure it deserves.

All Best,

Frank

Johnson, James P. - Yamekraw - A Negro Rhapsody.pdf

[fhimpsl]

Another serious work by JPJ "April in Harlem," along with a novelty-jazz pieced entitled "After Hours"

Johnson, James P. - April In Harlem.pdf

Johnson, James P. - After Hours.pdf

[tobyjj]

Wonderful postings Frank,

Thank you very much and thanks for the grilled cutlets too.

Here's a James P Johnson piece which is not seen much around anymore - Harlem Hotcha.
I won't post any others unless I spot some gaps in yours Frank - (which I think is VERY unlikely !)

Regards,
Toby

Hang on - this is a Farrel transcription which is not the one I intended to post - I have the original sheet music - when I find that I will pop it up. Apologies ...

James P. Johnson - Harlem Hotcha.pdf

[eeks1982]

Many thanks for your posts, especially for the Yamekraw music sheet. I wanted to play it and was looking for it everywhere.
Thanks again, you made my day!

[fhimpsl]

Hi tobyjj and all,

Glad you liked the postings. I have most all the JPJ piano solos, although many of the much later ones are photocopies of varying degrees of rather poor quality. But first I'll scan the originals which of course turn out a lot nicer!

The following 2 James P. compositions were (as Yamekraw) published by songwriter/publisher Perry Bradford, so the three together form something of a set.

Johnson, James P. - Dixieland Echoes.pdf

Johnson, James P. - Ebony Echoes.pdf