So how should Classic Style Banjo really sound?

[thereallyniceman]

A long time ago I was kindly sent a selection of recordings and I just been sorting through my heap filing system and discovered one solo that I thought that I would share one with you.

Beginners to Classic Style will, by now, have realized that “Our Hero” and probably the best composer for Classic banjo, was Mr. Joe Morley from the UK.  Morley composed hundreds of banjo solos and was also a superb banjo player.

 

Also over the years on this website there has been much heated discussion as to how “Classic Style” should actually sound.  I have always described the playing as “ dynamic” or “with attack” and recently Mike Moss described it as “with flair, beat and drive”.

 

Some coming to classic style banjo from more classical backgrounds have made their own interpretation of how they think the music should be performed or did sound.

 

Well, here is Joe Morley playing, so we can’t argue with our ears. He is playing a piece announced as The Butterfly, but it does not sound like Morley’s composition of the same title,  maybe someone can correct me?

 

With attack, with drive, with flair beat and drive?

 

THE BUTTERFLY played by JOE MORLEY

 

…  what do you think?

 

[Mike Moss]

What a wonderful recording of Joe Morley "au naturel" in the casual setting of Richard Tarrant Bailey Snr's house. Joe wasn't a recording artist (he only ever recorded a few solos with Oakley, as far as I can remember) but his tone cuts through perfectly on the wax cylinders. It is indeed fortunate that old Joe recorded these as, considering how he never made it into the recording business, we would be grasping at straws trying to figure out how what he really sounded like. I believe that the fact that he rarely made professional recordings does point to the fact that the FvE, snappy school of playing was not a mere byproduct of recording technology as, if he managed to obtain this speed and volume, it is likely that this was his usual way of playing.

The story behind this "Butterfly" solo is an interesting one. It used to be a bit of a mystery until NuClifford Essex published the "Morley Magic" books, including a transcription of this version of "Butterfly" which is much more difficult than the published solo under the same name, and which includes a number of difficult diatonic and chromatic runs.

This recording was apparently made in 1912, and there was also an original, fully fingered manuscript which was never published, and which has some considerable differences with the recorded solo. It is possible that it was either written before the CE-published Butterfly, or that the title was a placeholder as Morley notoriously disliked having to invent titles. The newly published version has been transcribed from the recording.

[Trapdoor2]

"snappy school of playing" LOL.

Ol' Joe certainly recorded like the professional he was...but do not discount the recording technology available at the time. I am not one of your "snappy" players but when I recorded a bit on an Edison cylinder machine of the period, I sounded very snappy...mostly because one must play at almost full volume to get a decent recording.

So we end up with two schools of thought: the banjo as a 'snappy', fast-decay instrument well known for not having the dynamic range of a chainsaw and one that is nothing of the sort.

That Joe played recorded snappily and less lyrically is no more damning to softer and more subtle players than Chet Atkins (or, 'insert famous classical guitar player here') playing is to Metal-heads. Joe knew the worth of a ppp and that of a sF. The trick isn't to play like the recording, it is to play the way your heart and ears tell you to.

cf: "Patrol Eccentrique" Snappers only get to play the middle section. ;-)

[Mike Moss]

f: "Patrol Eccentrique" Snappers only get to play the middle section. ;-)

Bill Ball would like to have a word with you ;-)

His recording of Patrol Excentrique  manages to start out soft... but snappy! It's not a question of dynamic range, it's a question of attack.

[Trapdoor2]

Gee, I don't find Bill Ball's recordings nearly as "snappy" as some. Attack is indeed a component of dynamics but it isn't the whole picture. I just personally prefer music played with some variation in both dynamics and rhythm.

[Mike Moss]

Of course. I believe we misunderstand one another. I would call Bill's style "snappy" because, even in the soft part of "Patrol Excentrique", he sounds like a bunch of rubber bands -- plinkety plank. That's what I call snappy -- "banjo tone", as it were. It allows for some subtleness, but I define it as being played with the very tips of the fingers, rather than the fleshy pads or with nails, and with a certain angle of attack. I don't mean playing everything like the sound of a typewriter.

[thereallyniceman]

My friend has kindly run the Morley recording through his “magic” software and produced a much cleaner version for us.

 

THE BUTTERFLY surface noise reduced

Morley was quite a player!

[Mike Moss]

Wow, now the quality is remarkably good and you can clearly tell the piano and the banjo apart. Some of those original cylinders are a mess. That magic software really is magical!

[Trapdoor2]

Cool noise reduction...I like it and I don't. ;-)

How well does it work with duets? I would love to hear a "cleaned up" version of "RAF's Parade" (Morley and Cunningham); easily my favorite of the Morley recordings...but the cylinder was in pretty bad shape.

[Jody Stecher]

I would love to hear a cleaned up version of Yankee Glide. That one is so intriguing but so hard to discern just what is being played under the surface noise.

Trapdoor2 said:

 I would love to hear a "cleaned up" version of "RAF's Parade" (Morley and Cunningham); 

[Mike Moss]

"Japanese Patrol" has a very annoying scraping, repetitive noise from the cylinder beyond the usual hisses, scratchesand bumps... I would also like to hear a cleaned up version of Blackbird, my favourite, if possible ;-)

PS: Isn't it amazing how he gets such a clean sound from the strummed part of Japanese Patrol? When I play that it sounds as if all of the Shogun's cats were meowing in unison.

[Richard William Ineson]

 Just from memory, (fading fast)I think that Yankee Glide was renamed Shuffle Along when it was published.

Jody Stecher said:

I would love to hear a cleaned up version of Yankee Glide. That one is so intriguing but so hard to discern just what is being played under the surface noise.

Trapdoor2 said:

 I would love to hear a "cleaned up" version of "RAF's Parade" (Morley and Cunningham); 

[thereallyniceman]

My friend says that he is pleased that you enjoyed his de-baconification of Morley’s “The Butterfly”  track.

He has kindly run the other tunes that were requested through his software and the results are again excellent, especially considering the very poor quality originals.

 

I have always thought that these recordings should be left alone, but have now re-considered as the only “truly original” sound on the cylinders was the live recording, the snap crackle and pop are really just noise and distortion. The noise removal software does a great job at letting us hear it as it was….

 

So let’s give my friend (who wishes to remain anonymous so that he doesn’t get plagued with requests!) a big big vote of thanks, and in return here are some more goodies for you:

THE BLACKBIRD played by Joe Morley

JAPANESE PATROL played by Joe Morley

YANKEE GLIDE played by Joe Morley

RAF PARADE played by Joe Morley