Classic-Banjo
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A “NEW” Vess L Ossman recording .. It doesn’t get better than this!!!
Well here is one that you won’t have heard before!
This is a superb and mega rare recording of Vess L Ossman on a 78RPM Nassau Record
Vess is playing "The Sousa Swing", no I have never heard of it either.
I don’t know the date of recording, but the quality is excellent so here is how Classic Banjo was played by possibly the greatest player of all time!
Enjoy:
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Moss on
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A brilliant late Ossman recording (considering he quit the recording industry in 1913?), the tone really does come through beautifully in this one.
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Permalink Reply by Jody Stecher on
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I can't find this recording listed in The Banjo On Record (Heier and Lotz). I wonder how this one was recorded. The banjo sounds like it has a cold. It's also the first time I can recall hearing Ossman out of tune; when he plays the octave passages on the first and fourth strings together the tuning problem can be heard. I particularly like the last chord. The piano player has been very good up to this point but then Ossman plays the final chord just ahead of the beat and the piano plays it behind the beat. Together they sound like a 500 pound dog barking a multisyllabic Woof. The only comparable recording event I can think of is last beat of one Cape Breton fiddle player Bill Lamey's 78s. It sounds like a pistol shot. Opinion was divided as to whether it was the piano player slamming the lid down on the keyboard or the engineer shooting the producer. Later on, session info became available and it was discovered that a snare drum player was on the session. The piano and fiddle stopped at the end but he didn't.
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To be clear, lest my previous comment be misunderstood, I am a big Vess Ossman fan and a big Bill Lamey fan, and I enjoyed hearing this recording of Sousa Swing and appreciate it being found and shared.
Jody Stecher said:I can't find this recording listed in The Banjo On Record (Heier and Lotz). I wonder how this one was recorded. The banjo sounds like it has a cold. It's also the first time I can recall hearing Ossman out of tune; when he plays the octave passages on the first and fourth strings together the tuning problem can be heard. I particularly like the last chord. The piano player has been very good up to this point but then Ossman plays the final chord just ahead of the beat and the piano plays it behind the beat. Together they sound like a 500 pound dog barking a multisyllabic Woof. The only comparable recording event I can think of is last beat of one Cape Breton fiddle player Bill Lamey's 78s. It sounds like a pistol shot. Opinion was divided as to whether it was the piano player slamming the lid down on the keyboard or the engineer shooting the producer. Later on, session info became available and it was discovered that a snare drum player was on the session. The piano and fiddle stopped at the end but he didn't.
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Permalink Reply by marc dalmasso on
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i believe that VO ' banjo tuning is OK but the piano is almost 1/4 tone lower ; I cannot believe they used to record this together ; this should be record in several steps from machines & sound the engineer who pasted the 2 didn 'rt hear it was not in tune ,
may be my opinion could be confirmed by the fact that this recording is not well knowed , non published because not in tune .. ,,?
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Permalink Reply by thereallyniceman on
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I don't know any other details of where/why/when Sousa Swing was recorded:
Sorry about the very poor quality of the photo. The label states:
Sousa Swing
Banjo Solo
Vess L. Ossman
The Record is a single sided Nassau number B97.
Ossman obviously made other rare recordings with Nassau records around 1907, as I found this:
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There are passages where the melody on the first string is also played on the fourth string an octave lower. It is in these passages that the tuning problem is heard.
marc dalmasso said:i believe that VO ' banjo tuning is OK but the piano is almost 1/4 tone lower ; I cannot believe they used to record this together ; this should be record in several steps from machines & sound the engineer who pasted the 2 didn 'rt hear it was not in tune ,
may be my opinion could be confirmed by the fact that this recording is not well knowed , non published because not in tune .. ,,?
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Permalink Reply by Trapdoor2 on
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"The Sousa Swing" was written by Chas B. Brown. Looks like you can still purchase the sheet music. I find no reference to a tune called "Arabia"...but all of the other "Arabian" tunes may be interfering...the name was extremely popular for tunes in the teens and 20's, esp. for "Oriental Foxtrots".
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by OK , i mean OK but not perfect
I gived it a 2nd hearing ; sometimes the banjo chords are in tune almost perfect , sometimes OK , sometimes totally out of tune even with chords over than octaves . And the piano is not with the bj ..
i could think this is voluntarily .. ? why ?
to make a parodie of a Sousa brass band ?
What is " arabia " ? the other side of the record ? can we hear it ?
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No Marc,
The Sousa Swing record was only recorded on one side, the other side was blank!
The Arabia was another record produced by Ossman around the same time, but again only recorded on one side of the disc. I do not have a recording of this... maybe someone has?
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OK :-)
marc dalmasso said:by OK , i mean OK but not perfect
I gived it a 2nd hearing ; sometimes the banjo chords are in tune almost perfect , sometimes OK , sometimes totally out of tune even with chords over than octaves . And the piano is not with the bj ..
i could think this is voluntarily .. ? why ?
to make a parodie of a Sousa brass band ?
What is " arabia " ? the other side of the record ? can we hear it ?
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