Washington Phillips CD study (SEE ALSO The Instruments of Washington Phillips) by Gregg Miner, May, 2003 from The
Dolceola Pages Update, November, 2016: "Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams" - a new book/CD combo was released this month. See my comments in my blog "Manzarene Dreams." Update,
September, 2015:
See
The Instruments of
Washington Phillips and my blog “What
Are They Playing in Heaven Today?” for new discoveries and
thoughts on Phillips’ incredible instruments. Note:
This
in-depth study, first published on my web site in 2003, was the first to
analyze the recordings and explore the actual instruments Phillips
played on them. At this
point (2015), the world seems to have accepted the fact that the
“Dolceola” provenance was simply an unusual error.
Eventually, fretless zither collector and traditional music
performer Garry Harrison (1954-2012) expanded
on this work (published on his own
web site, now resurrected by his family), conducting numerous
stringing experiments and demonstrating (essentially proving) how
Washington Phillips might have achieved the complex results we hear on
the records. I have not
updated my article below, leaving it as a historical record of the
events and a useful resource for future researchers.
– GM |
Michael Corcoran's article |
|
For over thirty years, a growing interest has developed in a little-known gospel singer named Washington Phillips, and the strange, even lesser-known instrument which he played – the Dolceola. With the recent appearance of additional specimens of the previously rare instrument turning up, the mythic status of both Phillips and his instrument were perhaps at their peak - when on December 29, 2002, music critic Michael Corcoran, of the Austin Statesman, published an article presenting two startling revelations... 1) The accepted biographical information was that of a different Washington Phillips, and 2) He probably did not play the Dolceola. As a new Dolceola owner myself, I was as surprised as anyone, and resolved to discover the truth of the matter. |
It would be unfortunate if the discovery lessened the mystique of either the Dolceola or Washington Phillips. The Dolceola remains a delightful, captivating instrument, with an equally fascinating story of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. Also still remaining are the yet-to-be-discussed 1944 Leadbelly recordings featuring Paul Howard, an L.A. session keyboardist on “zither” - as it happens, a Dolceola! Meanwhile, Washington Phillips’ mystique and mythological status should only increase. In my opinion, the challenging analysis and study of the instrument (or instruments) he did play, and the unorthodox way he customized it and taught himself to play it, is much more interesting and magical than the original supposition that he played a standard, more easily playable Dolceola (however uncommon). |
Bottom line: On his 16 extant recorded tracks, Washington Phillips is not playing a Dolceola, but a common fretless zither (most likely one or both of the Phonoharps in the photo), albeit with a unique, self-invented stringing and tuning pattern. Michael Corcoran's article is full of fascinating but contradictory clues about the true identity of Phillips' instrument. Alone, none of them provide irrefutable proof, but they do provide support for a fretless zither theory. I believe that Phillips may have indeed built a "home-made" instrument - but if so, it was probably a later, much cruder and simpler instrument than those played on his recordings. He could even have flirted at some point with a Dolceola (or similar instrument) - but the proof for me is what's on the recordings, and my own ears. After Corcoran's article came out, I re-visited the Phillips CD, and then obtained and listened to Andy Cohen’s modern recording of two "working" Dolceolas. I can easily hear a night and day difference between the instruments and sounds. Both are pretty, and are often intricate or lush – but in completely different ways. Cohen does things Phillips could only dream of, while Phillips can (and does) play literally a dozen or more overlapping, ringing notes. The Dolceola, struck near the ends of the strings with tiny wooden hammers, is much "dryer" and "brittle" – the Phonoharps, finger-picked more towards the center are less so. My opinion is that it is impossible to duplicate or approach the sounds Phillips makes on a Dolceola. Happily for the legend, it is also all but impossible for any of us to duplicate his self-styled virtuoso techniques on a Phonoharp-type zither! June, 2005 Update: Yazoo has released newly mastered versions of the Phillips tracks on "Key to the Kingdom" (Yazoo #2073). Pat Contem who wrote the liner notes for the original CD release, "I Am Born to Preach the Gospel" (Yazoo #2003), provided new notes for the new release and paraphrases the conclusions of Garry Harrison, Kelly Williams and myself. See Fretless Zithers for further explanation of the pertinent terminology and instruments. My research consisted of two parts: collating and weighing the published documentation, with personal verification of a couple of the key "eyewitnesses," and CD analysis. Part 1. A recap of the evidence and support for and against the Dolceola theory with my notes following (To use footnotes, click on a Note, then use Back button on your browser to toggle back to text): For the Dolceola:
Against the Dolceola
|
Notes
|
So what do we glean from the previous? Plenty of circumstantial evidence, but unfortunately no "hard" evidence. Thus the best research tools are our own ears and familiarity with the various types of candidate instruments - the sound and techniques of the Dolceola and the many variations of Fretless ("Chord" or "Guitar") Zithers. Part 2. CD and instrument analysis: I admit (and regret) that I was unable to resolve to completion the many strange and wonderful things coming out of Phillips' recordings. I almost immediately recognized the sounds as those of a common fretless zither (and yes, I should have caught this on my first listen. Shame on me). Others besides myself are now catching the obvious glissandos (Track 9 opening, Track 11 end) - common to harps and psaltery-style zithers. However, I also quickly noticed the lack of the standard chord group zither's four (or more) basic 4-note chords. Instead, the I & V chords had too many notes, while the remaining chords had too few, if any. While I had Kelly Williams working on identification of the models (and original stringing of same), I tried to pick out the dozens of individual notes. This was done at several speeds on a digital recorder, much of the time slowed down and lowered to the pitch of Bb (from relative F/F#). At this speed, my ear was still fooled multiple times, and it seemed that my deductions went around in circles. Take Track 14 for instance - which has the cleanest, oft-repeating instrumental sections. Phillips is double-striking the melody much of the time. But is it unison or octaves? OK, octaves - some of them going high-to-low, some low-to-high. But are they played in succession by "slurring" on an octave-tuned pair? Or are they played with the common harp "octaves" technique, with thumb and ring finger on single strings an octave apart? I don't know. Various tracks are possibly the latter, this track seems to use pairs tuned in octaves to my ear. For now, I've had to give myself a "time out," and just post my jumbled notes as best I can. These follow below - various spreadsheets in which to analyze the many factors involved, and pitch charts to illustrate the notes I may (or may not) be hearing. Note that I haven't yet entered the actual recording session information - my "sessions" are by instrument pitch - thought to perhaps help differentiate instruments and/or tunings (if any differences exist). These studies are woefully incomplete, and I encourage anyone interested to pitch in any time they want! Someone who took me up on my offer is Garry Harrison, who on his site provides more details on the instruments and recordings, and proposes a new dual-zither theory (and completely plausible, as far-fetched as it sounds!). He has now re-configured a Phonoharp or two and provides fascinating and well-executed downloadable MP3s of very close approximations of two of Phillips' pieces. Check out his incredible new Washington Phillips section! By contrast, listen to Andy Cohen's distinctive (and
representative) Dolceola recordings. Even more telling - L.A.
union pianist Paul Howard also played the Dolceola on eight 1944 Leadbelly
tracks (you can now download an MP3 of sample riffs). I only
learned in 2003 that the "zither" accompaniment on this session was actually a
Dolceola - which, by the way, is a "zither" - see "A piano? A zither? or what?". First, a summary of specific examples that, to me, eliminate the Dolceola as an option, while suggesting a fretless zither. For the purposes of discussion, I will call this zither a Phonoharp, which is believed to be the specific model/form of the fretless zithers in the photo.
Notes on the following spreadsheet: I added separate columns to examine:
Note: Phillips only has bass strings for I and V chords, plus 1 A for
III chord. And here are the actual recording dates, courtesy of Pat Conte and Garry
Harrison. The spreadsheet lists each track by order of the 5 sessions. |
Track |
Key |
Hz |
Session |
Chords used |
IV chord |
C#? |
Octaves? |
Notes |
Non-Dolceola "smoking guns" |
4 |
F#, flat |
F#, A = 436 |
1 |
I, IV, V |
"left hand" chord is high, higher than D at right. Not as "jangly" out-of-tune |
1st we hear this: flat but consistent. Goes into mid-range D. D probably with right hand melody bank. Lowest note we ever hear on IV chord (even though other tunes have a lower Bb). |
Octaves in bass? Melody is single |
. |
. |
6 |
midway between F & F# |
F#, A = 432.5 |
1 |
I, IV, V, IIImaj, VImin |
as jangly? |
still flat. |
Octaves in bass |
1st we hear III & VI chords. We only hear root and 3rd of VI min chord (melody strings) |
. |
9 |
F#, flat |
F#, A = 435.5 |
1 |
I, IV, V |
very quiet and jangly. |
. |
Instrumental sections: single notes, octaves played on single strings (thumb and ring finger) |
All verses: a nice single string low melody: F, E-D-C. Later, a single string "answer" an octave higher. |
unrelated clack at end |
11 |
F#, flat |
F#, A = 435.5 |
1 |
. |
Same III chord with very flat, dead C# as Track 6? III chord uses low E(A?) (below C & G of chords). No chord with E bass, just weird out-of tune half step |
Can one hand play Bb> and still play high chimey notes? (octaves?) But intro ends with single notes. |
LOTS of notes. While left hand clearly works it's own string bank, melody goes down to Bb (lowest yet). |
Glissando at end - 1st and end note are clearly F-f (full octave), and sound like single strings. |
|
7 |
F, sharp |
F, A = 446 |
2 |
I, IV |
? |
very flat. consistent? again into low D |
Sounds like high melody octaves |
As track 4, but new session |
. |
8 |
F, sharp |
F, A = 446 |
2 |
I, IV |
same |
very flat. Also an accidental c''# (octave higher)!? |
. |
. |
|
1 |
F, flat |
F, A = 433.5 |
3 |
I, IV |
no "jangle" |
. |
. |
. |
. |
14 |
F, flat |
F, A = 435 |
3 |
. |
. |
C# definitely heard in octaves! |
Octaves all over the place - bass/chords, melody. It's unlikely that all this could be played "octave style" on single strings 8 strings apart. |
. |
Octaves. Two-in-a-row C's in the melody are clearly played on 2 different C strings (either within octave set or melody bank/ then chord bank). |
10 |
F, flattest yet |
F, A = 431 |
4 |
I, IV, V |
. |
Right hand seems to be playing high melody while left "appears" to be playing C#/F-D/F. C# finally tuned pretty accurately (Note new session). Consistent pitch? |
Full riff: F-E-D-C-D-C-Bb-A-G is in octaves, but could be octave plucked. Check the solo's sloppy parts for octaves separating. Very end has octave melody all down an octave, but again may be alternated. Last high arpeggio - octaves? |
the 3 steps sound louder and "over" left hand chords. Which plays the C note? Higher basses? |
. |
12 |
F, flattest yet |
F, A = 431 |
4 |
I, IV, V |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
2 |
midway between F & F# |
F#, A = 429 |
5 |
I, IV, V |
jangle |
. |
yes, but staggered (singles played with thumb and ring finger for example). |
. |
What are doubled notes? Doubled high C against melody C or octaves. |
3 |
midway between F & F# |
F#, A = 429 |
5 |
I, IV, V |
? |
. |
Some bass strings almost certainly in octave pairs. Melody also. |
does C-D-C figure on F chord (probably melody strings) - sometimes in octaves. |
. |
5 |
midway between F & F# |
F#, A = 429.5 |
5 |
I, IV |
? |
. |
. |
. |
. |
13 |
midway between F & F# |
F#, A = 430 |
5 |
I only |
. |
. |
. |
Kelly hears C-D-C-Bb-A. I think the Bb is "suggested", but may be heard at very end? If this riff same octave as Track 11, then might be new melody range. But I think A & C of riff could be simply those in I chord. D from melody bank. If Bb (track 11 for sure), why does he NEVER play it (or low D & F) for IV chord?! |
. |
15 |
midway between F & F# |
F#, A = 430 |
5 |
I only |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
16 |
midway between F & F# |
F#, A = 430 |
5 |
I only |
. |
. |
. |
. |
. |
Phillips' Fretless Zither Melody String
Pitches
(I don't address the issue of octave tuning of certain pairs of strings on
the double-course Phonoharp[s])
Phillips' Fretless Zither Bass/Chord
String Pitches
(Again, difficult to resolve when he's playing single bass and rhythm notes,
single notes played in octaves, or octave pairs with one stoke)
Phillips' Fretless Zither Compared
to Dolceola
Note that the candidate models of Phonoharp (single or double strung)
contain a range of c' to c"'. Chords
would originally be in groups of only 4 strings, 4 or more chords available -
but Phillips probably changes this.
Bill Hettrick explains in his AMIS Journal study the mis-match of chords on the
Dolceola and Phillips recordings. No need to elaborate.
Special Thanks to: Andy Cohen, Pat Conte, Michael Corcoran, Jim Garber, Garry Harrison, William Hettrick, Earl Phillips, Kelly Williams.
June, 2005 Update: Yazoo has released newly mastered versions of the Phillips tracks on "Key to the Kingdom" (Yazoo #2073). Pat Contem who wrote the liner notes for the original CD release, "I Am Born to Preach the Gospel" (Yazoo #2003), provided new notes for the new release and paraphrases the conclusions of Garry Harrison, Kelly Williams and myself.
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