Fred Bacon plays “West Lawn Polka”

[thereallyniceman]

I have found a recording from 1912 of Fred Bacon playing Thomas Glynn’s composition “West Lawn Polka”.

 

Fred Bacon with a Fairbanks Whyte Laydie No7   Oooohh what a banjo :-)

 

I have added the score, with piano part, to the MUSIC LIBRARY for free download.

 

I had not heard this recording before and think that the playing is superb, so I hope that you like it too.

 

… REAL sizzling Bacon !!

THE WEST LAWN POLKA Fred Bacon

[Mike Moss]

Played with real flair... nice piece, too. I don't know much about Thos. E Glynn, but a look at the score for West Lawn Polka was enough to make me feel dizzy! I noticed Bacon ignored the crazy cadenza in bar 6 altogether.

[thereallyniceman]

Hey Mike, You once said that you needed a challenge, well here it is.

It is only Moderato  !

I saw this and immediately thought of you :-)

[Trapdoor2]

Tommy Glynn was right there among the top American banjoist/composers. I believe most of his stuff was published by Gatcomb. He hung out with the likes of George Lansing, A.A.Babb, etc., all Boston area players.

 

I have a number of his pieces but can't recall which ones. The only one that seems to stick out for me has a horrifically racist title: "N----- In A Fit".  I'll flip thru the files this evening if I remember...bit of a pub crawl tonight, so perhaps I'll have to do it another evening. ;-)

Now I'm thinking "Queen of the Forest", "Woodland Echoes", "Gloriana Waltz", "Pretty Little Blue Eyes"...there's one of his on ebay right now "Sounds From Africa".

 

 

[thereallyniceman]

It appears that Tommy Glynn moved in the right circles!

[Trapdoor2]

Alabama's own Classic Banjo recording artiste, Doug Back, recorded "West Lawn Polka" on his "The Banjo Goes Highbrow" CD...and I believe he included the cadenza (I haven't listened to it in a while). Certainly all the "finger-wiggle" trem is in there. Doug is a site member here.

Looks like Vess and Tommy were shilling for Morrison banjos in that pic.

http://www.billsbanjos.com/Morrison2.htm

[marc dalmasso]

these kind of tunes could be played from moderato to presto  ,  with several  tempo variations up & down ; so should be play with a 2nd banjo or piano ( exactly what i didn 't do with " tender glances " )

[thereallyniceman]

Richard Ineson has kindly provided a transcription of the version that Fred Bacon is playing on the recording (or a very close version of it).

Thank you Richard, we can always rely on you!

I have appended the full transcription of the West Lawn Polka, which was done in the 1960s by Cliff Spaulding of the ABF, to the published score in the MUSIC LIBRARY