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Novelty Piano
Novelty piano is a genre of piano and novelty music that was popular during the 1920s. A successor to ragtime and an outgrowth of the piano roll music of the 1910s, it can be considered a pianistic cousin of jazz, which appeared around the same time. "Nola," a 1915 composition by New York pianist Felix Arndt, is generally considered the first novelty piano hit. Many early novelty composers were piano roll artists from the Chicago area, where two of the largest piano roll companies, QRS and Imperial, were based. While often only lightly Syncopation, syncopated or lacking syncopation entirely, novelty piano influenced the evolution of jazz. It is distinct from stride piano, which was developed in New York at about the same time. The earliest composers of novelty piano were piano roll artists seeking to sell piano rolls. These pieces started out as highly complex dance pieces with characteristic breaks, consecutive fourths, and advanced harmonies—but in contrast with ragtime and oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott Joplin, James Scott (composer), James Scott, and Joseph Lamb (composer), Joseph Lamb. Ragtime pieces (often called "rags") are typically composed for and performed on piano, though the genre has been adapted for a variety of instruments and styles. Ragtime music originated within African Americans, African American communities in the late 19th century and became a distinctly American form of popular music. It is closely related to American march music, marches. Ragtime pieces usually contain several distinct themes, often arranged in patterns of repeats and reprises. Scott Joplin, known as the "King of Ragtime", gained fame through compositions like "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer (rag), The Entertainer". Ragtime influ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charley Straight
Charles Theodore "Charley" Straight (January 16, 1891 – September 22, 1940) was an American pianist, bandleader and composer. Biography Straight, who was born in Chicago, started his career in 1909 accompanying singer Gene Greene in Vaudeville. In 1916, he began working at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago, where he recorded dozens of piano rolls. He became a popular bandleader in Chicago during the 1920s. His band, the Charley Straight Orchestra, had a long term engagement at the Rendezvous Café from 1922 to 1925 and recorded for Paramount Records and Brunswick Records in the 1920s.During the 1920s, Straight worked with Roy Bargy on the latter's eight ''Piano Syncopations''. In describing "Rufenreddy", the fifth in the series, the ragtime historian "Perfessor" Bill Edwards stated: :The actual parentage of this piece will likely remain obscured to some degree, since Bargy's collaborator, Charley Straight, more or less may have let Bargy take credit when the piano ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Mayerl
William Joseph Mayerl (31 May 1902 – 25 March 1959) was an English pianist and composer who built a career in music hall and musical theatre and became an acknowledged master of light music. Best known for his syncopated novelty piano solos, he wrote over 300 piano pieces, many of which were named after flowers and trees, including his best-known composition, ''Marigold'' (1927). He also ran the successful School of Syncopation for whose members he published hundreds of his own arrangements of popular songs. He also composed works for piano and orchestra, often in suites with evocative names such as the 'Aquarium Suite' (1937), comprising "Willow Moss", "Moorish Idol", "Fantail", and "Whirligig". Early life and education Mayerl was born in 1902 on London's Tottenham Court Road, near the West End theatre district. His father, a violin player, attempted to introduce him to the violin age of four, but failed. After noticing his affinity to the piano, he started him with piano ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edythe Baker
Edythe Baker (August 25, 1899–August 15, 1971) was an American pianist and dancer. Early life Baker was born in Girard, Kansas. Her parents divorced around 1905, and Edith moved to Kansas City, Missouri with her mother. From ages 8 to 14, Baker was educated at St. Mary's Convent in Independence, Missouri, receiving piano and voice lessons. There are varying accounts of her musical development during her early teenage years. One describes her work at Nowlin Music Co. in Kansas City as a musician and saleswoman. Another account claims she received lessons from the composer-performer Ernie Burnett, who composed 'My Melancholy Baby'. She supposedly also regularly visited the Orpheum Theatre in Kansas City, where she listened to different piano styles. Allegedly, she could support her mother and brother by age 15, playing ragtime piano in small cabarets. Her "peculiar style" along with her good looks made her "a favorite among cabaret regulars." Yet another account has her runn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Kortlander
Maximilian Joseph Kortlander (September 1, 1890 - October 11, 1961) was an American composer, arranger, and pianist. He is best known for his numerous piano rolls which he performed for QRS Music Technologies, Inc. He often collaborated with fellow QRS pianist and composer, Pete Wendling. A song they wrote together in 1922, 'Whenever You're Lonesome (Just Telephone Me)' has become a jazz standard. Life and career Source:http://ragpiano.com/comps/kortland.shtml Max Kortlander was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1890 to parents Joseph and Elizabeth Kortlander. He attended the Oberlin College Conservatory after high school, and later the American Conservatory, in Chicago, Illinois. In 1914, he was hired by QRS and began writing his own compositions in 1917. His first songs were entitled 'The Ragtime Sailor Man' and 'Chicken Pranks'. After moving to New York City, he wrote the hit song 'Tell Me' (1919), which was recorded by Al Jolson, one of the most popular singers of the ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clement Doucet
Clement or Clément may refer to: People * Clement (name), a given name and surname * Saint Clement (other)#People Places * Clément, French Guiana, a town * Clement, Missouri, U.S. * Clement Township, Michigan, U.S. * Clement's Place, jazz club in Newark, New Jersey Other uses * Adolphe Clément-Bayard French industrialist (1855–1928), founder of a number of companies which incorporate the name "Clément", including: ** Clément Cycles, French bicycle and motorised cycle manufacturer ** Clément Motor Company, British automobile manufacturer and importer ** Clément Tyres, Franco-Italian cycle tyre manufacturer, licensed in America since 2010 * First Epistle of Clement, of the New Testament apocrypha * ''Clément'' (film), a 2001 French drama See also * * * * Clemens, a name * Clemente, a name * Clements (other) * Clementine (other) * Klement Klement is a given name and surname. People with that name include: Given name * Klement Gottwald ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rube Bloom
Reuben Bloom (April 24, 1902 – March 30, 1976) was an American songwriter, pianist, arranger, band leader, recording artist, vocalist, and author. Life and career Bloom was born and died in New York City. He was Jewish. During his career, he worked with many well-known performers, including Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, Ruth Etting, Stan Kenton, Tommy Dorsey, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. He collaborated with a wide number of lyricists, including Johnny Mercer, Ted Koehler, and Mitchell Parish. During the 1920s he wrote many novelty piano solos, which are still well regarded today. He recorded for the Aeolian Company's Duo-Art reproducing piano system various titles including his "Spring Fever". His first hit came in 1927 with "Soliloquy"; his last was "Here's to My Lady" in 1952, which he wrote with Johnny Mercer. In 1928, he made a number of records with Joe Venuti's Blue Four for OKeh, including five songs he sang, as well as played piano. Bloom formed and led a number of bands du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Elizalde
Federico "Fred" Díaz Elizalde (December 12, 1907 – January 16, 1979) was a Spanish Filipino classical and jazz pianist, composer, conductor, and bandleader, influential in the British dance band era. Biography Elizalde was born in Manila, Philippines, to José Joaquín Elizalde and Carmen Díaz y Moreau. He was a brother of diplomat Joaquín ("Mike"), Manuel ("Manolo"), Juan Miguel, Ángel and Carmenchu Elizalde. At age seven''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th edition, 1954, Vol. II, p. 929 he entered the Madrid Royal Conservatory, winning the first prize in piano at age 14. He then studied at St. Joseph's College, London and went to study law at Stanford University in the 1920s. His musical interests prevailed and he left the university. He took composition lessons under Ernst Bloch at Stanford, and gave up law temporarily for music, leaving the school in 1926. He then embarked on a career as a jazz bandleader, leading the Stanford University Band at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pauline Alpert
Pauline Edeth Alpert Rooff (December 27, 1905 – April 6, 1988) was a pianist who performed, composed, recorded, and produced Duo-Art piano rolls in the United States. Known by her fans as the "Whirlwind Pianist", she performed in several films and made recordings with a few record labels. She did radio shows in New York City and toured. Career She made numerous Victor Records recordings. She recorded the album ''Sparkling Piano Melodies'' on Sonora Records. She sometimes recorded under the pseudonym Peggy Anderson. She produced more than 500 piano rolls for the Duo-Art. She toured across the United States, Canada, and South America. She played in the White House three times, performing for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. She performed during the intermission of the Broadway show ''Rufus LeMaire's Affairs'' in 1927. She featured in two Vitaphone Varieties short film episodes dated March 1927. This included ''What Price Piano,'' a collection of popular songs. She late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Bargy
Roy Fredrick Bargy (July 31, 1894 – January 16, 1974) was an American composer and pianist. Biography Born in Newaygo, Michigan, he grew up in Toledo, Ohio. In 1919, he began working with Charley Straight at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago, performing, arranging and composing. He was the leader, pianist and arranger of the Benson Orchestra of Chicago from 1920 to 1922 (when he was replaced by Don Bestor), and later worked with the orchestras of Isham Jones and Paul Whiteman, and recorded piano solos for Victor Records. In 1928, he was the first pianist to record George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F (in an arrangement by Ferde Grofé; with Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra). From 1943 until his retirement, he was music director for Jimmy Durante. He died in Vista, California at the age of 79. Selected Compositions * Ditto (1920) * Omeomy (1920) * Slipova (1920) * A Blue Streak (1921) * Knice and Knifty (with Charley Straight, 1921) * Rufenreddy (with Char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s to early 1930s, through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including clothing, fashion, and jewelry. Art Deco has influenced buildings from skyscrapers to cinemas, bridges, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects, including radios and vacuum cleaners. The name Art Deco came into use after the 1925 (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris. It has its origin in the bold geometric forms of the Vienna Secession and Cubism. From the outset, Art Deco was influenced by the bright colors of Fauvism and the Ballets Russes, and the exoticized styles of art from Chinese art, China, Japanese art, Japan, Indian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zez Confrey
Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey (3 April 1895 – 22 November 1971) - accessed August 2011 was an American composer and performer of novelty piano and jazz music. His most noted works were "Kitten on the Keys" and "Dizzy Fingers." Studying at the Chicago Musical College and becoming enthralled by Impressionism in music, French impressionists played a critical role in how he composed and performed music. Early life and education Confrey was born in Peru, Illinois, the youngest child of Thomas and Margaret Confrey. Aspiring to be a concert pianist, he attended Chicago Musical College and studied with private teachers. He later abandoned that idea for composing, encouraged by his oldest brother, James J. Confrey, an organist.Confrey, Zez, ''Zez Confrey's Modern Course in Novelty Piano Playing'' (New York: Jack ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
