Movatterモバイル変換

KICKIN’ THE CLOUDS AWAY: GERSHWIN AT THEPIANO

Klavier Records K 77031

Liner Notes

George Gershwin and the player piano1915-1927

Over the courseof about ten years, George Gershwin made one hundred forty player piano rollsfor the Standard Music Roll Company (under its Perfection label), the AeolianCompany (under its Duo-Art, Mel O-Dee, Universal and other labels), and theWelte-Mignon Company (under its Red T-100 label). Gershwin’s earliest rollswere made in late 1915 at the ripe old age of 17. In 1916 alone, he “recorded”forty rolls for Standard and Aeolian. It’s not surprising then that with a suchremarkable talent at his disposal he decided to drop out of high school in May1914 at age 15 to pursue a non-classical musical career. His first job was as a“song plugger” (a piano accompanist) at Jerome H. Remick & Co., a publisherof popular music in New York’s “Tin Pan Alley,” the block of West 28th Streetbetween Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. The street got its nickname fromthe noise of piano pounding coming from the open windows of music publisherslocated on that street. Gershwin was paid fifteen dollars a week to sit in acubicle and play recently-published Remick songs for vaudeville performers whowould come in looking for new material. Of course the talented young Gershwincouldn’t resist “improving” the arrangements of the simple songs he was askedto hawk, much to the consternation of his employer (and probably the singerstoo). While at Remick’s he began composing songs which were, as one mightexpect, rejected by the publisher. This two-year-long accompanying job inspiredand expanded Gershwin’s abilities as an improviser and composer. He wascompletely immersed in the center of New York musical life and learned all thestylistic tricks of the trade—from ragtime piano, to popular ditties, toBroadway and vaudeville show tunes. Quite soon however he became bored with hislimited accompanying duties. He just wasn’t allowed enough creative freedom asan ordinary piano player. He wanted to compose his own songs and have thempublished and performed. This kid had ambition!

To augment hisincome and give his talent freer rein, Gershwin happily accepted offers in 1915and 1916 from the Standard Music Roll Company and the Aeolian Company to makeplayer piano rolls. He was paid at the rate of $35 for six rolls in a Saturdayafternoon session, or five dollars each if he made fewer than six. (The averagesalary of Americans at the time was $15 per week, thus it’s not surprising thatGershwin’s immigrant parents didn’t protest his decision to leave school.)Naturally, his first rolls were improvisations of Remick’s and other Tin PanAlley publishers’ tunes. The titles of these songs were sometimes quiteridiculous and reflected the carefree, Gatsby-era sentiment of the time:ArrahGo On I’m Gonna Go Back to Oregon,When Verdi Plays the Hurdy-Gurdy, andYou’re aDog-Gone Dangerous Girl are three of the stranger titles among the early Gershwinrolls. The producers at Aeolian must have been impressed with Gershwin’sabilities, for after just ten months’ work, Gershwin made rolls of his ownfirst published song,When You Want ’Em, You Can’t Get ’Em, When You’ve Got’Em, You Don’t Want ’Em (what a title!) and his first solo piano instrumental work,Rialto Ripples Rag(both released in September 1916 by Aeolian). Piano rolls were usually made andreleased very quickly after songs were published in sheet music form in orderto capitalize on their current public popularity. Gershwin scholar MichaelMontgomery has produced a comprehensive Gershwin rollography containinginformation that with his gracious permission has been included here in theindividual track listings.

By fortunatecoincidence, Gershwin came of age when player piano design was improvingdramatically. Essentially, there were two types of vacuum-powered playerpianos. A standard player mechanism allowed the pianolist (the name of theperson operating the player mechanism) to move levers or push buttons thatcould change the expression of the songs (soft/loud, slow/fast, sustainingpedal). Gershwin made rolls for this primitive system on the Perfection,Mel-O-Dee, and Universal labels. The second type of player, areproducing player piano was moretechnologically sophisticated (and costly) and supposedly automaticallyreproduced the recording artist’s personal interpretation via expression holescuts into the margins of the paper roll. These holes operated the pedals,controlled dynamics (soft/loud) and attempted to balance registers and noteswithin chords (voicing). All of this was achieved without the pianolist’sparticipation and was a remarkable engineering achievement considering the primitivematerials used (rubber tubing, leather valves and bellows, felt bushings) andlack of electronic technology. Electric motors were used to create the vacuumneeded to drive high-end model player pianos however.

The three mainmanufacturers, Aeolian, Ampico, and Welte-Mignon developed unique reproducingsystems which employed specially-made rolls that worked only on theirrespective systems. These pianos and rolls were significantly more expensivethan standard non-expressive player systems. Aeolian came out with itssignature Duo-Art reproducer in 1913 and retrofitted them exclusviely intopianos made by Steinway, Weber, and Steck, among others, both in New York andin London. The performances we hear on this CD are all Duo-Art rolls played ona 1929 Hamburg Steinway grand piano (model B) equipped with an English AeolianDuo-Art mechanism. (According to Aeolian publicity, the trademarked name “Duo-Art”represented “two arts—the art of the performer and the art of the interpretingpianist.”) Upright player pianos with standard mechanisms numbered in themillions thanks to their relatively modest cost (in 1924 they retailed forabout $600). Reproducing grand pianos however were well out-of-reach for manymiddle class households, costing from $1,850 for an Aeolian baby grand to$4,675 for a Steinway 7-foot model in 1924. Nevertheless, there was significantdemand in urban areas such as New York and Boston where wealthy consumers werewilling to spend money to buy status symbols such as these. By late 1927 (thepeak of player piano sales), a walnut-cased Steinway XR Duo-Art (6-foot model)retailed in New York for $7,000! Standard system rolls cost between 40 to 80cents each. By contrast Aeolian Duo-Art reproducing-style rolls retailed for$1.25-1.75. The combined effect of the stock market crash of 1929, theinvention of the electric microphone, and the consequent improved fidelity ofphonograph recordings killed the market for player pianos by 1932.

Roll producersquickly realized that three- and four-hand arrangements of songs made a “biggerand better” impression than normal two-handed versions. Trademark stock devicesincluded marimba-style broken chord tremolos and a plethora of repeated notesin the treble, and doubled octaves in the bass to give an enriched texturalimpression of a mini orchestra, a style that was so pervasive that iteventually became clichéd. Consequently, many roll labels show two artists’participation. George Gershwin worked with several other pianists for theseduet-arranged rolls, twenty-three in all. On this CD we hear Gershwin in fiveduets with Rudolph O. Erlebach, an Aeolian staff pianist like Gershwin, andMuriel Pollock, perhaps a possible pseudonym for Gershwin’s childhoodcomposer-pianist friend Nathaniel Shilkret who wroteMake Believe. Nevertheless, most ofthe piano rolls Gershwin made are duet arrangements he played himself. Incutting the initial master roll it was possible to “overdub” a second run ofplaying in order to add more notes. Thus, Gershwin was also able to play three-and four-hand arrangements by himself without need of an additional pianist(especially in the famous 1925 roll version ofRhapsody in Blue included here). Inkeeping with the roll companies’ desire to promote a large number of artists,Gershwin also sometimes recorded under three different pseudonyms. Presumablyhaving such a healthy roster was attractive to a roll-buying public.

Needless tosay, these manipulations of material raise questions about the authenticity ofGershwin roll “performances.” Rolls were frequently marketed as “hand-played,”especially by headliner classical artists such as Horowitz, Paderewski, andHoffman, and by popular artists such as Zez Confrey and Gershwin. However,standard and reproducing piano roll “recordings” are not necessarily faithfulreproductions of a pianist’s performance. Besides the artificially manufacturedduet arrangements, the two-handed piano solos were also heavily edited by rollproducers and artists to correct mistakes and to add in “extra” notes. Moreimportantly, rolls were “quantized” to insure a uniform pulse. Quantization isa term used to describe the equal parsing of beats within a song to insure aneven, metronomic beat. Popular player piano music (as opposed to classicalpiano music on rolls) was frequently used for dancing and singing, thus it wasimperative that rhythmic liberties (rubato) be kept to a minimum. The pianolistcould vary the tempo by moving a hand-controlled lever, but the pulse wouldalways remain steady, no matter the chosen speed.

Fortunately,Gershwin’s arrangements (improvisations?) on piano roll are so inventive thatthey help cover the noticeably altered and mechanical aspect of the quantizedpulse. Gershwin adds unique introductions and codas, jazzes up harmonies, addsinner voice melodies and obbligato counterpoint to bring simple sheet musicsong publications to a level where they become wholly new compositions.Although we have no written manuscripts of his arrangements and littledocumentation about editorial procedure, it is very likely that Gershwinhimself aided in the manipulation of roll recordings to include desired “extra”notes. As he became more experienced as a pianist and composer, and as hebecame well-known publicly and garnered respect within the music industry, rollproducers most certainly would have granted Gershwin a great deal of creativeinput into his roll arrangements, especially after the phenomenal success ofhis songSwanee in 1920. Regardless of the fact that many of these rollperformances are not as aesthetically pleasing as a performance by a livepianist, Gershwin deserves credit for elevating the typically mechanical soundof player piano duets to a higher artistic level than other contemporary rollpianists.Kickin’ the Clouds Away,Drifting Along with the Tide,Sweet andLow-Down,andThat Certain Feeling are all fine examples of his command ofimprovisation and duet arranging. Few popular roll pianists during the1910s-30s regarded their rolls as representative examples of their playing,much less as historical documents to be preserved. They simply churned them outquickly and were paid accordingly. Good ability in sight-reading andimprovisation were the criteria for employment as a roll pianist. Rolls wereonly made to earn money, for both the performer and the company, not forposterity, and were practically considered disposable. Once a tune’s popularityhad run its course or was upstaged by a newer hit, its piano roll version wouldbecome neglected. As today in pop music, the public’s desire was always for newmaterial, thus it was necessary to prepare rolls as quickly and efficiently aspossible.

Frank Milne,Robert Armbruster, and W. Creary Woods were the chief roll editors at Aeolianin the 1920s. They knew the process and product intimately and were primarilyresponsible for punching the expression holes found in the margins on Duo-Artrolls, and for making many arrangements. Unfortunately, the master roll makingdevice on which a pianist “recorded” was not sophisticated enough to track apianist’s dynamics and expressive inflections during the session. Consequently,while the pianist played, editors listened carefully and made notes about whereto add in dynamic shadings and accentsafter the “recording” wasdone. In order to mimic a live pianist’s voicing within individual chordclusters, editors would frequently realign the attack point of certain notes totrick the listener’s ear into hearing a particular note “brought out” morestrongly. These manipulations of the pianist’s performance resulted in theoft-noted jerky or ragged performance style of reproducing player piano rolls.These problems are especially evident in theRhapsody in Blue rolls and have been asubject of controversy for over sixty years. Did Gershwin really play likethat?

Rhapsodyin Bluewas premiered in February 1924 at Aeolian Hall in New York and repeated soonafterward at Carnegie Hall in April 1924 due to the stunning impact it had atits debut. A nationwide concert tour of the work immediately followed, as did adisc recording with the Whiteman Orchestra at the Victor Talking MachineCompany’s (RCA) studio in New Jersey in June 1924. After a four-year hiatus inroll-making, Gershwin returned to the Aeolian Company in early 1925 to make apiano roll of theRhapsody. Because of the length of the work (and perhapsits marketing value?), editors decided to issue the roll in two parts. Part 2was issued first in May 1925 and begins with the famousAndantino moderato theme (occurring abouttwo-thirds of the way through the piece) and runs to the end. It is very likelythat Gershwin “recorded” both parts at the same time during his early 1925visit. Part 1 however was not released until January 1927. (On this CD we hearthe two parts linked in sequence without a break.) The problems of lengthforced the editors to slow down the roll speed of Part 1 to avoid having toolarge a roll of paper. Unfortunately, this shortening also reduced the amountof paper space available for coded expression holes and contributed to a ratherunmusical portrayal of Gershwin’s performance. Part 2 represented a smallerportion of music and was able to run at a faster paper speed which allowed morecoded expression information. Consequently, that section is more representativeof his playing. Fortunately, we have two unedited 1924 and 1927 disc recordingsof Gershwin playing theRhapsody with the Whiteman Orchestra (thetechnology did not yet permit the luxury of editing) that form an interestingbasis for comparison with the piano roll version. Unfortunately, the lowfidelity of the recordings also makes it difficult to judge Gershwin’s playing.We do know that Aeolian editors consulted with Gershwin after master rolls weremade and that Gershwin had an opportunity to express his opinions about thefinal editing. Thus, the questions of authenticity remain unanswered to thisday.

After quittinghis song-plugging job at Remick’s in March 1917, Gershwin began looking forjobs as rehearsal pianist for Broadway shows. Although he was still technicallyan accompanist, he had moved up the ladder professionally and moved out of thelittle practice cubicle he had felt trapped in at Remick’s. He landed his firstposition as rehearsal pianist for Jerome Kern’sMiss 1917 in September 1917.Gershwin had finally made it to Broadway, if not yet as a composer, at least asa performer. He was heavily influenced by Kern and learned a great deal fromhis compositional craftsmanship. Gershwin made rolls of two songs fromMiss1917 ofwhichThe Land Where the Good Songs Go is included here. Manyof the Gershwin performed selections on this CD are roll arrangements of songsby Broadway composers of the day: Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Richard Whiting,Walter Donaldson, Joe Gold, and Nathaniel Shilkret. Many of these were hitsfrom Broadway shows where Gershwin was employed as a rehearsal pianist. Itwould have been only natural for him to want to make rolls of showtunes he wascurrently performing on Broadway. In February 1918 Gershwin managed to land apost as a staff composer for T. B. Harms Publisher. No longer an accompanist,Gershwin was now actually paid to compose. One of his first songs wasIWas So Young, You Were So Beautiful, written for a February 1919 show calledGood Morning, Judgeand one of the finest songs he ever wrote. Gershwin made rolls of it for bothAeolian and Welte-Mignon later that year. Yet Gershwin’s first big Broadwaysuccess (in his own estimation) was his being engaged as the composer for a1919 show calledLa, La, Lucille! During a radio broadcast years later Gershwinsaid, “Every career needs a lucky break to start it on its way and my luckybreak came in 1919 when I was brought to Alex Aarons...[the son of a majorBroadway producer who] decided to engage me as composer for his first show.”Naturally, Gershwin made rolls of several of his new songs from this show, ofwhichTee-Oodle-Um-Bum-Bo is included here.

Of particularinterest on this CD are the Gershwin performances that have the least number ofeditorial enhancements. These “authentic” rolls includeSo Am I,Swanee, and the obvious twohanded sections ofRhapsody in Blue. Being two-handed roll arrangements withfew “extra” notes added in by editors (or by Gershwin), these rolls comeclosest to giving us an idea of Gershwin’s true live improvisational style.Gershwin was renowned in New York social circles for being the life of a party.He would arrive and within a short time take his seat at the piano where hewould hold court entertaining guests for hours with improvisations of his songs(and of other popular tunes) much in the style of the roll versions ofSoAm IandSwanee.(Happily, there are also several disc recordings of his piano solo songimprovisations that he made in 1926 and 1928 for Columbia Records. I haverecorded some of these transcribed improvisations and piano roll arrangementson the Klavier CD entitledSweet and Low-Down—Richard Dowling Plays GeorgeGershwin.)

So Am I was premiered by starsAdele and Fred Astaire in George and Ira Gershwin’s first hit showLady, BeGood!which opened shortly after the 1924 Carnegie Hall performance ofRhapsodyin Blue.Gershwin’s own piano roll version of the song is unique. Instead of the usualup-tempo rendering, he played this song as a freely improvised slow ballad withplenty ofrubato,ritardandos,accelerandos,andfermatas.It is quite effective musically and shows him in a rare contemplative mood.Swanee was Gershwin’s firstbig hit in 1920 thanks to vaudevillian Al Jolson’s decision to include it aspart of his performances on tour. Jolson’s unique interpretation propelledsheet music and disc recording sales of the work into the millions. Gershwinwas paid $10,000 in royalties in the first year alone—an enormous sum at thetime, especially for an “uneducated” 21-year-old composer. Jolson always endedhis rendition ofSwanee by whistling a short quotation from another poptune of the day,Listen to the Mockingbird. Gershwin quotes the same melody at theend of hisSwanee piano roll (and also inWhip-Poor-Will) in obvious tribute tothe man who helped make him a success. The considerable financial reward ofSwanee in 1920 made itpossible for Gershwin to give up roll making for several years and turn hiscreative attention to full-time composition of his own Broadway shows andserious instrumental works. Once his reputation was established as a successfulcomposer, he chose to make piano rolls only of his own compositions from thenon.               

(c) 2001 RICHARD DOWLING