Post 460: FRANK JOHNSON'S FABULOUS DIXIELANDERS - JAZZ IN AUSTRALIA

Looking randomly for traditional jazz on YouTube, you can make some surprising discoveries. For example, I recently came across an interesting band called Frank Johnson's Fabulous Dixielanders. This group flourished in Australia (Melbourne, specifically, I think) right in the middle of the Twentieth Century.

I have not been able to discover much about the band and I hope there may be a reader or two in Australia who will be able to supply me with more information or reminiscences. (See below for information gratefully received.)

Of course, I knew of the Graeme Bell Band from Australia that played such great music and had a big influence when it visited the U.K. in the 1950s. I recall buying Graeme Bell 78s at that time.

But Frank Johnson? No. He's new to me.

We have to be grateful to video-makers who give their names as gramophoneshane, Rodaroda, and BassetHoundTrio, and Nicholas Ribush, for it is they who have put up the recordings on YouTube. It seems that Nicholas Ribush himself was a pianist who played with the Melbourne University Jazz Band in 1960.

The members of Frank Johnson's Fabulous Dixielanders  (circa 1950) seem to have been Frank Johnson (cornet), Ken Evans (cornet), Warwick Dyer (trombone), Geoff Kitchen (clarinet), Geoff Bland (piano), Bill Tope (banjo), Jack Connelly (tuba) and Wes Brown (drums). On some recordings the pianist was Ian Burns.

The band played in a lusty, energetic, thoroughly competent manner, reminiscent of the great recordings made by King Oliver for Gennett in 1923. You can also hear strong echoes of the Lu Watters band from San Francisco.

But why not try it for yourself?

Have a listen to Royal Terminus Rag, recorded in Sydney on 6 December 1949. I wondered how I had never come across this very good rag before. The answer is that it was a new one, composed by Warwick Dyer, the band's very own trombone player, (who sadly was killed six years later). Could the tune have been named after a hotel where the band played? Built into it are 'ingredients' that we find in rags from Scott Joplin onwards:-

It starts with a bouncy 16-bar theme in Eb.

Then comes a 16-bar theme (played twice) allowing for 'breaks' (including two Snake Rag-type dual cornet breaks).

Then without a bridge, we go straight into a 32-bar theme, in the related key of Ab. It's a typical final theme (dating right back to the Trio of eighteenth-century classical music), structured 16 bars + 16 bars, and with a break on the chord of Eb7 on bars 15 and 16.

Finally, there is a perfect 1920s-style two-bar Coda to round the thing off.

Probably the sheet music was never published. One consequence is that - sadly - nobody plays Royal Terminus Rag these days.

Have a listen to the stirring recording: CLICK HERE.

It  appears that Frank Johnson's band recorded about 60 tunes between 1949 and 1963. Among them were Tiger Rag, Dill Pickles, Silver Bell, Sensation Rag, Wolverine Blues, Come Back Sweet Papa and I Got What It Takes But It Breaks My Heart To Give It Away. There is even a CD of a concert in Melbourne recorded in 1978 - possibly some sort of reunion event?

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who can tell me more. Already, David Withers in Christchurch, New Zealand, has sent me this information:-

I first heard this band a few years ago as a result of listening to a series of podcasts from Peter Cowden of Jazzology Australia. Peter Cowden is at www.jazzology.cam.au. Over a series of 100 plus podcasts Peter included the following numbers from a CD called 'Frank Johnson's Fabulous Dixielanders 1949 - 1962 BAC22'. I have discovered that BAC22 is a CD produced by a Bill Armstrong in Australia. His CD's are distributed by Eos Music in Australia: http://www.eosmusic.com.au/  There is a 6-page catalogue of his recordings.

 The tracks I have MP3's of are:

 Over in Gloryland

Silver Bell

That's A Plenty

Bye and Bye

Darktown Strutters Ball

Sweet Patootie

Russian Lullaby

Weary Blues

 The Australian Jazz Museum seems to have some data on recordings by Frank Johnson - www.ajm.org.au

Post 155: JAMES SCOTT'S 'CLIMAX RAG'

Many bands have Climax Rag in their repertoire. I'm pleased about this because it's a good old number by James Scott from as long ago as 1914; and it's good to see the best of the old tunes being kept alive. It's a romping tune and not too difficult to play.

I doubt whether the version played by traditional jazz bands today is totally as written (no doubt basically for piano) by Mr. Scott all those years ago. Traditional jazz bands have passed on a version which has evolved over the generations. It is normally performed with an Introduction followed by two 16-bar themes in Concert F, and then the main 16-bar theme in Bb.

For my private amusement I worked out my own mini-filofax lead sheet of Climax Rag for me to play on the Bb cornet.

Post 152: 'BLACK CAT ON THE FENCE'

A correspondent says he is trying to work out how to play Black Cat on the Fence.

As it happens, I went through the same experience. I listened to a couple of recordings of the tune and tried to make a lead sheet by ear. Here's the lead sheet to Black Cat on the Fence that I came up with for inclusion in my mini Filofax. It's actually in Bb but I put it in C to suit my transposing cornet.

I tried the tune out with friends and it went quite well, partly because it is fairly easy to play and to improvise upon. It is a pretty rag that is best taken at a medium tempo.

My friend Brian Hutchinson in Australia has much more recently sent me a link to the American Music recording made in 1949 by Louis Delisle's Band in a private house in New Orleans. Here is a picture of the band that Brian sent to me:

The musicians are (left to right) Johnny St. Cyr, 'Big Eye' Louis Nelson Delisle, the tune's composer Charlie Love, Louis Nelson, and Ernest Rogers. Missing from the photo is the string bass player Austin Young.

And here is a link to the recording:
CLICK HERE.

I had never been sure who wrote the tune, or when. The record tells us it was Charlie Love. (Recently a source gave the composers as Waller, Brooks and Razaf in 1929. But I suspect that is wrong: I think this source was confusing it with Black and Blue. So I'll stick with Charlie Love.)

Ken Colyer made Black Cat on the Fence popular in England a few decades ago. Listen to him playing the tune:
CLICK HERE.