The Parlor Orchestra as Precursor to Big Bands/Dance Bands

I had mentioned in my last article that I was going to be sharing many of my own perspectives on a musical genre I have loved and have also collected extensively for almost 40 years, and that is what is commonly known as "big band" or "dance band" recordings.  In the many years that I have enjoyed, collected, and studied this great music, I have come to several conclusions, and the purpose of many of my insights here have much to do with my own conclusions.  Of course, there will be some who disagree, and they are certainly allowed to do so - I am not presenting this as scholarly discourse, but rather as personal theory based on a few things I have observed.  So, if you are one of those people who gets your knickers in a knot over things, that disclaimor is for you.  It is really sad, as a side note, that one has to post disclaimors about everything these days, due to the "entitlement" culture of "political correctness" and other such drivel, and a person is unable to have an opinion about anything unless some internet "troll" comes along, gets butthurt by it, and wants to pick fights.  And, that leads to a second disclaimer - I know there exists the chance that even the most innocuous of comments will raise the hackles of some nasty individual, and if that happens here, that person need not post their rants, as they will be censored by Yours Truly - this is not a democracy, and I am the king of this domain.  In other words, crap will get flushed.  However, if you really want to learn about theories and such, and maybe do some comparison research of your own, you are more than welcome to - I also will welcome the exchange of ideas too, and if you know of any vintage orchestras I may not have heard of (the 1890's are new territory for me) from the period I will be discussing here, I am always eager to learn about them.  Therefore, with the preliminaries out of the way, let's get started.

Thomas Alva Edison is credited with inventing the phonograph and thus launching the "recorded sound era" in 1877, although some other sources say he was not the first to invent it but rather to patent it - that debate is beyond the scope of this article though, so we won't venture into that territory.  With the dawn of recorded sound, the following decades launched a plethora of recordings of various musical genres and other things, and they would revolutionize popular entertainment for over a century.  The earliest recordings were canister-sized shellac cylinders that were played on a sort of spindle with a needle, and these were manufactured well into the 1930's even.  At the end of the 1890's, a new format called the 78 rpm record disc was introduced, and would be the primary recording medium for almost 50 years, before the vinyl 33 rpm made its debut in the late 1940's.   Sound recordings introduced to the general public a new convenience of hearing one's favorite music without the effort of attending concerts, and the convenience of hearing music in the home was something that many musical artists capitalized on, and it also created a whole new breed of performing artist.  It was particularly convenient as far as organizing social events such as dances and parties, in that a sound recording was far cheaper than hiring a group of live musicians.  And, in that day and age, a group of live musicians could be substantial, as beginning in the 18th century we have what were known as "parlor orchestras," "chamber orchestras," and "salon orchestras," and these would have a significant bearing on popular music for decades to come. 

In order to avoid confusion, for the sake of this discussion I am going to limit the terminology to "parlor orchestra," and first it is important to understand what a parlor orchestra was.  In days past, many upper-crust folks - the aristocracy in Europe, as well as well-to-do families in the US - would throw various types of soirees, and these could range from cotillion dances, debutante parties, and other affairs to small, intimate gatherings.  In many estates of such individuals, these affairs would be held in a cozy but spacious room called a "parlor," which had the sole purpose of entertaining guests.  Today, when we think of a "parlor," we often envision a small room with quaint furniture and a wet bar, and that image evolved from what the actual parlor was.  In days past, the parlor was a large room with a dance area, and also a bar of sorts as well, and there were settees and other comfortable furniture for guests to lounge and socialize while nibbling on hors d'oevres and sipping drinks.  The size of the room was also to accommodate entertainment, and often this was in the form of the parlor orchestra.  The size of a parlor orchestra varied from a trio to a 50-piece ensemble, and its purpose was to play dance music as well as light music to set the atmosphere of the soiree being celebrated.  Many of these ensembles were operated by talented musicians who also had a shrewd business sense, and they capitalized on this to create permanent ensembles to play these events.  In the 20th century, several families of dance band leaders - the Lanins, Meyer Davis, and others - would employ this same formula to create dance-band empires.  Therefore, one source of the dance band tradition does come from these intimate parlor orchestras.

It is also worth mentioning that especially in the US in the 19th century, many of these parlor orchestras were often the enterprise of immigrant communities - Jewish, Italian, German, Irish, and other communities which were noted for talented musicianship marketed that talent in lucrative ways that appealed to the rich upper-crust clientele they would in time entertain.  This meant that elements of the folk music of these immigrants - such as klezmer, polkas, the tarantella, the tango, etc. - would enter American society and be integrated into the musical tastes of the public being entertained by them.  Black musicians, as well, were often scouted out for their talents, and this led to an interesting but necessary fusion between the Black "minstrel show" and the parlor orchestra, and the evolution could be seen of that later in the rise of jazz and ragtime.  All of these elements created a rich stew that also would be why many dance bands of the "Big Band Era" had diverse charts and played a variety of musical styles - it all started here.

I want to also make another observation - much of what we now call "classical music" was also at one time the creation of parlor orchestras, and indeed there is not a large leap from the parlor to the concert hall in many instances.  One notable example in this regard is the renown Strauss family who in essence created the Viennese waltz.  The patriarch of the family, an Austrian of Jewish heritage by the name of Johann Strauss I, began that legacy at the beginning of the 19th century, to be carried on later by his sons Johann II, Josef, and Eduard.  It was Eduard's son, Johann III (1866-1939), though who would be impacted by the coming of the era of recorded sound, and the family orchestra he conducted from Vienna did record extensively up until his passing - some of those early recordings were made in the 1890's and are available on cylinder records, although the most noted of the recordings were a series of sides he made for Deutsche Grammofon in 1903 ("Johann Strauss III" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Strauss_III - accessed 2/7/2018).  This is important as it established a direct link, in my theory, between Strauss and the later dance bands - Strauss led his own orchestra, and recorded under his own name, and although classified as a type of "classical music" by many, in reality it was formal dance music (waltzes and polkas) that he recorded.  That is also why he is included here as an important forerunner of the genre

Johann Strauss III (1866-1939) in 1900

That was in Europe.  Back in the US, the parlor orchestra was a little less formal and less high-profile than the legendary Strauss dynasty in Vienna, and it is not as specifically identified with "classical music" as is Strauss's.  One of the earliest of these orchestras was an ensemble led by Edward Issler (born 1855) that began to make records in 1888.  For me, it is obvious that Issler was in essence the first early popular dance orchestra to record and also one of the first to have a permanent roster of personnel (although Art Hickman is often credited with doing that in 1913).  Issler's orchestra started out as a parlor orchestra of four musicians (a cornetist, a flutist, a violinist, and Issler himself at piano).  Later, he added more instruments - a trombonist and clarinetist as notable - and his recording career was approximately 12 years, with his last recordings being made in 1900.  All of the Issler recordings are on cylinder as well, and even after he ceased recording he was said to have performed with his group into the early 1900's ("Issler's Orchestra," at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issler%27s_Orchestra - accessed 2/7/2018).  Many of Issler's recordings can be heard at www.archive.org.  

Edward Issler (1855- 1942)

Another important musical figure and leader of a noted parlor orchestra from this period is the personage of Frank P. Banta (1870-1903).  Banta's legacy was carried on by his son, Frank E. Banta (1896-1968), who was also a ragtime piano legend.  Banta's orchestra was an outgrowth of the elder Banta's work at accompanying vocalists beginning in the early 1890's. and around the year 1893 he began an orchestra called Banta's Parlor Orchestra that recorded in the period.  Banta was also an early collaborator with famed ragtime banjoist Vess Osman during that period, and is often included on Osman's recordings as well ("Frank P. Banta and Frank E. Banta," at http://ragpiano.com/comps/fbanta.shtml - accessed 2/7/2018).  

Frank P. Banta (1870-1903)

A fourth person of mention is the orchestra of Charles Fischer (1879-1948).  Fischer was a popular musician and orchestra leader around his native Kalamazoo, MI, along with his brother Burton.  They formed their first professional orchestra in 1896 after Charles had played for years with the symphonic orchestra of Chester Bronson, and in essence Fischer bridged the era of the parlor orchestras of the earlier eras and the jazz and dance bands of the 1920's.  However, they didn't make their first recordings until 1917, at around the same time the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded "Livery Stable Blues," which is considered the first commercially-recorded jazz record.  Evidence suggests that the Fischer Brothers were performing well into the 1930's when they eventually went into the music publishing business.  (Information taken from "Charles L. and Burton E. Fischer," at http://www.kpl.gov/local-history/biographies/charles-and-burton-fischer.aspx - accessed 2/1/2018).  Kalamazoo seems to be, much like New Orleans, a hub for many of these early parlor orchestras, including White's Quadrille Band in the 1880's, as well as many before the era of recorded sound, including Pierce's Band, the Hull and Arnold Band, and L.L. Harris and Company, dating as far back as the 1850's - L.L. Harris was apparently an early band broker similar to the Lanins and Meyer Davis later (information from "Social Music in 19th-Century Kalamazoo," from http://www.kpl.gov/local-history/arts-entertainment/social-music.aspx - accessed 2/7/2018). 

Fischer's Orchestra in 1904

Hull-Arnold Quadrille Band, 1875

White's Band, 1880

There were also tons of other groups like these throughout the nation too at the time, notably the Peerless Orchestra and the Columbia Orchestra, among others.  And, of course, among Blacks there was the legendary Will Marion Cook, who will be the subject of a later discussion.  Also for another discussion were the dozens of ethnic orchestras - klezmer outfits, polka bands, and other such groups - that also contributed to this whole story.  All of them deserve mention, as they all contributed to the greatness of the genre many now know today as "big bands." 

The purpose of documenting these ancient parlor orchestras is now going to provide a wrap-up to my discussion.  I realize that much of what I am proposing here will probably invite disagreement from big band purists, many of whom unfortunately think the whole thing began when Benny Goodman recorded "King Porter Stomp" in 1934.  My contention though is that nothing comes out of a vacuum and that these parlor orchestras provided a foundation upon which Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and even "sweet bands" such as Lawrence Welk would rise from later.  I am also not content any longer to accept that the term "big band" was somehow linked to Fletcher Henderson's first usage of it in 1923, or Art Hickman's founding of the first permanent roster of orchestral employees ten years earlier, and although until recently I held the view that Will Marion Cook was the "grandfather" of the big bands, I cannot in good conscience say that either.  A lot of things came together, developed, and then evolved into the music many are familiar with (well, not so much with younger generations today) that inundated the airwaves in the 1920's into the early 1950's.  The music, I argue, has deep roots that even stretch back before the era of recorded sound, and evidence suggests that archetypes of the dance orchestra may have existed as early as the late 1600's.   Also, much of what is called "classical music" had its roots in these parlor orchestras as well as the genres that preceded them, and therefore that has to be taken under consideration as well.  They also seem to be regional phenomena as well, with cities such as Kalamazoo, MI; Savannah, IL; and New Orleans having prolific parlor orchestras forming and performing in the time period.  That too would bear more research and discussion as well.

As this is an informal series, I will be writing periodically about this subject, and I want to next address the role of Will Marion Cook and the Black "minstrel show" as far as it relates to both the development of the big band as well as the evolution of jazz in general.  So, I will see you next time.