Frank P. Banta (March 29, 1870 - November 30, 1903) was an American pianist and recording artist active in the 1890s and 1900s. Banta was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to John William Banta and Frances Green Banta (Darrow). He learned to play piano while working as a piano tuner, and by 1893 was the house pianist for the New York Phonograph Company (a subsidiary of the North American Phonograph Company). By December of the same year, he was leading "Banta's Parlor Orchestra" for the North American Phonograph Company. He recorded as a piano accompanist and as leader of "Banta's Orchestra" for Walcutt and Leeds by 1896, and may have done the same for Walcutt, Miller & Co., its predecessor, in the intervening years. Banta's Orchestra recorded 15 cylinders for the Columbia Phonograph Company in 1896. The Chicago Talking Machine Company also marketed recordings by Banta's Orchestra, though it's unclear whether they recorded them or duplicated records taken by another company. The bulk of Frank P. Banta's recording activity was as the house pianist of Edison's

National Phonograph Company Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated (originally the National Phonograph Company) was the main holding company for the various manufacturing companies established by the inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. It was a successor to Edison Manufacturin ...

. His death notice in the company's trade paper ''Edison Phonograph Monthly'', noted "His were the hands that played the piano accompaniments to more than half of the records in the Edison catalogue". He also recorded for Edison one solo of his own composition, "Violets" (Edison Gold Moulded no. 8394). He recorded three sides for

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in September 1903, one piano solo (

Hello! Ma Baby "Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the songwriting team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson, known as "Howard and Emerson". Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone. At the time, tele ...

) and two accompaniments for cornetist

Herbert L. Clarke Herbert Lincoln Clarke (September 12, 1867 – January 30, 1945) was an American cornetist, feature soloist, bandmaster, and composer. He is considered the most prominent cornetist of his time. Clarke's legacy includes composing a portion of th ...

. Banta was an early adopter and proponent of

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

and his accompaniments are some of the earliest recorded examples of the style. He was also regarded as a reliable powerhouse, who could play the same pieces many times over before mass-duplication of records was reliably available. In addition to his recording work, Banta composed at least 14 pieces between 1895 and 1903, primarily ragtime piano solos or popular songs, and arranged the famous "Laughing Song" popularized by George W. Johnson. Frank P. Banta was the father of the somewhat more famous pianist Frank E. Banta, who recorded prolifically between 1916 and 1939, especially for

. Frank P. Banta died in New York aged 33 after an extended period of poor health.

Compositions

*Wheelmen's Patrol (1895) *Wheeling, Wheeling (or Love a Wheel) (1895) *She's a Pretty Lass (1896) *Olga: Waltzes (1897) *On the Housatonic (1897) *The Chaser: Two Step (1897) *Say You'll Be Mine in a Year, Love (1897) *Dancing on the Dock (1897) *Ragged William: A Darkey's Idea of the William Tell Overture in Rag-time (1899) *Kareless Koon (1899) *Halimar: Oriental Rondo (1901) *The Town Pump: Characteristic March (1902) *Sonoma: Dance (1903) *Dimpled Dolly Daisy Day (1903)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banta, Frank P. Pioneer recording artists Ragtime pianists American pianists 1870 births 1903 deaths American male pianists 19th-century American male musicians

Compositions

See also

References