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| 1. | Steeplechase Rag
New York - May, 1917
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| 2. | Twilight Rag
New York - May, 1917
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| 3. | Carolina Shout
New York - May, 1921
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| 4. | Baltimore Buzz
New York - December, 1921
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| 5. | Gypsy Blues
New York - October, 1921
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| 6. | Harlem Strut
New York - 1917
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| 7. | Eccentricity
New York - May, 1921
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| 8. | Don't Mess With Me
New York - 1922
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| 9. | Nervous Blues
New York - 1923
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| 10. | Ole Miss Blues
New York - 1922
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| 11. | I Ain't Givin' nothin' away
New York - January, 1922
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| 12. | Muscle Shoal Blues
New York - April, 1922
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| 13. | Farewell Blues
New York - May, 1923
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| 14. | Charleston
New York - June, 1925
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Jazz
James P. Johnson - Piano
One of the greatest pianists of all time, Johnson was dubbed the "King of Stride Piano" in the 20's. Johnson influenced generations of greats including Duke Ellington and Fats Waller. This collection of his best includes blues classics such as the title cut, "Nervous Blues", "Muscle Shoal Blues" and "Harlem Strut".
The piano rolls on this CD were recorded direct from a Melville Clark 1914 Upright 88 note player
Liner notes by Lawrence Boylan
* Arnold S. Caplin - Producer
* Dr. Toby Mountain - Digital Engineer
* Felix Klempka - Engineer
Carolina Shout is an oddity made possible by multiplicities of licensing James P. Johnson material: a 2007 Collectables re-release of a CD originally released by Biograph Records, now owned by Shout Factory, in 1992, which was itself issued as an LP by Biograph in 1988 and later as a Musical Heritage LP. There is nothing different musically from one package to the next; all of these releases contain the same 14 songs, as pumped by Dan Wilke on an 88-note Melville Clark piano, even the LPs. The main thing that is different about this Collectables reissue is that the booklet is a bit more attractively colored in comparison to the pale black-and-white image used by Biograph, and the notes have been updated, though somewhat carelessly -- George W. Thomas' "Muscle Shoals Blues" is here identified as "Muscle Shoal Blues." As a collection, though, this does have some considerable value. Johnson's 1917-1921 piano rolls are some of the earliest documents of stride ragtime to be found anywhere, and his highly virtuosic renderings of W.C. Handy's "Ole Miss Blues" and "Muscle Shoals Blues" are treasured interpretations of pieces otherwise only recorded rather dimly by dance bands and military units by the time Johnson got to them in 1922. It does contain Johnson's one and only recording of "Charleston," his most famous piece, which is taken from a medley roll of the hit show Runnin' Wild. Johnson did not cut that selection for the phonograph. However, these aren't the best edited piano rolls, full of little slips and other surprises, and by 21st century standards Biograph's recording is rather thin-sounding and nasal -- rather like a down-and-dirty MIDI file of a piano roll, though not quite that bad. Listeners have been spoiled -- since 1988, very high-quality piano roll to CD reproductions have been done on behalf of George Gershwin, Jelly Roll Morton, Zez Confrey, and a few others. While BiographCollectables' Carolina Shout is still serviceable as a means to get a basic idea of what James P. Johnson's piano rolls sound like, to experience Johnson as a player the best vehicles are found among the many phonograph recordings he made and not the rolls. Moreover, this will remain the case until someone with such expertise decides to take on the case of Johnson's rolls, document them, edit them properly, and record them well.
---Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide
James P. Johnson
Active Decades: '10s, '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s
Born: Feb 01, 1894 in New Brunswick, NJ
Died: Nov 17, 1955 in New York, NY
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Classic Jazz, Ragtime, Stride
One of the great jazz pianists of all time, James P. Johnson was the king of stride pianists in the 1920s. He began working in New York clubs as early as 1913 and was quickly recognized as the pacesetter. In 1917 Johnson began making piano rolls. Duke Ellington learned from these (by slowing them down to half-speed) and a few years later Johnson became Fats Waller's teacher and inspiration. During the 1920s (starting in 1921), James P. Johnson began to record, he was the nightly star at Harlem rent parties (accompanied by Waller and Willie "The Lion" Smith) and he wrote some of his most famous compositions. For the 1923 Broadway show Running Wild (one of his dozen scores), James P. composed "The Charleston" and "Old Fashioned Love," his earlier piano feature "Carolina Shout" became the test piece for other pianists and some of his other songs included "If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight" and "A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid."
Ironically James P. Johnson, the most sophisticated pianist of the 1920s, was also an expert accompanist for blues singers and he starred on several memorable Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters recordings. In addition to his solo recordings, Johnson led some hot combos on records and guested with Perry Bradford and Clarence Williams; he also shared the spotlight with Fats Waller on a few occasions. Because he was very interested in writing longer works, Johnson (who had composed "Yamekraw" in 1927) spent much of the 1930s working on such pieces as "Harlem Symphony," "Symphony in Brown" and a blues opera. Unfortunately much of this music has been lost through the years. Johnson, who was only semiactive as a pianist throughout much of the 1930s, started recording again in 1939, often sat in with Eddie Condon and was active in the 1940s despite some minor strokes. A major stroke in 1955 finished off his career. Most of his recordings have been reissued on CD.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
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