Novelty Piano

Original sheet music (1915)

Novelty Piano is a genre of piano music that was popular during the 1920s. A successor to ragtime and an outgrowth of the piano roll music of the 1910s, novelty piano 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.

Sheet music (1921)

Novelty piano came most powerfully to the attention of the public in 1921, with the appearance of Zez Confrey's Kitten on the Keys. The popularity of this piece quickly led to other Confrey works and inspired other artists to issue novelty pieces. The style remained popular through the end of the decade, at which time big bands were on the rise, player pianos were in decline, and the popularity of jazz continued unabated. Novelty piano slowly succumbed to, or was absorbed into, the new orchestral styles as the piano moved off center stage and took on more of a "support" role.

Although novelty piano has structural and stylistic similarities to the earlier ragtime form, there are also distinct differences. Ragtime was generally sold in the form of sheet music, so it was important to keep it simple enough to be played by the competent amateur. By the mid-teens, though, two new technologies had appeared which allowed the general public to hear music as performed by skilled musicians: the "hand-played" piano roll and the phonograph record. Novelty piano was developed as a vehicle to showcase the talents of these professionals, and was thus more often sold in the form of recordings and piano rolls than as sheet music. It was a new "turbo-charged" piano form, infused with chromatic piano roll flourishes, and influenced by the "modernistic" sounds of the art-deco twenties (which were themselves largely adopted from the French "Impressionist" pianists such as Debussy and Satie; "novelty" pianists tended to be highly classically trained, they were fully familiar with such "modern" pianists, and their fondness for complex chordal intricacies). (info extracted from Wikipedia, here ) 

Zez Confrey (1895 - 1971)

As mentioned, Zez Confrey had a huge hit with his novelty ragtime composition Kitten on the Keys. Below I'll insert a few more examples of his most popular compositions. Here's first the 1923 Dizzy Fingers 

Original sheet music (1922)

Confrey had another hit with his Stumbling, here from the hand played piano roll by the artist

Another sheet issue of Stumbling

Confrey's novelty rags were also recorded by larger ensembles, for some time he had a contract with Victor to make recordings for the growing market of dance records. Here we'll end this small intro to the novelty piano tradition by inserting Paul Whiteman and his orchestra's version of Stumbling - a hit for the orchestra and with the dancing public

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Jo

keepitswinging.domain@gmail.com

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Metropolis - A Fantasy in Blue

 Metropolis - a Ferde Grofé experiment in modern music celebrates its  85th birthday
A Tribute
Hans Koert

On the 12th of March 1928, eighty-five years ago, the enlarged 26 men Paul Whiteman Orchestra, his so-called Concert Orchestra, recorded the first and second part of Metropolis, a suite in four parts, that had a total playing time of ca. 17 minutes. The 3rd part was recorded a day later and the fourth part was played on the 17th of March. This lenghtly tune was released on two 30cm 78rpm gramophones for Victor.

• This is a re-post of a previous blog entitled Metropolis, posted due to its 80th (!) birthday - five years ago!

Ferde Grofé (1937)

The tune, which got the work title Fantasia in E-flat, was composed by Ferde Grofé and later got its final name Metropolis - a Fantay in Blue, named after the succesfull 1926 film Metropolis by Fritz Lang. Mind that Ferde's tune has nothing to do with the film - it only gives you an impression of the sounds and noises of a big city, a so-called Metropolis.

 Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra (1928)

Ferde Grofé was born in New York City March 1892 as Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé. His ancestors came from Germany. Both his parents played classical music and when his father passed away he returned to Germany with his mother where he got violin and piano lessons. Some years later they returned to New York and when he left school he found a job as a musician. After some gigs at bars and bordellos, he started to perform in the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. In 1915 he played in the band of Art Hickman where he wrote arrangements for dance orchestra. In the late 1910s he became interested in jazz and one of his collegues in the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Paul Whiteman, became fascinated by Ferde's arrangements. In 1920 when Paul Whiteman needed a new piano player in his band he asked Ferde and so they  cooperated, which was a start to some great recordings of Ferde Grofé compositions, like the Mississippi Suite and the Grand Canyon Suite and, of course, this Metropolis.

 Metropolis by the Willem Breuker Kollektief (BVHaast CD 8903)

I have some two great contemporary recordings from this suite. Mind that this Metropolis suite was performed in public only once on  stage at Carnegie Hall in October 1928 and since that time no orchestra ever played this piece complete in public again until January 1989 when the Dutch Willem Breuker Kollektief played it for their BVHaast CD Metropolis (CD 8903). Enjoy a fragment of the first part of Metropolis, as played by the Willem Breuker Kollektief



For me it was the first time that I heard it on record and I was impressed by this Experiment in Modern Music, as this piece was subtitled. Both Ferde Grofé as Paul Whiteman wanted to make Modern American Music, that should be of an equal quality as the great European classical composers. If you have seen Paul Witeman's film The King of Jazz you can imagine how it sounded.

 The Modern American Music of Ferde Grofé - The Beau Hunks ( Basta 30-9083)

Fifteen years ago the Beau Hunks, the orchestra known for its Laurel & Hardy music, played it using the original arrangements and this performance is to be found at their album The Modern American Music of Ferde Grofé. You will find more compositions of Ferde Grofé on its album like his Broadway at Night (1924), Mississippi Suite (1925) and the Three Shades of Blue (1926). This music isn't jazz nor dance music - It's symphonic music, more in the tradition of European classical music then in jazz. This week is a great opportunity to tribute this great Metropolis Suite and to let it sound ..... complete!

• Love to share with you a fragment of  the version of this 85 years old American suite Metropolis  as played by the Dutch Beau Hunk Orchestra, directed by Jan Stulen. ( October 1997)

And for those die-hards who also love to here the "originals", as played by Paul Whiteman in 1928, you can find both parts here at You Tube:   part one - part two.

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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Ferde Grofé is one of those great American composers from the 20th Century, now almost forgotten, that should be spotlighted.  His Metropolis - a Fantasy in Blue is one of those great compositions that should be played more often ..... Originally performed by the Paul Whiteman Concert Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (1928) this composition is honoured today due to its 85th birthday ......

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