Some of my earliest and most heart-warming musical memories revolve around waking up early on Saturday mornings so I could do two things: 1. watch Looney-Tunes cartoons to marvel at the musical genius of Carl Stalling, Raymond Scott, and others, and 2. sit in front of my simple, no-frills, cream-colored Fisher Price Record Player, so I could listen to my grandparent’s assemblage of LPs. I consider myself very lucky that my Mother’s parents enjoyed such a varied collection to include everyone from Bach to The Bee Gees. I would sit for hours listening to luminaries like Liberace, “Knuckles” O’Toole, Fred “Mickie” Finn, Joe “Fingers” Carr, and my favorite at the time and Lawrence Welk regular, Jo Ann Castle.
These memories were triggered recently while reading this very publication, the September issue of The Syncopated Times when I came across Lew Shaw’s wonderfully written article mentioning some of those very same names in regards to “Honky Tonk Piano.” Then I saw the question was posed to me, the quote-unquote “ragtime authority”, to explain the differences between Honky Tonk, Boogie Woogie, and Stride piano styles. So firstly I’d like to say to Lew, “Thanks!” Very rarely has my name and the word “authority” been used in the same sentence (at least in such a positive connotation). Now, I shall do my best to oblige.
I have always associated Honky Tonk with a specific pianistic sound, probably much more than even a specific style, although the two truly go hand-in-hand. The “sound” was typically that of an old, out-of-tune upright piano that sometimes had metal tacks pushed into the hammers to give it a uniquely percussive quality. A good example of this can be found on YouTube titled “Knuckles O’Toole – Honky Tonk Piano.”
Hearing this music typically brings to mind images of striped shirts, arm garters, straw boater hats, Old West saloons, and sporting houses, as those clichés have been perpetuated contemporarily in television and film.
Boogie Woogie is something I’ve always correlated with the Blues, mainly because it is typically based on the same chord progression (I – IV – V – I). Boogie is mostly defined by its left hand, which carries the rhythm with varying patterns and feels. When giving programs that are intended to provide more information on the background of these styles of music, I often say, “Take a 12-bar blues, speed it up, add a funky baseline, and you have Boogie Woogie.” Of course that’s an over-simplification, but it typically gets the basic point across. Here is a YouTube example from the Buenos Aires Ragtime Festival, November 2014.
Finally, we get to my personal favorite, Stride Piano. Wikipedia defines stride as, “a jazz piano style that was developed in the large cities of the US East Coast, mainly New York City, during the 1920s and 1930s. The left hand characteristically plays a four-beat pulse with a single bass note, octave, seventh or tenth interval on the first and third beats, and a chord on the second and fourth beats. Occasionally this pattern is reversed by placing the chord on the downbeat and bass note(s) on the upbeat. Unlike performers of the ragtime popularized by Scott Joplin and unlike much early jazz, stride players’ left hands often leapt greater distances on the keyboard, and they played in a wider range of tempos and with a greater emphasis on improvisation.”
Maybe a little clinical in description, but I find this to be as good a definition as any I’ve seen. Stride takes the basic elements of Ragtime and ups the ante by adding stuttered rhythms, countermelodies, and moving lines in the base, as well as signature “tricks” in the right hand to create a unique sound. Although it would be difficult for me to choose a favorite, one at the very top of my short list would be Dick Wellstood. Watch a great YouTube clip of Mr. Wellstood in action:
I certainly hope this sheds a little light on the differences between these great styles of early American music. QUICK PLUG: come to the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival next June 1-3, 2017, and you’ll be able to hear all these great styles (and the world’s best Ragtime) LIVE! As always, thank you all for supporting live music!
