Features and Reviews
Joseph F. Lamb: A Biography
By Russell Cassidy
Part III
In 1909, shortly after the publication of "Sensation," Joe took "Excelsior" and "Ethiopia" in to Stark's office. "Excelsior" was a difficulty and "heavy" number with passages in full octave chords. To an average pianist it presents a rather formidable sight, being written in five flats with the trio in six flats, so Stark asked him to put it in an easier key. He changed it to G and C, but told Stark he felt that it lost something in the new keys and Stark agreed, so the original was kept. The picture on the cover page was suggested in an Alpine scene. Joplin's influence was prominent in "Ethiopia" where the first three themes, though syncopated, have a more flowing song-like melodic line in contrast to the rhythmic character of "Sensation" and "Excelsior." The fourth theme contrasts with the first three in its rhythmic nature, and by this device generates a climax to the composition.
It was about this time that Joplin and Stark had a serious difference of opinion concerning the method of payment for rags, Joplin wanting royalties and Stark wanting outright purchase. It was also about this time that the only Joplin-Lamb collaboration was written. "Scott wrote the first two strains and I wrote the last two and, so far as I recall our talking about it, if someone were told that either one of us wrote the whole thing, no one would question it. If, as some people say, we both wrote pretty much alike, it was certainly evident in that rag ... I do not remember the name of the piece we wrote together and I don't even remember how it went. I don't know if he (Joplin) was able to have someone else publish it, but I don't think he tried much because he was beginning to feel kind of low about his trouble with Stark. Stark liked it very much but he was as stubborn as Joplin about their differences and just wouldn't take it. When (Joplin's) wife Lottie died a couple of years ago, a friend of Joplin's, Eddie McTigue, got in touch with the lawyer who was taking care of her affairs. He offered to help the lawyer straighten things out because there were a lot of Joplin's manuscripts in the house that might be disposed of to get more money into the estate. Eddie told him...that I was willing to pay for (the rag). The last time I spoke to Eddie he hadn't heard any more from the lawyer, so I guess I'll never hear any more about the rag." (Joplin collaborated with Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden and Louis Chauvin on nine known rags. He is thought to have helped James Scott, and Lottie and others said that he wrote part of KING PORTER STOMP at the request of Jelly Roll Morton and Porter King around 1900.)
"Champagne Rag" came out in 1910, subtitled a March and Two Step. It was cast in the form of the earlier cake-walks, i.e. the statement of the first theme is repeated in the fourth, which is in the subdominant tonality of the trio. Lamb had the pleasure of hearing "Champagne" played by a 250-piece concert band... "It was one of the most marvelous things I ever heard."
His next published rag was "American Beauty Rag" which was copyrighted Dec. 27, 1913. This rag was thoroughly classic in concept, though in no sense a "heavy" rag. The first two themes were indicative of a gradual change in his style of composition toward longer phrasing, yet retaining the complex syncopation of the previous rags. The phrasing of "American Beauty" possessed a smoothness of flow which was not generally characteristic in the literature of ragtime with the exception of Joplin's work which Lamb admired so much. Despite the Joplin influence, this rag is uniquely Lamb's throughout. The cover page is subtitled "A Rag of Class," and shows a stem of American Beauty roses.
In 1914, Joe recalled, a friend asked him to lunch. Upon passing his usual restaurant, he reminded his friend that there was plenty to be done at the office (WW I had begun) and that he shouldn't be gone long. His friend insisted on a restaurant several blocks away and Joe reluctantly agreed. Nearing the place, they heard a large military recruiting band playing martial music, and his friend would not be swayed from walking past the bandstand. As they approached the stand his friend waved to the bandleader who, upon previous arrangement, abruptly stopped the number they were playing and struck up with "American Beauty Rag." When the number was finished, both Joe and the band received a tremendous applause.
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