Vess Ossman "ALittle Bit Of Everything"

[chad flory]

any known tab available for this song? Or has anyone a video of your version? I have never been able to figure out the fast part. Not had much luck with slowing it down either.

[Richard William Ineson]

I used to play this a long time ago, the intriguing thing is that the introductory bars are identical to Morley's 'Darktown Dandies' did Ossman steal this from Morley? Ossman had been very scathing of Morley's banjo playing when he came to England in 1903, he is quoted as saying something along the lines of 'I gave him my solo 'The Favourite March' and he made nothing of it' this solo is pretty basic and I cannot imagine that Morley would have been unable to rattle it out, at sight, so perhaps there was just a bit of professional rivalry involved; it would have been a bit rich on Ossman's part to then pinch Morley's ideas as an intro to this recording. The rest of the solo is a medley of tunes, including Tommy Glynn's 'Nigger in a Fit', 'The Doctor's Reel' and 'Auld Lang Syne'. I don't have the tab but the score will be in the pile somewhere.

[Trapdoor2]

Well, it is a "medley". Today, one would require the legal rights to incorporate so much of a copyrighted piece into a medley...no such thing back then, I suppose.

No doubt there was some professional rivalry going on. I'll bet Joe found Ossmans playing to be 'coarse'.

[chad flory]

thanks for your replies. I play by ear so the music/score won't help me. I can follow TAB and was in hopes someone might have put it up here. The  Nigger In a Fit part of the medley is what I was asking about. Vess plays through it and then plays it at 100 mph! The way I hear it , playing the those same chords just faster doesn't sound right. I hear a different pattern that I have never been able to figure out. Obviously being at the mercy of the recording makes it that much more difficult.

 

[Shawn McSweeny]

"Ossman had been very scathing of Morley's banjo playing when he came to England in 1903, he is quoted as saying something along the lines of 'I gave him my solo 'The Favourite March' .  .  .  etc.

Ossman's unflattering remark was a bit of unfortunate American bluntness that, in the same breath,  also acknowledged Morley's talent, and was spoken while discussing the importance of two step timing and phrasing, at which Ossman excelled. As quoted by BMG editor Homer Gordon in 1903, Ossman said :

  " I have something to say about other peoples' ways, and my grumble is at the neglect of the metronome. It is the playing of marches, cakewalks, two-steps etc. in unsuitable time which makes them sound ridiculous.  Such a splendid player as Joe Morley, for example, may be instanced. He picked up "The Favorite March" and made nothing of it, though note perfect .  .  .  because he did not play it with the strongly marked accent characteristic of two step time."

In the same interview, Ossman was similarly both blunt and complementary of Alfed Farland in remarks made over the status of concert banjo music in America.

Mr Gordon described Ossman as " the warm friend of Clifford Essesex and myself" and went on to say      " one more loyal and considerate, one better to deal with, one more willing to give than to receive,  a shrewder, better, more cheery .  .  .  musician it is impossible to mention."  He did fail to mention that Ossman could speak with the same blunt authority as his banjo playing.

During Ossman's UK tours there may well have been professional rivalry between he and Morley , but it is also likely that from their encounters, each learned plenty from the other and came away a better player for it.

The first part of Little Bit of Everything is obviously Ossman's take on Morley's Darktown Dandies. Ossman must have liked the piece.

[Richard William Ineson]

I don't think that Joe would have found 'Ossman's playing coarse' Joe had been a busker, and  a bare knuckle boxer in his youth, which would have prepared him for most of the realities of life, including Ossman's banjo playing. Joe does not seem to have been part of the dainty 'society' banjo scene which Essex, quite rightly, from a financial view, cultivated, for instance, I don't think that Joe, despite him being the most accomplished British banjo player, was invited to give banjo lessons to customers of  the Grafton Street, or 59, Piccadilly, banjo studios, 'the most artistic studios in the world', not the right class of chap, you see.  Essex said that Joe was greatly influenced by Ossman's playing, and changed his style of composing for the banjo, directly as a result of hearing Ossman play the banjo,  the Essex version of 'Whistling Rufus' included, for many years, an arrangement of the Trio, 'a la Vess Ossman' which was by Morley, this arrangement shows clearly that Joe was well acquainted with Ossman's style.
Trapdoor2 said:

Well, it is a "medley". Today, one would require the legal rights to incorporate so much of a copyrighted piece into a medley...no such thing back then, I suppose.

No doubt there was some professional rivalry going on. I'll bet Joe found Ossmans playing to be 'coarse'.