Another rare Frederick Fletcher Van Eps recording turns up!

I have been looking for information on, my hero, "Fred" Van Eps and never cease to be amazed by the number of recordings that he made, and that I still find ones that I have not heard before!

Here is another for us to enjoy... I do wish that I could play just a little bit like him!!!

:-)

THE VAMP played by the Fred Van Eps Orchestra1919

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It's a goodie !!

Lovely - thanks for posting this.  It's one I haven't heard before.

Pretty staid compared to the full power of the "Novelty Orchestra" of the period. Even though FVE gives it a good hammering, the Sax is simply awful. Well, it was a relatively modern instrument and something of a fad at the time. I'm glad you posted it though. We need to hear everything FVE recorded!

Here's the "Green Brothers Novelty Orchestra" playing the same piece for comparison. http://www.library.ucsb.edu/OBJID/Cylinder7821

That one makes me go, "WOW!"

This is the beginnings of the "Oriental Foxtrot" era (which lasted all of 4 yrs, 1919-1923) and one of my favorite genre.

We all have our own taste in music!  

Here is the Green Bros version..sorry Marc, this is all too frantic for me, I much prefer Van Eps and the moaning sax :-)

Wow, that is fast...too fast. The cylinder recording link I posted is turning quite a bit slower. Still frantic (compared to FVE) but...

Yah, we all have our own ears, don't we? Interesting that both recordings were released in 1919 though...and kids of the day were much more likely to go for the fast-paced dance stuff...and the Foxtrot was a new and exciting (and easy) dance.

There's always a balance and the better bands played both fast and slow numbers. I've always been a 'novelty orchestra' kind of guy...unless I'm dancing, then I'm all for the slow numbers!

Dear Ian,

I say you play wonderfully — everyone plays like himself or herself, and the way you perform is great; I wish I could play a little bit like YOU, actually. I've converted some of your videos to mp3 and have them in my iTunes rotation.

I dunno if you have this recording, but here's VE playing the same piece at a slightly slower pace at an ABF rally in 1957 with Cecil Boyd accompanying him on guitar.

Fred Van Eps and Cecil Boyd 1957.mp3

THE VAMP FVE and Cecil Boyd 1957

And according to Van Eps' own advertising, I guess "ziz" is the secret ingredient. I wonder if it's prescription only?

Very best, as always,

C.

Thanks Chris... I am humbled ;-)

I am currently working on two of FVEs arrangements and am still convinced that on a scale of 1 - 10 (FVE being No 10) and have yet to make a start!!!

Thank you for the recording. It is great to hear these live recordings from the later period when recording quality was not far from that of today. Now can "hear" how Classic Style WAS played and sound.

Thank you so much

ps Love the flyer. If you find any "ZIZ" please let me know!!

I've got ZIZ, but I'm keeping it all to myself.  I have is stored in jars in the same cabinet with my pep, vim and vigor.

FVE had few choices, all the other 3-letter superlatives starting with "zi" were either trademarked or wholly-owned by large conglomerates ("Zip" is currently owned by Proctor and Gamble, for example). Vowels, of course, are all in the public domain so he could have used ZIA, ZIE, ZIO, ZIU, ZIY but none of those really provided the "wow" factor he was looking for. ZIZ turned out to be an excellent choice, giving it a little onomatopoetic sizzle at the end.

Unfortunately, the band fizzled as "ziz" turned out to be tied to a popular underground comic-book 'sound' (like, "pow" or "wham") and, as the character was evil (he was born with a circular saw for a hand), "ziz" was used for, um, decapitating other innocent characters. The rest is history, as they say. FVE's band went kaput and 'ziz' occasionally is used for cartoon saws to this very day...  

Why did his special ingredient need to start with a z?

Trapdoor2 said:

FVE had few choices, all the other 3-letter superlatives starting with "zi" were either trademarked or wholly-owned by large conglomerates ("Zip" is currently owned by Proctor and Gamble, for example). Vowels, of course, are all in the public domain so he could have used ZIA, ZIE, ZIO, ZIU, ZIY but none of those really provided the "wow" factor he was looking for. ZIZ turned out to be an excellent choice, giving it a little onomatopoetic sizzle at the end.

Unfortunately, the band fizzled as "ziz" turned out to be tied to a popular underground comic-book 'sound' (like, "pow" or "wham") and, as the character was evil (he was born with a circular saw for a hand), "ziz" was used for, um, decapitating other innocent characters. The rest is history, as they say. FVE's band went kaput and 'ziz' occasionally is used for cartoon saws to this very day...  

By the 19-teens, all the other letters had been used up...

Ian, do you have a full list of his recorded songs somewhere? I am getting ready to add more pieces to the radio site and a list of his songs would be helpful. I might even put together several CDs of his music for the Classic Banjo Shop.

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