Features and Reviews
Joseph F. Lamb: A Biography
By Russell Cassidy
PART VII
This is the seventh and final installment in a reprinted series
Many know of Johnny Maddox's popular records of tunes played in ragtime style, but few, including Joe, were aware that he once made a record of classic rags (which was therefore not commercially successful), or that he is a serious student and collector of ragtime sheet music and piano rolls, and can play ragtime correctly to a properly receptive audience. Never having had this opportunity, Joe wrote: "Bob Koester at Seymour's (a jazz record shop in Chicago) has my record and has sold one to Johnny Maddox. Maybe after he hears my record he will slow down his playing a little, as well as stick to the music score."
Lamb was to have been a guest in October, 1960, at the second annual Scott Joplin Memorial Concert in Sedalia, Mo., where he would have met another venerable composer, Arthur Marshall, 78, as well as Tom Ireland, 95 (?), both of whom also knew Joplin. (Sedalia, erstwhile home of the Maple Leaf Club, is waking to its importance in the history of ragtime, and in addition to the annual memorial concerts, a seven-foot monument is in process of being erected in honor of Joplin at the former site of the Maple Leaf Club at Main and Lamine Streets, Sedalia.) In addition to being present at the Sedalia affair, "...a fellow from NBC paid us a visit to gather data about me for a TV program in October. He had, besides me, a list of...other ragtime composers such as Joplin, Scott, Jelly Roll Morton, etc., on whom to collect similar information. (He wanted) pictures of the places I used to play in, or posters covering such events. I told him I had none, that I wasn't in the same category as the rest of my contemporaries, and that {because of} my locale, at the time, didn't even know what it was all about. It is possible that the principals might be invited to the preview in New York."
At the suggestion of Bob Darch, and under the sponsorship of Burl Ives, Lamb submitted copies of several of his rags for admission to membership in ASCAP. His membership was approved, although notification was not received until after his death. On the day he died (of a heart attack), Lamb, the last of the Big Three {classic} ragtime composers, was reviewing a rag for one who, it may be hoped, will be a continuation of composition in the classic ragtime style: Fred Hoeptner, a young engineer in Los Angeles whose new rag, "Sedalia,"—respectfully dedicated to the late Joseph F. Lamb—is certainly written in the classic tradition.
Throughout this story of Lamb's life, a definite pattern of the man and his music emerges. That he was a "natural born" composer is obvious and undeniable in view of his lack of academic musical training. Ragtime appealed to him, and when he had comprehended the idiom he wanted to compose rags of quality after the manner of Joplin. Music was a means of personal expression to Lamb, and he undoubtedly could have made a career of composing and arranging. He rejected that course to be able to keep his musical expression free from compromise as might have been necessary had he been subject to the commercial demands of the music business. Admittedly he wanted to see his compositions in print and available to the public, a not uncommon instinct (he gave "Ethiopia" and "Excelsior" to Stark), but he must have been confident of their musical worth—a confidence which has been vindicated by time. His difficult rags might have been simplified or put into easier keys, and doing so undoubtedly would have increased their sales, but to have done so would have been to compromise his musical integrity. Not bound by the demands of commerce in his art, this was not necessary. (Credit must also be given to John Stark in this respect for recognizing and insisting upon quality in his company's publications, and thus providing an outlet for the high quality, sometimes uncommercial works of men like Joplin, Scott, Lamb, et al.) After his works were in print, he did not aspire to the public eye, preferring to remain on the sidelines rather than work the nightclub and cabaret circuits.
Lamb's compositions are a reflection of a happy and contented life. His works are essentially extroversive and joyous as compared to Joplin's (later) rags. He composed simply for the satisfaction of his creative urge; his rags were an end unto themselves. Lamb was not concerned with establishing an art form, nor was he concerned with public acceptance of or establishing respectability for that art form. These aspects were of paramount concern to Joplin, who was attempting to establish a position among the arts for the Negro race. Lamb's sense of musical values required that his compositions must meet or excel his own criteria of excellence. Composing to such standards necessarily limits quantity. Only as an avocation could he achieve his ambition of "composing rags like Scott Joplin's." Few men have fulfilled their ambition as successfully as Joseph Lamb.
(This article has been written with the purpose of documenting, as accurately and completely as possible, material on Lamb's life which would have otherwise remained in private letters. My intent has been to evoke a picture of Lam as a personality and a major contributor to the literature of ragtime. I am indebted to Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis for permission to quote from the book, They All Played Ragtime. –R. E. C.)
About Russell Cassidy: Mr. Cassidy and Trebor Tichenor collaborated in forming the Ragtime Review in 1961. This was the first regular publication devoted exclusively to ragtime since Axel Christensen's earlier magazine of the same name appeared in 1915. The revived newsletter had a small circulation among the national ragtime community which was beginning to emerge. It featured Tichenor's analyses of Joplin rags, news, and the opportunity to order photocopies of rare rags long out of print. Cassidy was a ragtime devotee who was an amateur pianist, but dedicated collector, writer, and scholar of the music. Sadly, he died young. He had to give up editing the Ragtime Review because of illness, and passed away July 4, 1966 while on vacation in Denver with his wife and daughters.
Appended to Cassidy's article was a discography and rollography. If updated, they would be vastly expanded, but readers may be interested in seeing what the situation was almost half a century ago.
Joe Lamb Discography (as of 1961):
SENSATION
Century 4007, Played by Mutt Carey and his New Yorkers (band).
EXCELSIOR
Circle 5004, (from U.S. Music piano roll #62255B).
AMERICAN BEAUTY
Riverside Records S D P 11, RLP-12-112 (12-in. LP).
Riverside Records RLP 1006 (10-in. LP).
RAGTIME NIGHTINGALE
Jazz Man 20, Played by Johnny Wittwer (piano solo); (10-in. 78 rpm).
CONTENTMENT RAG
Stinson SLP 58, Played by Johnny Wittwer (piano solo) Note: mis-titled CANNED MEAT RAG (10-in LP).
TOP LINER RAG
Good Time Jazz GTJ EP 1013, Played by Wally Rose (piano solo); (45 rpm).
Good Time Jazz GTJ M 12034, Played by Wally Rose (piano solo); (12 in. LP monaural, also available in stereo).
Dot records DLP – 3321 "The World's Greatest Piano Rolls" (from a nickelodeon roll).
JOSEPH LAMB: A STUDY IN CLASSIC RAGTIME
Folkways FG 3562, Played by Joe Lamb (piano solos and reminiscences); (12-in LP).
Includes: COTTONTAIL RAG, EXCELSIOR, CLEOPATRA, SENSATION, TOP LINER RAG, ALASKAN RAG, RAGTIME NIGHTINGALE, AMERICAN BEAUTY, CONTENTMENT RAG, PATRICIA RAG.
EDITOR'S NOTES
There is not sufficient space left to reprint the Lamb rollography in this issue. If any of you are piano roll collectors and would like to see it reprinted, let us know and we will include it in a future issue, if not in December.
We extend our special thanks to Fred Hoeptner for providing the Lamb article, which originally appeared in the newsletter of the Ragtime Society of Canada in 1966. Just a few weeks before he died, Russell Cassidy announced the final issue of the Ragtime Review, and sent the Ragtime Society some files of unused material, including the Lamb piece. The society published it as a tribute to Russ, stating that "We feel that it typifies both the sincere affection Russ held for ragtime, and the lasting contribution he made to the kind of music he loved so much."
