Blog of Miscellaneous Bits of Musicological/Historical Research by Bob Pinsker

Frederick Brodie had posted "The Black Aristocrat" by Edwin E. Wilson (1901) as the Rag of the Week for April 28, 2023. In his comments on Wilson, Fred had written:

Quite unexpectedly, Wilson also shows up on a CD entitled "The Greatest Ragtime of the Century" issued by Biograph (BCD 103). The CD describes a 1917 piano roll of Twilight Rag by James P. Johnson (Metro-Art 203274) as "Played by James P. Johnson and Edwin E. Wilson." Michael Montgomery's liner notes don't mention Wilson. One wonders whether his inclusion in the list of tracks was an error by Biograph (or, possibly, Metro-Art). Surely James P. needed no assistance in playing his own composition.

To which Paul Johnson had replied "Wilson was likely the editor on the roll. While Johnson was certainly a capable player, there typically was some level of clean up and timing corrections needed."

I replied as follows:

Absolutely, Paul Johnson is right. Edwin Wilson must have been the roll editor for both the JPJ roll for Aeolian of Johnson's "Twilight Rag" but also of the duet arrangement of Johnson's "Mama's Blues", Universal 2335 (released September 1917). It was very common in that period to release beefed-up arrangements as being duets, most famously perhaps the Imperial rolls by Bargy and Straight, or the slightly later QRS rolls by Arden and Ohman. The "Twilight Rag" roll includes a lot of octave doubling and that is surely why they put on the label that it was a duet roll. We can imagine that Edwin Earl Wilson (b. Dayton, Ohio, March 15 1884, died there 22 May 1970) might have done piecework for Aeolian by mail, like J. Lawrence Cook got his start with US Music in Chicago without ever going to Chicago a couple of years later, because it's not clear that Wilson ever spent much time away from Dayton in his career (but see below). He shows up in the 1900, 1910, 1920, 1940, and 1950 federal censuses, and he's a musician already by 1910. In 1920 he reports being a musician, working in the composing industry. (He is missing in the 1930 census for some reason.) In 1940 he says he works as a musician in his own studio, and by 1950 he seems to have retired. He never married and lived with his sister Blanche his whole life in Dayton. The cover photo of Wilson from "The Possum and the [Ra]coon" indeed shows him in 1900 at age 16.

I originally had speculated that perhaps Wilson had done work for Aeolian by mail, but it turns out that he did live in New York from around 1909 to 1918, then again for some time in the late 1920s, as I will document soon. Certainly by the time of the Depression he had returned to Dayton, where he lived in the family house at 112 LaBelle Street for the rest of his life.

Wilson's WWI draft registration is interesting, in that it shows that his gig was as organist in a theater in Columbus, while his home address is the one in Dayton, 70 miles away. Anyway, this shows that in 1918 he was not living in New York, so he either did the work on the JPJ rolls by mail or he lived in NYC in 1917. It also shows that Edwin Wilson's father was Thomas N. Wilson, doubtless the T.N. Wilson that was the dedicatee of this piece and probably its publisher.

Here's Wilson, supposedly in 1929:

Like so many of us, his hairline receded a bit by the time he was in his mid-forties by comparison with when he was 17!

He was the organist at B.F. Keith Theater in Dayton (sure was a lot more convenient for him than Columbus!) after 1922:

I was wrong about Wilson working by mail. Here is evidence that E.E. Wilson indeed lived and worked in NYC from about 1907 or 1909 until about 1918, when he came back to Dayton, and had another period of working in NYC in the 1920s as a silent movie house organist, as documented by the following newspaper items.

The wording of the article about Wilson in the Dayton Herald of December 5, 1907 seems to indicate that while he had "been in New York City for some time looking after the interests of some of his compositions", he had not permanently moved there and was writing home with the news that Stern had bought his latest piece "Father Knickerbocker" and had published it, which indeed had occurred by November 1907 according to copyright records. We know Wilson had been in New York some time by 1911 because the Dayton Herald of January 16, 1911 described a surprise party thrown by Wilson's mother for his father T.N. Wilson in which it is mentioned that "Edwin E. Wilson, the talented young composer, who is with a leading music house in New York sent a beautiful present . . ." Also, the Dayton Daily News of December 26, 1914 reported that Wilson was visiting home for the holidays and that "Mr. Wilson has been in New York for the past five years [i.e., since about 1909] and has achieved many triumphs with his compositions." He appears to have moved back to Dayton by his birthday in 1918, when the Dayton Daily News of March 16, 1918 described the birthday party thrown Wilson by his parents at their home the previous evening (of Wilson's March 15 birthday), calling him "Dayton's well-known pianist" and not describing him as a visitor. When Wilson's father Thomas N. Wilson passed away September 5, 1927, the obituaries in the Dayton newspapers mention that his children Blanche and Lawrence lived with him at 112 LaBelle St., while his son Edwin was a resident of New York City, where he was a theatre organist.

Looking for Edwin E. Wilson in the NY City directories, we find him listed in the 1913 and 1914 editions as a composer residing at 601 W. 135th (an apartment building still standing built in 1906), then again in the 1916 directory as a musician at 96 Hamilton Place, and in the 1917 edition at 100 Hamilton Place, again as a musician. That Hamilton Place address is a few blocks away from his earlier address, between W 141st and W 142nd streets.

Here is a list of Edwin E. Wilson's musical works (compositions and arrangements).

Edwin Earl Wilson (March 15, 1884 – May 22, 1970)

Known compositions and arrangements

1) The Possum and the [Ra]coon (Two-Step)

Copyright registration reads: Wilson (Thomas N.), Dayton, Ohio. Possom [sic] (The) and the [ra]coon. Cake walk and two-step; composed by Edwin E. Wilson, for piano. Copyright by Thomas N. Wilson, Dayton, Ohio. 1900, Class C, no. 6788, May 1; 2 copies record May 12, 1900.

Supported by: Dayton Herald (DH) 27 April 1900

Note: present in W. Va. State archive sheet music collection as by "Edwin E. Wilsen"

See http://archive.wvculture.org/.../specialcoll.../sc86-54.html

Also Rob Crausaz made a MIDI of this on his website, still can be downloaded

Published (Fred Brodie collection) but no copyright registration found

3) The Saucy Maiden Waltzes

4) The Fencing Girl (March and two-step)

5) Flight of the Doves Waltz

No copyright registration found

6) Frolics of the Wind (two-step)

No copyright registration found

Source: (5 and 6) DH 8 March 1902

7) Texas: a cowboy intermezzo; (c) Jos. Stern & co., NY, Oct. 24, 1906, 2 c. rec’d Nov. 17, 1906

8. Father Knickerbocker: a New York rag; (c) Jos. Stern & co., NY, Aug. 19, 1907, 2 c. rec’d Nov. 21, 1907

9) Well, I Guess I Would, w & m by E.E. Wilson, (c) Edwin E. Wilson, Waterbury, Conn., Dec. 1, 1909, 2 c. rec’d Nov. 30, 1909 [sic]

Supported by DH 28 Dec. 1909

10) Cupid’s Garden Is Full of Bumble Bees, w & m by Edwin E. Wilson, (c) Edwin E. Wilson, New York, 1 c. Sep. 13, 1913

Mentioned in DH 1 Dec. 1911

11) Dream-Kisses; intermezzo d’amour by Edwin Earle Wilson, (c) Jos. Stern & co., NY, Feb. 1, 1912, 2 c. rec’d Feb. 2, 1912

12) Red Fox trot (c) Jos. W. Stern & co., NY, Sep. 28, 1914, 2 c. rec’d Sep. 29, 1914

13) Untitled overture/march for the opening of “The Lyric Photo Playhouse” in Brooklyn, NY, January 1914

Source: The Chat (Brooklyn, NY) 31 Jan. 1914

14) The Girl I Love From Dayton

Source: Dayton Daily News, 26 Dec. 1914, p. 10

15) Gypsy; Hungarian intermezzo (c) Edwin Earle Wilson, NY, 1 c. Nov. 27, 1915

16) Return of the regiment; march by E.E. Wilson, (c) Edwin Earle Wilson, NY, 1 c. Dec. 9, 1915

17) There’s a Girl in Old Columbus, words by Lawrence Barrett Wilson [EEW’s younger brother], music by E.E. Wilson (c) Edwin Earle Wilson, Columbus, O., June 20, 1918, 2 c. rec’d June 22, 1918

18) The Cave Man Song, words by Harry [Lee] Bimm, music by Edwin Earl Wilson

Source: Dayton Daily News, 1 Feb. 1920, p. 33

19) “The Enchanted Woodland”, suite in seven parts for band

Source: Dayton Daily News, 31 August 1923

20) “Santa’s Toy Shop”, pianologue

Source: Dayton Daily News, 16 December 1933, p. 6

21) Dayton on Parade (march)

Source: DH 23 August 1939

22) March Regimental, source: DH 7 July 1940

23) Y.M.C.A. march song; song (c) Edwin E. Wilson, Dayton, O., July 15, 1944, E pub. 124277

24) I've Got the Sweetheart Blues for Susie, words by Jos. L. Honnaker, music by Edwin E. Wilson, (c) 1 January 1951, EP51659

25) The Twenty-Third Psalm, with words, music and (c) Jefferson Brooks Walters & Edwin Earl Wilson, 25 August 1952, EU285599

26) I’m Goin’ to Write a Song About My Sweetie, w & m Clyde Clarkson Payne, arr. Edwin E. Wilson, (c) Clyde Clarkson Payne, 5 March 1953, EU306384

27) Celebrate With Cigarettes, w & m & (c) Edwin Earl Wilson, 11 May 1953, EU315752

28) Across the sands to Mecca; song of a Shriner, by Edwin E. Wilson, Dayton, O., Wilson Music Associates (c) Edwin E. Wilson, 30 June 1953, EP73079

29) “Cuba Si! Cuba Free! Castro No!”, lyric by Robert Arndts, music by Edwin Earl Wilson

Source: Dayton Daily News, 24 April 1961

30) “The Army of Policemen,” words, music and arrangement Edwin E. Wilson, (c) Edwin E. Wilson, 6 October 1966, EU963115

MUSIC ROLL ARRANGEMENTS:

A Sizzler, One-step medley

Universal 302749, July 1916

Hawaii’s Favorites

Universal 302757, July 1916

Source: Music Trade Review, July 29, 1916, vol. 63, no. 5, p. 12

Spirit of 1916, One-step medley

Themodist Metrostyle 302842

Source: YouTube video of roll being played

Possible Edwin E. Wilson items:

Aunt Betty’s Barn Dance, by E. Earl Wilson, for piano. New York, Tyro music co., (c) T. Edwin McGuiness, March 2, 1909

Note: present in THE BRENT C. DICKERSON SHEET MUSIC COLLECTION

See https://home.csulb.edu/~odinthor/music.html

Honey; or, Every Moment Seems a Year; song by Haley K. Mohr, arr. by Earle E. Wilson [sic], New York, Tyro music pub. Co., (c) T. Edwin McGuiness, January 11, 1909

The other thing I want to share is this comparison I've put together of three headshots of Edwin Wilson, at age 16, age 45 and age 77:

One more little thing about Edwin E. Wilson! At the same time Wilson was working with James P. Johnson at Aeolian, he also worked with the young George Gershwin. As two of the JPJ rolls were released in duet arrangements credited to JPJ and E.E. Wilson, several of the Gershwin rolls were likewise issued as duets between Gershwin and Wilson:

September 1917 (release date): Huckleberry Finn (Young), on Metroart 203224 and on Universal 203225

September 1917: Chu-Chin-Chow (Stamper), on Metroart 203238 and on Universal 203239

October 1917: I've Got the Nicest Little Home in Dixie (Donaldson), on Universal 2383

October 1917: Southern Gals (Gumble), on Universal 2417

Source is Mike Montgomery's Gershwin rollography.

Andrew E. Barrett, now you mention it, you've reminded me that that Universal Catalog has been scanned and is available on-line at the AMICA "members only" pages at amica.org . The catalog states "This is a complete Catalog of Universal Music Rolls published to January 1, 1920" and adds that after that date, the Universal line is replaced by MelODee. So, since Wilson clearly has returned to Dayton by about 1918, this catalog should contain every "hand-played" instrumental roll on which Wilson is credited as a player and every "song-roll" (hand-played roll with lyrics printed on the roll) that Wilson is credited with. From the catalog alone, it's impossible to judge how many of the arranged rolls that Wilson worked on, because there is no arranger credit given in the catalog. For example, we know that Wilson arranged the two medley rolls I mentioned that were called out in the advertisement by Aeolian in 1916, but the listings for those two rolls does not mention Wilson in the catalog.

I've had a run through it and I find that Wilson is credited as the sole player on only one "hand-played" instrumental roll, which is Universal 203127, "Who's Who", one step in E-flat, composer Morris. All other rolls on which Wilson is credited with playing are duet rolls. The totals: 9 hand-played instrumental rolls, including the JPJ "Twilight Rag" roll, and 44 song-rolls, including the four duets with Gershwin and the James P. Johnson "Mama's Blues" duet roll. Adding the minimum of the two medley arrangements by Wilson, the minimum number of rolls for Aeolian on which Wilson worked is 55.

Update: I had missed a couple Wilson rolls in my first look-through, so now the total is up to a minimum of 59 Aeolian rolls with Wilson credits. I've also made a stab at dating Wilson's time with Aeolian. Almost certainly the first rolls he worked on for them were the two medley arrangements advertised as August 1916 releases. I have found no rolls other than those two before Universal 2163, "Peruvian Maid", Jass-One Step, Key C, (Nelson), played by Wilson and Burdo, which seems to have been a May 1917 release. Universal 2535, "Man Behind the Hammer and the Plow", Jass-One Step, B-flat, (H. Von Tilzer), played by Wilson and Nelson, is on the November 1917 list, as is Universal 2519, "Joan of Arc They Are Calling You", Fox Trot, Key G, (Wells), played by Wilson and Nelson. So far, I have yet to find a later release date than November 1917 for a roll with Wilson's name on it as a player, which is consistent with the newspaper documentation of Wilson returning to Dayton at the end of 1917.