Frank Lawes

[Jon Lawes]

Hi there, my name is Jon Lawes, and I am the great grandson of a Banjo Composer called Frank Lawes. I was directed here from another forum called Banjo Hangout.

I am trying to find out a little more about him; he died 9 years before I was born but I recently found his old car on some of our property, and would love to know more about him. My dad has fond memories of him, but he kept his Banjo very much out of his personal life, so my father was only vaguely aware he did it. It was only when I saw him mentioned in an old copy of Melody Maker that I realised anyone outside of our family knew who he was.

I know its unlikely, but if anyone has any information on his past, especially other musicians he may have played or written peices with, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for letting me into the forum despite my banjo playing being rather amateur! (I have a good ear, maybe thats his legacy).

Thanks,

Jon Lawes.

[marc dalmasso]

If you play BC instead of CB , you gonna be an out_lawes

[Russ Chandler]

Jon, I'm currently in the process of making a CD of my playing (which I'll be boring the group about in due course) but I thought you'd like to know that when I got my Mechanical Copyright Licence the entry for my version of Syncopatin Shuffle was listed as "Copyright Control".

This basically means that they don't know who is the copyright owner of the tune but they are keeping the money for them in case they ever make themselves known.

If you have any claim to Franks estate you might have a few quid waiting for you!

More details here - http://www.prsformusic.com

[David Wade]

Russ, Syncopated Shuffle and a couple of others by the "big fella" have recently been published by Clifford Essex Music, thus re-acerting their copyright. Possibly worth having a chat with Clem.

[Jon Lawes]

Very interesting, thank you.

[Jon Lawes]

Hmmm, spoken to my father (Frank's Grandson) and as far as he was aware none of our family have ever been aware of his music being under any copywrite control. Interesting.

[thereallyniceman]

Hi Jon,

I wouldn't order the new yacht just yet! Most of Frank's compositions were made freely available to banjo players through the BMG magazines, so are still available to classic style players today. Also there are a limited number of people who buy classic style compositions, so don't expect to get rich. I love Frank's compositions and rate them very highly. Frank keeps popping up in articles and I will post them when ever I find reference to him.

[Jon Lawes]

Certainly, and I certainly am not of the gold digging mind-set. However I am interested in finding out if some kind of deal was struck between him and another party. I would rather people were playing his music and getting it freely than having his memory die because of capitalist nonsense.

[Jon Lawes]

This is the reply from Clifford Essex, if anyone is interested.

Jon,

 

Please read the attached PDF file, Frank Lawes obituary published in BMG magazine in January 1971.

 

The reason we keep the banjo solos composed by the old masters alive is because they are part of our heritage. The footnote on the original music states:

 

Other solos by Frank Lawes are: 'Hot Frets', 'All in Position', 'Keep It Going' and 'Syncopatin' Shuffle'.   You will enjoy playing these.

International Copyright.   Clifford Essex Music Co., Ltd.   The Home of the Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar,  8, New Compton St.  Charing Cross Road, London, W.C. 2

 

We are trying to encourage young banjoists to play the old solos, unfortunately, most do not read music, for that reason we have re-written and re-arranged all our banjo solos in musical notation and tablature. We do not sell many banjo solos, these days players are interested in the bluegrass and clawhammer styles. If Frank Lawes were alive today, last year we would have paid him 60 pence in royalties for two sales of 'Syncopatin' Shuffle'.

 

If you have inherited any of Frank's solos which we did not publish please send a list and we will not publish them. Having said that all Frank's solos are in the public domain and freely available for download from various sources. We differ because we include tablature.

 

On a different note, at just twenty four years old, my Grandfather became the youngest ever sea Captain. He wrote several books on the stability of ships and navigation. He died in 1944, his books have been out of print for many years. If the original publishers were to publish his work again, I would be absolutely delighted that his name and his work were being kept alive.

 

Regards,

 

Clem.

 

----- Original Message -----

To: [e-mail]

Sent: 31 October 2011 20:21

Subject: Frank Lawes

 

Clem,

 

My family have recently had brought to our attention that the music of my Great Grandfather, Frank Lawes, is under some form of copy-write control. Is this something you have any awareness of? I understand you publish some of his pieces.

 

If you can shed any light on this we would all be very interested.

 

Many thanks,

 

Jon Lawes.

 

 

[Russ Chandler]

Interestingly I did list Clifford Essex as the publisher in my application but they don't turn up on the actual licence.

One possibility occur to me - maybe MCPS are interested in the author of the music for recording purposes and CE only own the rights to publish the dots?

Wild guesswork on my part - I actually take Jon's view, I'm not about paperwork and I'd rather be playing my banjo!

And I reckon discussions on stuff like copyright shouldn't clutter up a lovely thread for Frank so I'm glad to see Steve Harrison has opened another thread for a copyright discussion - see you there!