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JAZZ GRAMOPHONE RECORDS 111
This kind of "Pub Piano" of the American negro population spread from the turpentine camps and lonely saloons up to the towns and became a background to the cribs, palaces and bawdy-houses of the red light districts. Later, in cities like Chicago, in the hands of men like Fats Waller, James P. Johnson and Willie 'The Lion' Smith it became a travelling party entertainment for the many Rent Parties or 'Skiffles'.
Meanwhile the German-inspired marching bands of the Southern towns and cities were contributing their part to the history of jazz. First the Ragtime Piano which, in the hands of composer-pianists like Scott Joplin, achieved a brilliance in both writing and execution. Most of the best of this kind of early piano music was recorded, not on wax discs which were not at that time* invented, but on the pianola rolls. Several albums (transcribed from the rolls on to wax) and all of them well worth collecting, are available on the London label, and I will mention but one: AL 3515.
Negro Marching Bands
After ragtime, and partly in company with it, came the famous negro marching bands of New Orleans. One LP only has been released of this great jazz form, by the Eureka Brass Band on Melodise MLP 12-101. Playing slow dragging Spirituals, swinging marches and popular songs, these traditional bands paraded to funerals, followed carnivals and Lodge processions, |
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