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
Eugene Delbert Greene (June 9, 1877 – April 5, 1930) was an American vaudeville and ragtime singer. He was one of the first to use scat singing techniques.
Career
Greene was born in Indiana. He worked with his wife, Blanche Werner, as Greene ...
in
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
. In 1916, he began working at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago, where he recorded dozens of
piano rolls
A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. Piano rolls, like other music rolls, are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. These perforations represent note control d ...
. 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
Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson (guitarist), Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Early years
Paramoun ...
and
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
1916–1929
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...
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 rolls of the Eight Piano Syncopations were transcribed into sheet music form. It is likely that Straight wrote the bulk of the composition in 1918, and Bargy added many of his individual touches to it in the performance, the end result being that there is some of each of them within.
Straight died in Chicago on the evening of September 22, 1940, after being struck by a car.
At the time, Straight was working as a sanitary inspector for the city of Chicago, and was emerging from a manhole in the street.
Selected compositions
*"Rufenreddy" (with
Roy Bargy, 1921)
*"Knice and Knifty" (with Roy Bargy, 1922)
*"Playmor"
*"Itsit"
*"Blue Grass Rag" (1918)
*"Let's Go" (1915)
*"Humpty Dumpty" (1914)
*"Hot Hands" (1916)
*"Sweet Pickin's" (1918)
*"Wild And Wooly"
*"S'more"
*"Nifty Nonsense" (1918)
*"Black Jack Rag" (1917)
*"Rag-A-Bit" (1918)
*"Fastep" (1918)
*"Dippy Ditty" (1918)
*"Lazy Bones"
*"Out Steppin'" (1917)
*"My Baby's Rag"
*"Universal Rag"
*"Mow 'Em Down" (1918)
*"Try Me"
*"Red Raven Rag" (1915)
*"Mocking Bird Rag"
*"King Of The Bungaloos"
*"I Need Some Pettin`" With
Robert A. King (1924)
See also
*
List of ragtime composers
A list of ragtime composers, including one or more famous or characteristic compositions.
Pre-1940
*Felix Arndt (1889–1918),"Desecration Rag" (1914), "Nola" (1916), "Operatic Nightmare" (1916)
*May Aufderheide (1888–1972), "Dusty Rag" (1908)
...
Notes
Sources
*
External links
*
"Work-in-progress YouTube playlist of recordings and piano rolls made by Charley Straight"Charley Straight recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Straight, Charley
1891 births
1940 deaths
American jazz pianists
American male jazz pianists
American jazz bandleaders
Ragtime pianists
American vaudeville performers
Ragtime composers
20th-century American conductors (music)
20th-century American composers
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American male musicians