Would anyone happen to have a copy of 'Razzle Dazzle' (arranged by Emile Grimshaw; composer Harry Von Tlizer).  I've checked the music library but wondered if anyone had a copy they wouldn't mind sharing.  Thanks.

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Your wish is my command Carrie.

I tried to attach the file here, but the stupid NING software wouldn't even let ME upload it...grrrr

I will add it to the MUSIC LIBRARY for you to download

:-)

That's fantastic!  Thank you very much, Ian.  I heard Vess Ossman playing this in the Jukebox section and thought it sounded a great tune to learn.    

Gee,  I haven't heard this one in ages...forgot about it. Should be a fun one to play, Carrie. I may have to join you.

A cleaner copy of the recording is up on youtube at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q08XZB_7wg0

Below the video screen is a mention of Vess Root Beer.  Last year I posted a photo of an advert for Vess Cola. Sure enough there is or was a Vess Root Beer too:

Agreed.  I think I'll give it a read though this weekend.  It is a good one.

Trapdoor2 said:

Gee,  I haven't heard this one in ages...forgot about it. Should be a fun one to play, Carrie. I may have to join you.

Here's the TAB and MIDI, if anyone wants it...

Attachments:

Yes, it's a good one - very catchy and I also like the fact it's called 'Razzle Dazzle'.

 

Carrie, I thought you might like to know that this has officially been placed in my notebook.  After running through it a dozen times I really like it.  The trio has nice flavor to it.

BTW, this is one of those pieces that the bass elevated is entirely unnecessary. To my hands it lays fine in standard.

Sometimes the reason for elevated bass or alternate tunings is for the sound produced by that tuning rather than for ease of fingering. The open bass string is sounded on this recording with an adamant honking sound that might have a different quality as a fretted note. Also the overtones of a bass string on any string instrument color all the notes played on the higher strings. To test this,  play am ascending G major scale starting with the open third string. Do it with the bass elevated and also with the bass back down a step. Each note will have a different tone quality because of the tuning of the bass string, a string which is not touched in playing the scale of G to its octave. it will be the same for any scale or any melody.
Joel Hooks said:

Carrie, I thought you might like to know that this has officially been placed in my notebook.  After running through it a dozen times I really like it.  The trio has nice flavor to it.

BTW, this is one of those pieces that the bass elevated is entirely unnecessary. To my hands it lays fine in standard.

While I agree with you regarding the elevated bass, I continuously remain baffled by the fetish of scordatura that plagues the "old time" players.

As to the recording, who am I to call Vess a lier? Well, either he is... or he is stopping that bass note at the 2nd fret.

His own words from an interview with the "Banjo World" in London.

My personal approach is to try it "elevated" first (if noted).  Second time in standard.  In this piece I see no advantage in elevating.   I... ahem... grant that the opinion of many of the best players differ from mine on this point. (smiley wink face here).

Yes I remember that interview. The first time I read it I imagined that the elevation meant making the action higher, as in a Hawaiian guitar. I couldn't understand that. This was 20 years ago or more. But the reason for the  various tunings of the five-string banjo in traditional music is easy to understand if you understand the motives for creating them in the first place.  The short answer is that certain pieces sound Just Plain Wrong in any tuning but the one in which it was composed.  A more complete answer:

I was born in 1946. When I was in my teens and 20s I met a number of southern old-time banjo players who were born in the 19th century and got an idea of how they thought about banjo and how to play it although I didn't fully digest it until years later.  Many old-timers played clawhammer banjo as if it were a modified African harp.   A harp is an instrument which requires the player to go to a different string for each note.  So in the MAH (modified african harp) approach open strings are given preference and we get dozens of tunings, each with its own unique sonic atmosphere. Adapting to these different ways of playing and hearing makes your mind and hands flexible and helps you become a better musician.  In clawhammer banjo at least as many notes are gotten with the left hand as with the right, especially by the "snap", that is by puling, particularly pulling an open string. The tunings were devised to enable  the important notes in a family of tunes, usually set in one of a number of American musical modes (NOT the modes of the European conservatory) to be found on open strings. (there is no such thing as "modal tuning" ..the identification of gDGCD with the concept of "modal" is indeed a plague and a fetish.) The other reason is the special sonic atmosphere each tuning provides.  We are talking about traditional music passed on through listening and imitating elders. The tuning for each piece is part of the tradition. It's a beautiful thing, Joel.  What half-baked uninformed enthusiasts are doing with this misunderstood tradition may be another matter.  

I will listen again to the recording and see if I think Vess is elevated or whether the D is depressed!  say, did he give that interview before or after recording Razzledazzle?



Joel Hooks said:

While I agree with you regarding the elevated bass, I continuously remain baffled by the fetish of scordatura that plagues the "old time" players.

As to the recording, who am I to call Vess a lier? Well, either he is... or he is stopping that bass note at the 2nd fret.

His own words from an interview with the "Banjo World" in London.

My personal approach is to try it "elevated" first (if noted).  Second time in standard.  In this piece I see no advantage in elevating.   I... ahem... grant that the opinion of many of the best players differ from mine on this point. (smiley wink face here).

I gave another three listens to the recording .The low D has the sound of an open string. It has more sustain and ring than the other notes on that string. So I think it's possible that the bass is elevated here.  Vess Ossman is doing the usual Vess thing of playing one note at several places where written scores show a three note chord. He does not sound like he is reading as he plays either, though I don't know for a fact if he did or not.

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