Fred Van Eps
{{Short description|American banjoist and banjo maker (1878–1960)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Fred Van Eps
| image = Fred_van_Eps.png
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|12|30}}
| birth_place = Somerville, New Jersey, U.S.
| origin = West Orange, New Jersey
| death_date = {{death date and age|1960|11|22|1878|12|30}}
| death_place = Burbank, California
| occupation = Musician
| instrument = Banjo
| years_active = 1897–1950s
| label = Edison, Columbia, Victor
| associated_acts = Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, Red Norvo
}}
Fred Van Eps (December 30, 1878 – November 22, 1960) was an American banjoist and banjo maker. The "Van Eps Recording Banjo" was a well-known model until 1930.{{Cite web|url=http://www.classicbanjo.com/composers.htm|title=Classic Banjo composers site|website=Classicbanjo.com|accessdate=January 25, 2020}} He was the father of jazz guitarist George Van Eps.
Biography
Van Eps was born in Somerville, New Jersey, United States, and moved with his family to Plainfield in 1892. He learned to play the banjo and studied the phonograph cylinder recordings of Vess Ossman. In 1897 Van Eps was hired by Thomas Edison's National Phonograph Company in West Orange to work in studio engagements. Van Eps's cylinder recordings, often remakes of Ossman's tunes, sold well for Edison. Early ragtime banjo recordings by Van Eps included "A Bunch of Rags" (1900) and "A Ragtime Episode" (1902)."[http://www.redhotjazz.com/firstragtimerecords.html The First Ragtime Records (1897-1903)]," The Red Hot Jazz Archive. Accessed May 24, 2008. He also recorded for a number of other companies, including Columbia (from 1904) and Victor (from 1910).{{Cite web|url=http://www.gracyk.com/fredvaneps.shtml|title=Tim Gracyk's Phonographs, Singers, and Old Records -- Fred Van Eps, Banjoist|website=Gracyk.com|accessdate=January 25, 2020|archive-date=May 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514120106/http://www.gracyk.com/fredvaneps.shtml|url-status=dead}}
The Van Eps Trio recorded steadily from 1912 to 1922. He also led other groups, such as the Van Eps Quartet, the Van Eps Specialty Four, and the Van Eps Banjo Orchestra. In 1914, the latter group was one of the first to record for the American branch of the French Pathé Frères Company. In 1921, Orlando Kellum, inventor of the Photokinema sound-on-disc sound film system, filmed the Van Eps Trio in The Famous Van Eps Trio in a Bit of Jazz.{{Cite web|url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/FamousVanEpsTrioinABit1921.html|title=The Famous Van Eps Trio in a Bit of Jazz |website=SilentEra.com|accessdate=January 25, 2020}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488538/|title=The Famous Van Eps Trio in a Bit of Jazz|website=IMDb.com|accessdate=January 25, 2020}}
With Henry Burr, he formed a company that manufactured and sold the Van Eps Recording Banjo, modeled on the one he used in recordings and concerts. The banjo remained on the market until about 1930, when widespread use of electric recording removed the need for the loud volume produced by the Van Eps model.
Fred had four musical sons: Fred Jr. (trumpet); George (guitar); Johnny (saxophone); and Bobby (piano). All became prominent in the 1920s and '30s.
By the 1930s the banjo had fallen out of favor in popular music, and George Van Eps gained fame as a studio guitarist, playing with Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, and Red Norvo. Meanwhile, Fred Sr. was associated with the British banjo composer Frank Lawes and recorded some pieces with him. In the 1950s he attempted a comeback with a number of banjo recordings before his death in Burbank, California, at the age of 81.
Van Eps also worked in vaudeville and influenced pre-bluegrass musicians like Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsDHolSxKuwC&q=%22fred+van+eps%22&pg=PA104|title=Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound|first=Robert|last=Cantwell|date=January 25, 2003|page=104|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252071171|via=Google Books}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?query_type=keyword&query=Fred+Van+Eps&nq=1 Fred Van Eps cylinder recordings], from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
- [https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/2128 Audio of "Rag Pickings" at Library of Congress]
- [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/106558 Fred Van Eps recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
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Category:Musicians from Plainfield, New Jersey
Category:Musicians from Somerville, New Jersey
Category:20th-century American musicians