"Carolina Shout" played by Frederick Hodges

[syncopeter]

Hodges isn't stride .Young Adam Swanson IS developing into a stride pianist though. Some of his recent work is excellent. This is superb honky tonk, but no more than that. No tenths, no running bass, just oompah.

[Keeper1st]

@syncopeter No tenths? There are tenths all over the place! This is not Hodges' own arrangement; it's James P. Johnson's arrangement as he played it for a QRS piano roll. So basically you're saying that James P. Johnson is not stride.

[ZingZee123456789]

this is isnt stride.....just syain...

[KingRat355]

You are spliting atoms cause I agree with keeper1 Hodges has to be one of the better stride raggers. This is swinging and with accuracy.

[KingRat355]

Yes I recently found out about Sportiello and Mazetier. Both are extremely good. Someone should post more Fats waller done by Sportiello if he has done any.

I think Hodges is one of the best there is.

[Keeper1st]

Everybody plays it a little differently. Even different versions by James P. himself weren't the same.

[SinisterDexter1]

I think its a really good interpretation, if you want to hear fats waller playing it in proper stride style you can.

It sounds much better than the original piano rolls by JPJ, as there was too much disruption of the beat in the left hand which fredrick has straightened out.

Only the likes of fats waller can play proper 10ths at speed because he had very large hands.

[KawhackitaRag]

What do you mean? Johnson's 1921 roll is almost note-for-note identical to his 1921 recording. This is the way people actually played in the early 1920s. I challenge you to find exceptions to this. Even Earl Hines sounded different in 1923 than 1928.

If you want to hear '40s sounds then you must listen to '40s recordings. It's not just the sound quality, the style is also different. Most "stride" aficianados seem to prefer the 1930s and 1940s stuff to the twenties stuff.

[SinisterDexter1]

Eh? I was saying that fredericks version is better than the original... ('There was too much disruption to the beat'....)

Stride wasn't really called stride till later on really however. Something that JPJ invented and Waller (et al) refined.

[JamesPriceJohnson]

alright, this is fine, but still. what is wrong with pianists thee days? they dont get the stride part in. its more raggy, instead of stride. this is one vid i can let go by. but, pianists dont have the light left hand touch anymore!! its terrible. but this is still a good vid

[Keeper1st]

Being as this is considered the first stride piece, it follows that in retrospect it would sound more a rag than a stride piece. There aren't many people with a better left hand than Frederick... right hand either! I will grant that his technical perfection does perhaps make for a less spontaneous-sounding performance than one would expect from stride. His precise technique is best served on novelty music and popular songs of the '20s and '30s. It's great to hear his takes on this stuff though!

[JazzBrother88]

The idea of this piece as a rag is the result of the piano-rolls versions that James P. Johnson cut early in his career. If you listen to Johnson's electric recordings, the rhythmic concept is totally different, with none of the mechanical effects of player pianos.

This of course doesn't go against Frederick's great rendition.

[KawhackitaRag]

What about Johnson's acoustic recordings of the early 1920s?

[KawhackitaRag]

The technical perfection is not what causes a less spontaneous-sounding performance. I have heard lots of people play flawlessly and totally spontaneously... it all depends upon what you play in the right hand.

I have slaved over Carolina Shout for years to come up with the tastiest, best-sounding right-hand figurations that also make musical sense. If you just string a lot of junk together over the chord changes it won't sound good. It has to be consonant and melodic.

[JazzBrother88]

You're right about today's stride pianists, the light touch, the "held-up" bass notes and chords are usually absent. They think of stride as a "vertical" concept instead of horizontal.

Check out an Italian young pianist named Rossano Sportiello.

[JazzBrother88]

As Heinrich Schenker used to say: "music must always move forward". If we conceive music only as a vertical arrangement of sound, as sounds one on top of the other instead of AFTER the other, we'll never get it.

[KawhackitaRag]

I still don't get you, man... almost all of the piano rolls I've heard (except a couple really bad ones) have plenty of horizontal motion... it's called MELODY. Without the brain's understanding of how one note or chord relates to the next, it would all sound like mishmash. That's part of why most piano roll arrangements work; they have plenty of melody, and often lots of countermelody too.

[JazzBrother88]

It's not in the rolls, or in the recordings; it's in the listener's or player's mind. Some pianists play stride like ragtime, using a "vertical" rhythmic concept, they do not think "horizontally".

[KawhackitaRag]

Yes, exactly, it's all in the player's mind. I agree that Frederick Hodges messes up a little bit, where he goes to the D theme at 0:45, WAYY too soon, and then overcompensates by immediately jumping to the B theme in the middle of a phrase! This does disrupt the continuity of the tune. He also completely omits the C theme, and then goes to the D theme after the re-statement of the A theme, then the E and the D trade off a bit before the final coda.

[KawhackitaRag]

I can tell you what else I'm hearing here... except for some rather exciting bits from 2:15 to 2:30, the performance seems to be tossed off casually rather than given a lot of thought. I have a feeling that Frederick did not really want to play this tune right then, but it was probably an audience request and so he felt he had to do it. He certainly isn't playing with a lot of dynamics, which are important to helping create a "horizontal" feeling.

Good ragtime is as horizontal as anything.

[KawhackitaRag]

Rossano Sportiello is a friend of our family. He is a marvelous musician and a great person. I would consider him a more modern player, but he can do stride piano very well and is always learning more aspects of the earlier styles.

Frederick Hodges is also a great pianist. I don't think he is in top form in this video... look for videos of him playing "Dinah" and "My Blue Heaven" as well as "Dixie Kisses", "Novelty Rag", and "Junk Man Rag" to see him playing (in my opinion) very well.

[JazzBrother88]

Thanks a lot, I'll certainly check him out!

[Keeper1st]

Check out the video Howard just posted called "Frederick Hodges plays Springtime Of Love". I quite liked that one!

[wilscool]

@JamesPriceJohnson I'd say there are plenty of good stride pianists today. Paul Asaro, Dick Hyman, Mike Lipskin, Max Keenlyside, Brian Holland.. They are stride pianists by every measure of the title. Frederick isn't a stride pianist, so he's playing this tune in his own arrangement which doesn't sound like stride. Does Dick Wellstood sound just like James P? Heck no.  But he plays one heck of a Carolina Shout. A great pianist doesn't emulate others.. which is why I am not a great pianist! :P

[Morahman7vnNo2]

I wonder how that piano is holding up now.

[Keeper1st]

Heh... well, the most recent video I have with that piano is "More of the Amazing Hands of Tom Brier" recorded in December 2008. Seems to be holding up pretty well, even after Tom's been on it! There's also a video of Frederick here playing "My Blue Heaven" on this piano in 2008 -- search "my blue heaven hodges".

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Good to hear, if you ever want to get rid of an old piano, just send it down to Los Angeles! Or better yet bring Ragtime to L.A. Cuz I've yet to seen any Ragtime Festivals in the Los Angeles Area.

[Keeper1st]

You mean besides the Orange County RagFest in Fullerton? Some of the pianists you've seen in my videos are headliners of that festival held every October. You've also got the Rose Leaf Ragtime Club which meets monthly in Monrovia, and frequent concerts with top ragtimers at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo. You've got Brad Kay, Janet Klein, Ian Whitcomb, Vincent Johnson, Andrew Barrett -- Southern California is a happening ragtime place.

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Hmmm...Good to know, but do you know any places a bit closer to The Greater Los Angeles Area?

[Keeper1st]

Andrew Barrett seems to go to a lot of clubs where ragtime is played and so forth. You might ask him -- KawhackitaRag on YouTube.

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Well he hasn't checked back to me about some Email I sent him a while ago. So most really be clubbing the clubs.

[Keeper1st]

Well, I suggest going to one of the Rose Leaf meetings (they request a $2 or $3 donation from non-performers). People will be more than happy to let you know of concerts closer to your normal area.

But I highly suggest going to the festival in Fullerton, since it's practically in your back yard, as festivals go. You wouldn't even need a hotel room since it's in relatively short driving distance. You'll get to see all of the performers I mentioned above, and more -- even some ragtime ensembles.

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Hmm, I suppose I might be able to make it, if I get the transportation planed out right.

[KawhackitaRag]

Sorry man, I must have missed your email, I'll go check my inbox. I get lots of emails from lots of people everyday, and so I naturally miss a few. Sorry about that.

[Huckabeezer]

The question of how stride began has received exhaustive research. E.g., Brown and Hilbert's biography of JPJ where the authors go over this note by note. It is beyond dispute that this tune began the genre. Johnson did some things that simply hadn't been done before. This is approximately the same tempo as the famous 1921 roll....However, the original 1918 roll is about 25% slower. It was Johnson's choice to play it faster as time went on. An explanation is suggested in his bio...

[soogoonu]

yeah now that's talking about stride! play smooth and "not fast" - this is a simple point most of stride performers always miss

[lindyhoppers]

thet's the tendecy: the faster, the louder, the better...

[hdksr2]

If anyone knows how fast to play this piece it is Dr. Frederick Hodges. He is by far the best interpreter of early 20th century American piano compositions. He is a master at using his left foot on the sostenuto (middle) pedal to sustain those delightful tenor harmonies, a technique most pianists today never attempt to try, and I'm talking about pretty famous guys like Dick Hyman.

[c8udyp]

I like the tempo on this version. A lot of the detail gets lost on the faster versions.

[lindyhoppers]

this is "Novelty"

Harlem Stride piano is another thing...

[Keeper1st]

This is stride master James P. Johnson's own arrangement of Carolina Shout, from 1921. Novelty piano hadn't quite entered the picture yet.

[lindyhoppers]

you're wrong man... Kitten On The Keys, by Zez Confrey, was already published in 1921!

and this guy you filmed plays too fast this tune

[Keeper1st]

Hardly. Carolina Shout usually is played faster than this. And of course I know when Kitten on the Keys was published, but one tune did not a genre make. It took a few years before the idea of "novelty" as its own entity was defined.

[lindyhoppers]

Carolina must be played smooth and "not fast".

Today players don't know how to play it!

[Keeper1st]

Neither did James P. Johnson, then.

[Douglas555]

very strange opinion, not based on any fact. Carolina Shout is the MAIN example of stride around ,just check any reference book (Grove) on the subject, or the amazing Jazz documentary series by Burns. The accent shifts in the left hand in particular are typical of the stride style. Novelty was much more influenced by Debussy, of which there is no hint here.

[sukunet7]

Does anyone know who's version of Carolina Shout this is - is this Frederick's version?

[Keeper1st]

Frederick says that this is "based on Johnson's 1921 QRS player piano roll (QRS 100999)."

[sukunet7]

thanks

and great job, Frederick!

[divvy1400yam600]

Overall excellent.

I notice one or two "bits" have been simplified but it is such a fiendishly difficult piece, thats understandable.

I say again excellent.

[hvyright]

When I minimize the screen and just listen to the music, I hear massive amounts of feeling being put into the song. I think the way he keeps his body completely still is part of his mechanics that allows him to play so well.

[gmtdiato]

Before I get my head ripped off,in hindsight,perhaps it is just that the new piano just doesn't have the right sound.

[Keeper1st]

It also could be that he makes it seem so effortless. He always looks a bit stoic at the piano, while playing the wildest and most difficult music. And of course in this case he is imitating an 88-note piano roll, which had no dynamics to begin with.

[gmtdiato]

Technique-9,feeling-0.

[anguswoof]

He has really captured the tue feeling of James P johnson. (By the way this oi not ragtime.)

[Keeper1st]

Stride considered is a style of ragtime, just as novelty piano is. Certainly, it's not "classic ragtime" or "pop ragtime" or "folk ragtime", but it's still ragtime. In the early days of jazz bands, even they called what they were playing "ragtime".

[hvyright]

Best I have ever heard

[bigstriderman]

Nice how you mix the Waller and Johnson recordings on the G7 part.

[allendale62]

Love it! I play ragtime piano some too.

[pluto035]

Rockin

[tdub1941]

Wonderful. I love to see Freddie at work. 5 stars!

[KawhackitaRag]

HOW DOES HE DO THAT???

[metaknight95]

its called pratice dude lmao

[Keeper1st]

You must understand where "KawhackitaRag" is coming from. He himself is a highly respected young ragtime/novelty pianist (Andrew Barrett) who practices every day, but still he is in awe of how effortlessly Frederick plays. The best pianists of the genre all admire Frederick. It's that classical training, I reckon.

[Morahman7vnNo2]

By not thinking about it, and just playing it (Harder than It sounds).