Fred Van Eps's Patrol Comique

[thereallyniceman]

..Or Maybe Fred's version?

[thereallyniceman]

So who is the "Master"?  Ossman or Van Eps??????

[Jody Stecher]

In general? On Patrol Comique perhaps Ossman has the edge. Or maybe not.  In their entire recorded output (not that I've heard it all) Van Eps has the technical edge. But then on his records it's easier to tell what he's playing and visualize how he is doing at least some of it.  For mysterious sounds Ossman is the master. But that may be because of the limitation of recording technique at the start of his career.   I like some Ossman records better than the Van Eps recording(s) of the same Banjo solo.  But then I like some Van Eps recordings of things Ossman did not record better than most Ossman recordings.  

How's that for evading the question and avoiding a clear answer?