[Smt-talk] Frantonality

[Thomas Noll]

Dear Brian,
many thanks for this convincing answer! The connection to "Love Me or  
Leave Me" as you describe it, would perhaps be that of a Pastiche (as  
a light-hearted, but respectful imitation of a source) rather than a  
Homage. An interesting detail is the left hand accompaniment. Only in  
the bridge of Frantonality Garner uses his "trade mark" accompaniment  
of the straight four-four against which the right hand rubato stays  
slightly behind. In the opening 16 and closing 8 bars of the theme he  
does the typical stride-piano "oom-pah, oom-pah", which is not so  
typical for Garner's style. In the solo he mixes the stride  
accompaniment with the right hand rubato.
As a composition technique it reminds of (one half of) Kirnberger's  
Method, "Sonaten aus dem Aermel zu schuetteln".
best wishes and thanks again
Thomas

Am 05.10.2009 um 23:54 schrieb Brian Kane:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I did a little investigation and found something interesting.  
> "Frantonality" is indeed named after a friend named Fran, but not  
> just any old Fran. The song is named after Frances Kelley, who  
> briefly ran a label in Los Angeles called Fran-tone records.  
> Garner's recording of "Frantonality" (recorded in Hollywood, April  
> 9, 1946) was for that label records, and thus the title is also an  
> advertisement for the label. According to James Doran's book on  
> Erroll Garner, some of the originals were mistaken issued as  
> "Frantenality."
>
> I haven't done any other research on Frances Kelley, but did come  
> across this mention of her in Duke Ellingtons' Music is My Mistress,  
> the chapter on San Francisco. "And there is one more person--Fran  
> Kelley, musician, poet, songwriter, singer, orchestrator, manager,  
> executive. This great woman with all these talents gave up running a  
> radio station and record company in Los Angeles to pursue her  
> spiritual quests in San Francisco." I'm not sure if this is the same  
> Frances Kelley who was a member of the 1950's R&B groups The  
> Enchanters and the Dell-tones.
>
> One other thing, I don't know if its quite accurate to say that  
> "Frantonality" is a homage to old-fashioned Harlem stride piano. I  
> mean, what Erroll Garner performance isn't? The tune strikes me as  
> more closely related to the be-bop practice of taking old standards  
> and writing new melodies--like "Ornithology" c/w "How High The  
> Moon". This would make sense for 1946. Although the melody isn't  
> bebop, the tune is a simplified version of "Love Me or Leave Me."
>
> Best,
> Brian
>
> _________________
> Brian Kane
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Music
> Yale University
> 206 Stoeckel Hall
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 3, 2009, at 10:44 AM, Thomas Noll wrote:
>
>> Dear Michael,
>> many thanks, this is a plausible explanation. I somewhat suspect  
>> that there might be some extra clue to the special status of this  
>> piece in Garner's repertoire. It is a homage to old-fashioned   
>> Harlem stride piano (based on a simple repeating   i #viø  V/V V   
>> "turn around" in minor). But perhaps I'm misinterpreting the  
>> presence of the suffix "tonality" here.
>> best wishes
>> Thomas
>>
>> Am 03.10.2009 um 00:46 schrieb MICHAEL MORSE:
>>
>>> Dear Thomas,
>>>
>>>   Sounds like the very common jazz world custom of weaving  
>>> someone's name into a noun to make a title. Betcha bre'r Garner  
>>> had a friend named 'Fran,' is what..
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Michael Morse
>>> Pbgh ON
>>> Trent University
>>>
>>> From: noll at cs.tu-berlin.de
>>> To: smt-talk at societymusictheory.org
>>> Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 22:30:50 +0200
>>> Subject: [Smt-talk] Frantonality
>>>
>>> Dear Colleagues,
>>> Errol Garner wrote and played a tune called "Frantonality". Does  
>>> anybody know or guess the motivation for this title?
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Thomas Noll
>>>
>>>
>>> *********************************************************
>>> Thomas Noll
>>> http://flp.cs.tu-berlin.de/~noll
>>> noll at cs.tu-berlin.de
>>> Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Barcelona
>>> Departament de Teoria i Composició
>>>
>>> *********************************************************
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> PS: My other mail tnoll at iua.upf.edu doesn't exist any longer.
>>
>> *********************************************************
>> Thomas Noll
>> http://flp.cs.tu-berlin.de/~noll
>> noll at cs.tu-berlin.de
>> Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Barcelona
>> Departament de Teoria i Composició
>>
>> *********************************************************
>>
>>
>>
>>
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PS: My other mail tnoll at iua.upf.edu doesn't exist any longer.

*********************************************************
Thomas Noll
http://flp.cs.tu-berlin.de/~noll
noll at cs.tu-berlin.de
Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Barcelona
Departament de Teoria i Composició

*********************************************************




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