Lost in Neverland
(7 downloads)Saturday, Feb 02, 2008
The Yellow Jackets were a studio jazz orchestra led by drummer and percussionist, Justin Ring, for the Okeh label. This recording of the song “Peter Pan (I Love You)” by Robert King and Ray Henderson is from mid-1924. Great stuff even though I can’t find any more information on it. My favorite part is the piano break with the chimes (glockenspiel?) behind it. Everyone’s got to love a good cymbal choke too.One may remark at the lack of drumming on this recording of a band led by a drummer and there are two primary reasons for this. Firstly, in 1924, recording technology was simply not very good at picking up the drums. This was one year before the advent of electric recording, which is essentially recording with the use of a microphone to electrically amplify the audio signal which provided much greater sound fidelity. Prior to this, the band would stand around a horn that was affixed to a lathe which cut the master disc. Amplification was thus achieved largely in the same fashion as a doctor’s stethoscope or an old fashioned hearing aid. Due to the technical, physical and practical limitations associated with this set up, the early 20s jazz drummer tended to limit himself to blocks, chimes, snare and of course the choke cymbal. Through these conventions, a studio jazz drumming style evolved which was in many ways distinct from that of live performance. Along the way various other sound effects turn up such as car horns, gongs and whistles. Dynamic considerations amongst the remaining performers were worked out by careful arrangement of their positions in the room around the recording apparatus to provide a good ‘mix’ and also careful arrangement of the score; notice how the band drops out for the piano break mistakes and all (the piano is another notoriously problematic instrument for early recordings).
It should be mentioned that there is also a distinct possibility that a lot of the playing, perhaps snare, maybe brushes, just isn’t getting picked up on the recording. The music director may have opted to leave out a lot of drums because of inherent limitations in their primitive recording setup, but doesn’t say that the primitive recording setup didn’t leave out a lot of the drums. This is in fact a pretty common issue with these old recordings and only underscores the problems that these early sound engineers encountered.
Another reason for the understated drumming is that the drums did not serve the same role in the early days of jazz and pop as they do now. The bass might be said to have been the primary rhythmic instrument in the teens and twenties as far as indicating the pulse of the music. ‘Bass’ in those days referred to both tuba and string bass and a professional ‘bassist’ was expected to play both. The bass drum often shared this purpose doubling the bassist’s rhythms, but it was difficult to record well with the equipment of the day. So, while its use may have been common used live performance, it is largely omitted from studio recordings. Meanwhile, the banjo covered a lot of the territory now thought to be the domain of the high hat and snare, complementing the bass’s 4-beat.
On the other hand, though drums were not completely removed from keeping the beat in early jazz, they were often used simply for sonic embellishments and rhythmic emphasis. Consider all the cymbal chokes on this record as an illustration of this attitude toward the drums.
So how does a drummer wind up leading a band? Justin Ring (1876-1963) was essentially an old hand from the earliest days of the recording industry. He was a classically trained pianist, percussionist and conductor and was essentially working for hire as the arranger and music director for this Yellow Jackets Orchestra which was a house band for Okeh records. They were formed with the objective of creating music in the ‘hot’ style and turning a nice profit in process. Justin Ring was an experienced and trusted figure in the business; and business was pretty much what the Yellow Jackets were all about. Ring also recorded extensively with such notable early jazz figures as violinist Joe Venuti, guitarist Eddie Lang and blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson (see the entries about Georgia White from Dec 2, 2007 for more about Johnson)
Okeh 40278, 1924