Tarrant Bailey Jr 5 string banjo videos on the web

[Jody Stecher]

A search for banjo, banjoist, Tarrant Bailey, etc, on the website :

http://beta.britishpathe.com/


will produce about a dozen film clips of British banjo playing including solos by Tarrant Bailey Jr.

[Joel Hooks]

Thanks for the link.

Dig that grin while playing!

All this time I have been trying to play with less snap in my right hand. He really lets it have it, strings slapping frets and all.

I do like the standing with one foot on a stool. I think I will try that.

[Trapdoor2]

Yeah, cool link. There's one from 1942 that sounds really familiar, I can't place the tune...yet.

So...it's 1942 and Earl Scruggs goes in to see a movie...the short subject (after the cartoon) is "Tarrant Bailey Jr"...history changes! ;-)

[Jody Stecher]

I like these clips "in spite" of the frozen grin. He has beautiful economy of motion in both hands and the two hands work together so well. He makes splendid use of the little finger (which in his case is not actually little) on the left hand and in spite of the force with which the right fingers play the right hand is relatively relaxed. Re the tone: snappity snap needs a bit of of hum to balance it. What we're hearing might be an artifact of less than optimal recording to begin with and then a digital transfer which can sometimes create harsh sounds. The joke that asks about the difference between a chain saw and a bluegrass banjo (answer: a chain saw has dynamic range) might well apply here. Lately my Clifford Essex has been sounding like that on the high frets unless I tighten the head almost to the bursting point or else put on a higher bridge. I think it's the wet/dry hot/cold weather we've been having here in San Francisco. BTW, the link has changed. Remove "beta" from the address and replace it with three W-s and that'll get one to the site. Here it is:

http://www.britishpathe.com

[Joel Hooks]

The smiles are great! Was that just part of performances in that era? Does it go back earlier? I watched a few of the tenor and plectrum players and some of them did it, but not as exaggerated.

Makes me wonder if Stewart, Converse, and Dobson stood on stage with a maniacal grin.

I don't know, I've watched them each about half a dozen times, it sure looks like he is snapping the strings. A few spots he tones it down. The guitar and piano sound OK.

[Jody Stecher]

To my sensibilities the frozen smile makes him looked dead and embalmed! Yes it was part of the era and the ethos of Show Biz. Re the sound of the strings, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. I've heard about an hour or so of his recorded playing and he does have a snapping sound but there is also bass resonance in his banjos and in his banjo playing and that doesn't come across well in these clips.

[Trapdoor2]

Considering he'd been playing since the early teens (not his teens...the 19-teens), I think he's demonstrating the true legacy of growing up w/o the benefit of a microphone. He learned at the feet of both his father (Tarrant Bailey Sr.) and Joe Morley (often a guest at their house). The smiles seem a bit forced, but as Jody says, that's just the norm for stage work then and a hand-me-down from playing acoustically in theaters w/o sound and w/o 'close ups'. You smile as broadly as possible so you can be seen from the back of the theater.

Don't forget that England was under siege at the time and that sound films were only a decade or so old.

I certainly have no problem getting past the odd sound of these clips and much appreciate them being posted. And...I have no doubt that any successful performer of the era adoped a wider, broader stage persona. If you look at silent movies, you often see this over-acting routine...they are simply doing what worked on the stage. Converse, Dobson, Stewart, Baur, Babb, Weston...they all had to do it. I can see Stewart introducing Weston like a Circus Master: "Laaadddiiiesss and Geentlemeennn...!!"

[Adam]

Me? I love it ... The more maniacal the grin the better!

Thanks for sharing that site, Jody ... I can (and will!) lose hours on it ...

Best,
Adam

[marc dalmasso]

Yes , i found these videos on the british Pathé 4 or 5 years ago , and , because i looked at them several times , i can say that the armrest at the wrong place is the most important thing to do ; it makes yourself smiling while you are playing and it help yours fingers to find the right way ; so do it , guys

[Jody Stecher]

So *that's what he's smiling about! He's remembering that he has the armrest in a ridiculous place and the average viewer doesn't know. But then why didn't he put the armrest on the bottom if the idea was to be silly?

[thereallyniceman]

Thanks for the link Jody,
I have had the pleasure of seeing TBj play live a few times! I even spent Christmas morning at his house in the mid 1970s while he played a banjo he had for sale.
I think the last time I met him was at a BMG rally in the north of the UK at around 1980. I was sitting in the foyer playing the Morley tune, Georgia Medley, and TBj came over and gave me a real ear bending for playing that when he was due to play it later in the concert!! ...he wasn't smiling then !!!!

The clips are great. I just love the attack...
Hey, Marc S... TBj doesn't play like a girlie does he? :)