Looking for information and discussion on C.P, Stinson, Hosea Easton, and Vance Lowry

[Tony Thomas MFA Black Banjoist]

     I am at work on a research project on C.P. Stinson, Hosea Easton, and Vance Lowry, three African American banjoists of the late 19th and early 20th century whose careers and lives interlocked.   Over the years I have posted here  a bit about Stinson's connection with Lowry.  I don't think    I have ever posted about Easton who unluckily bears the same name of a major 19th Century African American theologian and abolitionist,

          Stinson is mentioned in Converse's memoirs and has a series of clippings on his banjo and mandolin performances that I have found from the 1880s until his death in 1911.  Especially by the late 90s he is described in both the general American press and in African American newspapers as an entertainer someone is supposed to know without much explanation.  He was a banjoist, mandolinist, and guitarist,  BMG teacher, who chiefly lived in Allegeny PA, part of the Pittsburgh area, although he apparently lived in Youngstown Ohio for a few years, and participated in several touring African American companies and minstrel troupes that toured nationally and internationally.  By the 20th century he seems to have been involved as a solo vaudeville act on national US circuits.   He appeared to have musical training being described as musical director of at least one of the touring companies and of a number of cultural and religious celebrations among Black people in Ohio and Pennsylvania.  He gained notoriety in 1893 by being hired by a major Pittsburgh music store as a teacher and instructor,  news, especially in Black newspapers of the day,. 

Stinson also claimed at one time in his career he manufactured banjos  This spring a banjo probably manufactured for Stinson to sell to students or at his performances by Buckbee  or a similar manufacturer was found by a banjo enthusiast in Ohio.  It is in the process of being donated to the Smithsonian's African American museum.

                    Easton  was born in Hartford CT around 1850-55.  He became known as a banjo entertainer in the 60s or 70s though I have not found much information about him in the US.  The significant part of Easton's career was in Australia and New Zealand where he resided from 1877 or 76 until his death in 1899 and where he is considered the seminal figure in the banjo world.    You can find almost daily notices of his performances in Australian and New Zealand newspapers throughout these years.  He functioned as a banjo entertainer, actor and comedian, and mandolinist.  He advertised himself as a BMG teacher as well.  He and his collaborators seemed to understand the game of writing Stewart from time to time about how wonderful Stewart banjos were and how the local products could not compare!

              Lowry was born in Kansas in the 1880s.  He  one of the stars of the Clef Club concerts in New York before the First World War.   He, went to England in 1914 where he starred in the Ciro Club ensemble, and moved to France by 1917.   Lowry remained in Paris until 1941 where he became very influential in the development of jazz as a banjoist and saxophonist.  He was billed as "King of the banjo" .   In the 20s  and  30s Lowry collaborated with French poet, librettist, novelist, actor, film director, and painter Jean Cocteau in poetry performances, musical recordings, and film.  He continued as a saxophonist and banjo on his return to the US and died in Kansas in 1948.

               Lowry's story may illustrate links between five string and tenor banjoists.   In 1911 it was announced that Stinson would be launching a major vaudeville act with Lowry who later became known as a tenor banjoist and jazz saxophonist.  Stinson died before the new vaudeville season began.  Lowry was a known banjo entertainer before the tenor banjo became standardized and at least in one photograph appears to have used a five-string banjo even if the recordings of the group pictured suggest he was playing it as a tenor.

                   One mystery in all this is what Stinson claimed was an 1887 Kansas City banjo contest that he won. Converse describes as an 1884 banjo challenge between Stinson and Dan Polk in Kansas City during a vaudeville performance which Converse claims Polk won. Converse puts Polk’s victory squarely in Converse's  approval of the need of  white banjoists to put Stinson in his proper place as an African America. It is not clear whether these are two separate events or one event recalled or inflated differently.   What I consider to be Stinson's accounts are what is said in several press clipping that appear to be generated by interviews with Stinson.  He seemed to rather consciously work at puffery like most banjo entertainers of his time.

                  While I welcome responses in this group, I invite you to write me directly on these issues at [e-mail]

 

banjovially,

 

Tony Thomas

West Palm Beach, Florida