James P. Johnson - Carolina Shout (1918)

The Biograph recording of the Artempo 12975 piano roll.

Said piano roll is the first known recording of Carolina Shout and was made in 1918. It is quite different from all later recordings (such as QRS 1921, Okeh 1921 etc.), but nontheless very interesting. There is however a dispute concerning the unusual number of bars at some points, and wether this is an intended stylistic device or not. Most likely (as laid out by viewers) it is indeed a stylistic device, but you are welcome to post your own oppinion.

A recut version of this roll is sold by BluesTone Rolls as their number #137101.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• James
• P.
• Johnson
• Carolina
• Shout
• Artempo
• 12975
• Piano
• Roll
• 1918

[AAErikCO]

i love this Carolina Shout take. Thanks for the vid!

[wuloki]

You're welcome. This take has fascinated me since I heard it the first time two years ago and it's one of my all-time favorite rolls.

[KawhackitaRag]

I think that the close exposure to the handiwork of actual African-American artists helped the white roll arrangers a great deal, and for those who cared to study a little bit, their work in "hot" music became more surefooted, especially when it came to tunes rooted in the Black musical traditions (again, in my opinion).

[KawhackitaRag]

I should also mention that some very fine African-American piano roll performances were almost certainly edited by white people, including Clarence Jones on Imperial (probably Charley Straight and/or Roy Bargy), Eubie Blake on Mel-O-Dee (probably Frank Milne and/or Rudy Erlebach), early Lemuel Fowler and Clarence Johnson rolls on US (possibly J. Lawrence Cook and/or Robert Billings), and of course all the hot Columbia and Capitol rolls made by Jimmy Blythe etc. (edited by Roy Rodocker).

[KawhackitaRag]

Please note: I am not bashing the fine "hot" white artists on rolls. Some of them produced hot blues and ragtime performances on par with some of the best by African-Americans. Particularly good in this respect were Pete Wendling, J. Russel Robinson, Robert Billings, Edythe Baker, Rudy Erlebach (later, on a good day), Marg Thompson, J. Milton Delcamp (when he really wanted to), and especially Armand Muth.

[KawhackitaRag]

By about 1921, QRS saw the handwriting on the wall with Aeolian's hiring of Eubie Blake to make song rolls for them (and also the previous employment of Johnson at Aeolian and other companies), so QRS got an African-American gentleman, J. Lawrence Cook, in to edit the rolls made by African-American performers. This is why the QRS roll of "Carolina Shout" sounds so relatively natural, while the Artempo one does not. I think it always took a couple years for the white guys to catch up.

[KawhackitaRag]

As far as actual musical content goes - that's mostly Johnson himself. In my opinion, no white man, not even in his wildest imagination, in 1918 could have come up with something like this.

As hot perhaps, but it would be totally different. This is because (again, in my opinion), "Carolina Shout" helped introduce aspects of Black vernacular music to the "general" (white) public who were as yet unfamiliar with the latest developments. This also explains why the editor was having trouble.

[KawhackitaRag]

If you listen to a whole bunch of Artempo rolls made about the same time as this one, irrespective of listed "performer", you will quickly realize how much control the editor in charge had upon the final sound of the roll. I love this roll, but I don't think James P. EVER swung like that, not even in his early days.

[lazaryjczyk]

Amazing!!! i love part between 0:52 and 1:37

[JamesPriceJohnson]

i like very much