Nice, easy-going rendition of this lovely laid back piece.

Bassett was a talented composer for both fingerstyle and plectrum banjo. We would have many more compositions, had he not died far too young. He played and recorded in the leading London small dance bands of the very early 1920's including the Queens Dance Orchestra, Savoy Orpheans and Savoy Havana Band. I have many other compositions by him if you like his work.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IGm6C86-dVY&ra=m

Nicely done!

Bassett is well represented on the Classic Banjo site. http://Classic-banjo.ning.com There's a dozen or so of his compositions and arrangements there for free download.

Just about any of the classic era pieces can be adapted to plectrum playing.

Thanks for sharing, guys! I found very little info about Bert Bassett from my initial searches, and Lazy Rhythm is the only piece I'd heard.. I like it a lot so I'll probably check out some more on the classic banjo site. Do you happen to know what tuning is used in the fingerstyle classic playing? Is drop C like plectrum tuning?

Next I have a little stack of Emile Grimshaw solos from Clifford Essex I'm learning ;)

quote:

---

Originally posted by davidfryer

Thanks for sharing, guys! I found very little info about Bert Bassett from my initial searches, and Lazy Rhythm is the only piece I'd heard.. I like it a lot so I'll probably check out some more on the classic banjo site. Do you happen to know what tuning is used in the fingerstyle classic playing? Is drop C like plectrum tuning?

Next I have a little stack of Emile Grimshaw solos from Clifford Essex I'm learning ;)

---

gCGBD is standard. Occasionally, where indicated on notation, raised 4th to D - gDGBD. But the range of keys played out of those two tuning is much wider than in old-time or bluegrass. C, F, G, Bb, Ab, and Eb and their relative minors, are all common.

Emile Grimshaw was another banjoist who was equally at home playing fingerstyle or plectrum (and guitar).

Bassett and Grimshaw, Dave Thomas and several others were a unique group who all had solid connection to the 'older school' (Bassett was a close friend of Richard Tarrant Bailey Snr and the Bath group), but were simultaneously a vanguard of creatives and experimenters shaping the post-WW1 modern era of small dance band banjo as they went.

Fox Trot compositions (many of a fashionable Oriental type) were typical of this new banjo era and hugely popular. A repertoire completely unknown to today's banjo players. I love to include Fox Trot solos. You might want to check these out and have fun with the best of them. There are many American examples too.

There are 14 Bassett pieces available as PDFs from the Classic Banjo site. I have another 32 of Bert's pieces in PDF form. Probably his best-known composition is "Jumbo Rag". I like "Bushrangers" too.

32 is quite a cache of Bassett compositions. It must include tunes I don’t know of. I have one Bassett original dating from 1922 currently on order from an archive that you may not have. Maybe we can trade…like kids with bible-gum cards!

Lovely David. I’d love to jam with you someday.

Will

quote:

---

Originally posted by EEB

32 is quite a cache of Bassett compositions. It must include tunes I don’t know of. I have one Bassett original dating from 1922 currently on order from an archive that you may not have. Maybe we can trade…like kids with bible-gum cards!

---

What tune do you have on order? I haven't compared my list to the Classic Banjo library. I may have the one you ordered.

Marc, the Bassett composition that I have on order is Little Miss Springtime (1922). This was recorded by the Jack Hylton Band, among others.

https://heritagequay.org/archives/BDB/H9/41/

The current list we have of Bert Bassett’s original compositions is attached. We would appreciate it greatly if you could share his original pieces that we are missing. Any we have that aren't on your list we'd reciprocate.

We've excluded tunes that were arranged by Bassett of which there are some fine examples.

quote:

---

Originally posted by EEB

Marc, the Bassett composition that I have on order is Little Miss Springtime (1922). This was recorded by the Jack Hylton Band, among others.

https://heritagequay.org/archives/BDB/H9/41/

The current list we have of Bert Bassett’s original compositions is attached. We would appreciate it greatly if you could share his original pieces that we are missing. Any we have that aren't on your list we'd reciprocate.

We've excluded tunes that were arranged by Bassett of which there are some fine examples.

 

---

I'll get a list together. My list has 46 titles, which includes arrangements. I have no problem sharing, these are all in the public domain and need to be played!

Are any recordings or videos of someone playing jumbo rag out there?

To add a little background. The plectrum banjo is a direct extension of the regular banjo and pick playing is the catalyst in why the banjo (in general) became strung with wire strings.

The plectrum banjo is just a regular banjo played with a plectrum. Shortly after pick playing became popular (just before 1900), banjos without the 5th peg were made. Prior to that, pick playing was done on regular banjos (both with and without the 5th string depending on who was doing the playing).

Regarding "tuning"-- this can be confusing due to the Jim Crow era nostalgic popular music movement that eventually spurred the post war folk revival.

Banjo "tuning" is as Mike wrote above, the intervals of gCGBD with the auxiliary of raising the 4th string one step. Generally, the actual pitch was arbitrary but the intervals between the strings remained the same.

There is no real data on wide use scordatura "alternate tuning" prior to the popular nostalgic music movement that took shape with the generation born around 1900. Since this new music form took a nostalgic slant, it is a common belief that scordatura was a constant from the conception of the banjo as we know it from around 1840.

The strange thing is, despite the thousands and thousands of pages of documentation, hundreds of instruction books, tens of thousands of pieces of sheet music, countless magazines, newspaper articles, personal writings, and manuscripts, the "tradition" of alternate tuning completely evaded any documenting.

There are a few exception examples, mainly for novelty effect such as imitation of bagpipes or the often quoted memory of Frank Converse (before he even had or played a banjo-- a memory written in 1902 about an event that happened when he was a pre-teen in Emyra, NY). But none of these conform to the current system of "old time" banjo tunings.

Nevertheless-- it just can't be found. And the creators of this documentation would have mentioned it, if not to complain or make fun of it or something. They toured extensively to every corner of North America and were interested in what other banjoists were playing (this they did write about) But not even a single mention can be found of this "tradition of alternate tuning" being done (except for the Converse reference or novelty examples).

To be clear, I am not claiming that it did not happen. Just that the people using it seemed to be in such isolation that they avoided ever being mentioned or even playing for anyone outside of their immediate social circle (and those folks were not talking either). Then, suddenly it becomes common and easy to find examples of.

quote:

---

Originally posted by trapdoor2

quote:

---

Originally posted by EEB

Marc, the Bassett composition that I have on order is Little Miss Springtime (1922). This was recorded by the Jack Hylton Band, among others.

https://heritagequay.org/archives/BDB/H9/41/

The current list we have of Bert Bassett’s original compositions is attached. We would appreciate it greatly if you could share his original pieces that we are missing. Any we have that aren't on your list we'd reciprocate.

We've excluded tunes that were arranged by Bassett of which there are some fine examples.

 

---

I'll get a list together. My list has 46 titles, which includes arrangements. I have no problem sharing, these are all in the public domain and need to be played!

---

"...and need to played!"

That comment really says it all.

quote:

---

Originally posted by davidfryer

Are any recordings or videos of someone playing jumbo rag out there?

---

David, this fine recording of Jumbo Rag by the late William Ball is posted on YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HsL9mJGgcYw&pp=ygUJSnVtYm8gcmFn&ra=m

Careful listening to Bill Ball! Not only is it addictive but both inspiring and depressing. 

I doubt we'll ever hear a finer, more sensitive player.

At the ABF rally last month there was a set of Ball's LPs, still in shrink wrap, free for the taking. They were taken.

Here's a list of the Bert Bassett tunes from the Phil Spiers' Collection. I can send PDF copies of any you like. Those marked "CB" are also available as a free download from the Classic-Banjo.ning.com site.

Admiral Andy CB
Angel of the Great White Way (arr)
Blues CB
Bushrangers CB
Call o' Erin, The
Candy on the Counter CB
Castanetta
Chanson D'Ete CB
C**n Slumbers
C**n Song, A CB
Cowboy arrangement
Danse Colombine
Did Your Mother Come From Ireland (arr)
Flora Frolic
Ghost Walks, The
Gray Day
Harmony Lane (arr)
I'm Your Slave (arr)
Jog Along (arr)
Jumbo Rag CB
L'Automne
Lazy Rhythm
Leave the Pretty Girls Alone (arr)
Let By Gones Be by Gones (arr)
Love Song
Old Covered Bridge, The (arr)
Ole Faithful (arr)
On Parade
On The Ganges CB
On the Other Side Of The Hill (arr)
Patagonian Picnic, A CB
Prairie Schooner (arr)
Riding the Range in the Sky (arr)
Siesta
Sitting by the River (arr)
Southern Festival, A
Spinet
Sundown in a Little Green Hollow (arr)
Sunset Trail, The
Trumpter, The
Water Lilies CB
What More Can I Ask (arr)
Wheel Of The Wagon Is Broken, The (arr)
Where The Arches Used To Be (arr)
With a Banjo On My Knee (arr)
You Can't Do That 'Ere (arr)

The following are only found in the Music Library on Classic-Banjo.ning.com.

Lullaby Of Broadway (arr)
Sunbonnet Blue (and a yellow straw hat), A (arr)
What Are We Gonna Use For Money? (arr)

BTW, you can hear Bert actually play in the "Original Recordings" section of the Classic-Banjo site. There are 8 sides of a purported 20 that he recorded as a schoolboy. These recordings are in pretty sad shape...but they're all we have.

quote:

---

Originally posted by trapdoor2

Here's a list of the Bert Bassett tunes from the Phil Spiers' Collection. I can send PDF copies of any you like. Those marked "CB" are also available as a free download from the Classic-Banjo.ning.com site.

Admiral Andy CB
Angel of the Great White Way (arr)
Blues CB
Bushrangers CB
Call o' Erin, The
Candy on the Counter CB
Castanetta
Chanson D'Ete CB
C**n Slumbers
C**n Song, A CB
Cowboy arrangement
Danse Colombine
Did Your Mother Come From Ireland (arr)
Flora Frolic
Ghost Walks, The
Gray Day
Harmony Lane (arr)
I'm Your Slave (arr)
Jog Along (arr)
Jumbo Rag CB
L'Automne
Lazy Rhythm
Leave the Pretty Girls Alone (arr)
Let By Gones Be by Gones (arr)
Love Song
Old Covered Bridge, The (arr)
Ole Faithful (arr)
On Parade
On The Ganges CB
On the Other Side Of The Hill (arr)
Patagonian Picnic, A CB
Prairie Schooner (arr)
Riding the Range in the Sky (arr)
Siesta
Sitting by the River (arr)
Southern Festival, A
Spinet
Sundown in a Little Green Hollow (arr)
Sunset Trail, The
Trumpter, The
Water Lilies CB
What More Can I Ask (arr)
Wheel Of The Wagon Is Broken, The (arr)
Where The Arches Used To Be (arr)
With a Banjo On My Knee (arr)
You Can't Do That 'Ere (arr)

The following are only found in the Music Library on Classic-Banjo.ning.com.

Lullaby Of Broadway (arr)
Sunbonnet Blue (and a yellow straw hat), A (arr)
What Are We Gonna Use For Money? (arr)

BTW, you can hear Bert actually play in the "Original Recordings" section of the Classic-Banjo site. There are 8 sides of a purported 20 that he recorded as a schoolboy. These recordings are in pretty sad shape...but they're all we have.

---

Flora Frolic sounds like it might be fun, though Gray Day is more topical here today.

I notice that Little Miss Springtime isn't on your list. When I recieved it I'll pass it on to you.

Also we have a large backlog of tune scanning to do. Currently there are quite a few covers with their content indexes uploaded on our resource page. If any of the tune titles or journal contents catch your eye, please let me know and I can prioritise sharing that notation/issue.

https://earlyenglishbanjo.blogspot.com/?m=1

Ooh, that one's cool as well! (Jumbo Rag) I like the minor part

Flora Frolic: Tab, Notation and an mp3

quote:

---

Originally posted by trapdoor2

Flora Frolic: Tab, Notation and an mp3

---

Thank you!