Pianophilia

Thanks Fred!
with your advice, now I think I have solved the font issue with those transcriptions of mine (I hope)...
I see that among the fantastic transcriptions by Frank Himpsl posted here there are two of Harry Thomas, "Perpetual Rag" and "Delirious Rag", both ragtime gems!!
I post here my transcription of another Harry Thomas piano roll, "A Classical Spasm", and I hope you'll like it
Thomas also recorded Delirious Rag and A Classical Spasm on record; if anybody's interested, I can upload MP3s of those old recordings.
Best
Luigi

Hi Luigi,

Thanks for posting your very fine transcription of Harry Thomas' " "A Classical Spasm." Now we have all three of the Thomas unpublished rags in manuscript That's great.

Sorry but I never did transcriptions of "Piping Rock" and "When You're Good You're Lonesome." When I was transcribing back in the 70s and 80s these particular rolls had not been discovered yet. I am very familiar with both of them and know they are great performances. In fact I have a pet theory that "Piping Rock" might actually be played by James P. Johnson and not J.Fred Coots. It sounds just like Johnson's playing on his 1917 Universal rolls. A friend of mine interviewed Coots years ago and he didn't remember the tune or making the roll. However, Coots DID make piano rolls for Aeolian so we have to assume it is his composition.

All Best,

Frank

Armand Muth is another pianist who recorded many player piano rolls, for the US Music Co. in Chicago and Playrite in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Playrite and Staffnote labels). His recordings for Playrite are usually very hot, jazz oriented material. He wrote one original ragtime composition of which I am aware, entitled "Keen Kut Ups," an extremely rare roll, never published in sheet music form. This piece is a novelty style rag and provides a great work-out for the right hand on sixth intervals. In fact, it's so good in that department I debated posting this on the etudes thread!!! When played up to tempo, it's hard to beat this piece. But work on those sixths, this isn't an easy thing to play!

Frank

fhimpsl wrote:Hi Luigi,

Thanks for posting your very fine transcription of Harry Thomas' " "A Classical Spasm." Now we have all three of the Thomas unpublished rags in manuscript That's great.

Sorry but I never did transcriptions of "Piping Rock" and "When You're Good You're Lonesome." When I was transcribing back in the 70s and 80s these particular rolls had not been discovered yet. I am very familiar with both of them and know they are great performances. In fact I have a pet theory that "Piping Rock" might actually be played by James P. Johnson and not J.Fred Coots. It sounds just like Johnson's playing on his 1917 Universal rolls. A friend of mine interviewed Coots years ago and he didn't remember the tune or making the roll. However, Coots DID make piano rolls for Aeolian so we have to assume it is his composition.

All Best,

Frank

Dear Frank,
Wow! That's a fascinating theory !
Since you wrote about this theory, I'm thinking that the bridge between the trio and its repetition in "Piping Rock" sounds a lot like James P. Johnson's typical riffs and all that broken bass in that rag is similar to the one in Johnson's "Stop It" piano roll.
Indeed that "Piping Rock" really sounds like a "black rag". Coots wrote many fine songs, it would have been nice if that was really his own ragtime solo...but I think you're right!
I'm very glad you liked "A Classical Spasm" !!!
Here I post another one, that is "Calico Rag" played by Frank Banta. This Banta piano roll is an interesting performance and practically identical to Banta's 1917 recording of Calico Rag with drummer Howard Kopp!
He certainly was a great pianist. It's only too bad he apparently didn't have a very strong left hand...in some of his piano solos of the '20s I almost can't hear the bass.
It's interesting to compare the piano roll (or the recording) with the published sheet music, quite different. I also heard the Nat Johnson piano roll of "Calico Rag": also that piano roll is unedited, but I didn't like it since it was exactly like the published score.
Best
Luigi

Rudolph "Rudy" Erlebach was one of the most prolific roll arrangers of all time, and along with Frank Milne and J.Lawrence Cook was one of the only artists producing rolls during the 1930s. He started out with Aeolian Corp. around 1916, then moved to Connorized Roll Co. in 1925. Connorized became Paramount Music Co. in 1928, and Rudy was their sole artist! To disguise that fact his rolls were often put out under a pseudonym, such as Bud Earl, Larry Arden, Al Johnson and one or two others. Here is my transcription of one of Rudy's rocking arrangements from the mid 1930's. I apolegize for the calligraphy; this transcription was made many years ago. But I vouch for the accuracy of every note. Enjoy!

Frank

Dear Luigi,

Thank you for another fine transcription! Indeed, Frank Banta's DuoArt performance of "Calico Rag" is virtually identical to his piano/drum recording on Perfection 78rpm. And, I agree that it is better than composer Nat Johnson's own piano roll on QRS. Have you ever heard Vera Guilaroff play "Calico Rag" (at the age of about 15 years)? Unbelievable performance! If it was easier to get to my 78rpm records I would post the recording for you. It has been released years ago on a Folkways LP so maybe you have it. The flip side is "Maple Leaf Rag" I believe, and she takes both of them at an incredibly fast, virtuosic tempo. Keep all this good stuff coming, and I'll try and do the same!

All best,
Frank

fhimpsl wrote:Have you ever heard Vera Guilaroff play "Calico Rag" (at the age of about 15 years)? Unbelievable performance! If it was easier to get to my 78rpm records I would post the recording for you. It has been released years ago on a Folkways LP so maybe you have it. The flip side is "Maple Leaf Rag" I believe, and she takes both of them at an incredibly fast, virtuosic tempo.

Dear Frank,
yes, I've heard the recording by Vera Guilaroff and it's great! I'm attaching a zip file featuring Maple Leaf Rag and Calico Rag played by Guilaroff in 1926 and also another zip file including the 1917 recording of Calico Rag and its flipside, Money Blues, played by Frank Banta, with drums by Howard Kopp, for all the Pianophiliac ragtimers here.
The two zip files are lather large...I hope everybody interested will download them without problems.
P.S.
I'm trying your great transcription of "Fireworks Rag" by Roy Wetzel: I've never heard this piece before and I see it's just fantastic!! Thanks so much for these ragtime gems!!!!
About Wetzel, there's an interesting manual written by Wetzel to learn to play in "piano roll style". I will soon upload it.
Best regards
Luigi

J. Lawrence Cook was the most prolific piano roll arranger in history, having recorded literally thousands of piano rolls over a 50 year long career. He was also a superb transcriber and had an extremely keen ear. During the 1940's JLC made transcriptions of some of the popular pianists of the day and cut them as piano rolls. Here I have posted my transcription of JLC's transcription (!) of Art Tatum playing his classic solo of "Sweet Lorraine." I think Cook was pretty much spot-on when it came to this Tatum transcription, which at the time must have seemed as achieving the impossible!

Frank

Here is another J.Lawrence Cook transcription which is a lot of fun to play - Fats Waller's "Your Feet's Too Big".

Frank

Johnny Johnson (professional name of Malcolm Johnson) was a very successful pianist and bandleader during the 20s and 30s. He also recorded player piano rolls for Aeolian (MelODee label), QRS and Welte. His single roll for QRS is a hot masterpiece that is not well known, but superb in every respect and full of very imaginative novelty tricks. Plus the tune is extremely catchy!

Frank