Frank E.Banta was the son of pianist Frank P. Banta, who had teamed up with Vess Ossman for Edison cylinders in the first years of that medium in the early 1890's.
Frank E. was born in 1896, and was only seven when his father passed, but had a couple of years playing their piano so was influenced by his father's playing. By nine years of age, he was tutored by Frank
Hauser, and his first gig was at a wedding at the age of fourteen. Within a year, he was playing with a five piece orchestra for weekly dances, thrown by a Manhattan Dance school. Frank was inspired by Felix
Arndt, best known for his composition, Nola, which is included with two takes on disc three of this compilation, along with a few other Felix Arndt recordings. Frank took over from Felix Arndt in the Fred Van Eps
Trio in 1913, recording with the trio by 1914, for the Victor Company. George Gershwin was a stand-in for Felix for about three years. Harry Akst was born in 1894, in New York, and played for Nora Bayes from
1912 to 1916, then enlisted in the army. He met Irving Berlin at Camp Upton, and in 1921 would co-write "Home Again Blues" with Irving. In 1925, he partnered with Sam M.Lewis and Joe Young to write Dinah,
which became a standard everyone knew. A career writing Broadway musicals and movie scores would follow, including a large number of movie scores. He can be seen in a scene from Forty Second Street,
conducting the pit orchestra for the show. Cliff Hess was born in Chicago in 1894. His musical start was on riverboats on the Mississippi By the age of 17, in 1911 he became Irving Berlin's secretary and
accompanist for Berlin, as well as transcribing his songs until 1918.
Jack Austin only recorded these two sides, and composed two songs one with Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young "While The Years Roll By" which was recorded by all the major labels in 1922. The other is "That Barkin'
Dog Woof Woof." Zez Confrey's main claim to fame was "Kitten On The Keys" which many players recorded - including Harry Reser on banjo, Banta & Austin, Willie Eckstein - who does a dynamite interpretation
of the number, which is included on Disc 3. Also on disc 3 is a 1926 recording of Confrey's "Dizzy Fingers" with interesting tone colors by Victor Arden & Phil Ohman ~ Mickey Clark
TYPHOON FRANK BANTA-HARRY AKST COL A2953 05/08/20 79167 KENDIS-BROCKMAN-ROSEY-HOFFMAN 3:13
DING TOES FRANK BANTA-HARRY AKST COL A2953 06/02/20 79214 VON TILZER 3:21
ROLL ON,SILVERY MOON FRANK BANTA & CLIFF HESS COL A3535 12/15/21 80103 FISHER 2:59
REMEMBER THE ROSE FRANK BANTA & CLIFF HESS COL A3535 12/15/21 80104 SIMSONS 3:21
KITTEN ON THE KEYS FRANK BANTA & JACK AUSTIN COL A3687 08/01/22 80480 ZEZ CONFREY 2:57
FRANK BANTA
BUNCH OF KEYS COL A3687 08/01/22 80481 RICHMAN 2:54
MELODY THAT MADE YOU MINE VIC 19705 06/16/25 32883 FRIEND-POLLA 2:39
MY SUGAR VIC 19705 06/16/25 32884 LITTLE 3:03
I WONDER WHERE MY BABY IS TONIGHT VIC 19839 11/04/25 33751 KAHN-DONALDSON 2:43
SWEET MAN VIC 19839 11/04/25 33752 TURK-PINKARD 3:30
SYMPATHY VIC 20085 06/11/26 35488 FORD-BIBO 3:08
WHEN THE RED RED ROBIN COMES BOBBIN' VIC 20085 06/11/26 35489 WOODS 3:18
AIN'T SHE SWEET? VIC 20610 04/15/27 38350 AGER-YELLEN 2:36
RUSSIAN LULLABY VIC 20610 04/15/27 38349 BERLIN 3:10
ALBUM LEAF THS 1097 12/23/36 103817-1 HILSE 2:18
IDILIO THS 1097 12/23/36 103817-1 LACK 2:23
SONG WITHOUT WORDS THS 1097 12/23/36 103817-1 TCHAIKOWSKY-TERTIS 2:38
UNDER THE LEAVES THS 1097 12/23/36 103817-1 THOME 3:04
ZEZ CONFREY
KITTEN ON THE KEYS ED 50898 01/01/21 8226 ZEZ CONFREY 3:43
ARE YOU PLAYING FAIR? VIC 18921 06/29/22 26656 COHEN-SIEGRIST 2:51
ZENDA VIC 18945 08/30/22 26742 LUZ-BREAU 2:52
WHEN ALL YOUR CASTLES COME TUMBLING DOWN VIC 19008 01/04/23 27260 SCHWARTZWALD 3:07
MORNING WILL COME VIC 19068 04/12/23 27821 JOLSON-DE SYLVA-CONRAD 3:06
NEW HAMPSHIRE VIC 19046 03/21/23 27654 SCHWARTZ 2:43
DIZZY FINGERS VIC 20777 06/03/27 39215 CONFREY 3:11
POLLY VIC 20777 08/25/27 39113 ZAMECNIK 2:57 Available Options:
Compact Disc: Ship
