Jack Whalley; Maccan Duet PLayer

[Dirge]

I was extremely pleased to acquire a job lot of duet music last summer, all hand written, with some really nice tunes among it. Lots of it is (are?) Stanley arrangements, complete with his rubber stamp 'signature' but by no means all of it; some of it is in another or perhaps a couple of other hands, without any clue who did the laborious job of writing it all out.

 

I suspect that it's a collection that's grown over the years as pieces were gathered in. There's a Great War flavour to a fair bit of it but one piece I found out to be by a popular radio accordionist of the 50's; others are straight classical; opera overtures and the like. The Stanley stuff is for 67 and 71 key Maccan and captioned accordingly, a fair bit of the other music is for an 81 and nothing else. It's all fairly complex stuff. It was bought as a job lot many years ago at the Whitby folk festival apparently. Did someone die? Was their 81 key duet for sale next door?

 

A lot of it has 'Jack Whalley' written at the top, an 'owner's mark' it seems. One piece has a 1969 date at the end of it almost as if that was the date the teacher signed it off for the pupil. Another has a list of 7 names written on the top left corner (not including Whalley). It's been suggested this may be the entrants in an old ICA exam and this was the tested piece; but why write your competitors all over your own music; and would all copies have been done by hand in the past? I suppose they would. It's not a band piece; clearly for solo performance, before someone suggests that. (It's quite jolly; 'Olive Blossoms' by Frosini; a 'Spanish waltz'it says)

 

I wondered if anyone knew anything about, or even remembered Mr Whalley? (Of course he doesn't have to be the previous owner). Or had any other theories. Just curious really.

 

Incidentally if anyone has anything similar kicking arround I'd love a chance to buy it and you'd know it would be used as it was intended, not just sat in someone's collection of curiosities.

 

(editted to add more detail)

Edited January 30, 2011 by Dirge

[wes williams]

Hi Dirge,

From a 1974 ICA members list, Jack Whalley was from Sherwood Drive,Pemberton,Wigan. He joined the ICA fairly early (1958 or before), and could have been a founder member. He's listed as playing a 72 duet. He's also on a late 50's membership list at the same address.

 

The answer to your question about a list of names may be related to this entry from an ICA Festival programme:

 

Class 4. Advanced "Duet". Own Choice

Prize: The "RED ROSE" CUP presented by Mr. Harry Topping, Mr. Jack Whalley and Mr. J. Rigby of Wigan, Lancashire.

 

Although its 'own choice' here, a lot of Festival listings give the required piece as "Evensong" by Easthope Martin, arranged by H. Stanley, Birmingham. A Frosini (famous accordionist) piece might have been an earlier choice (1950s?).

 

best wishes .. wes

 

Edit: Harry Topping played 68,71, and 81 key Duet. This tends to suggest that your bundle was made up of stuff from Harry and Jack.

Edited January 30, 2011 by wes williams

[Mark Davies]

Jack Whalley was a friend of Harry Hatton of Haydock,Lancashire an English player who I played with for many years.I have some recordings of him(JW) and other members of The Red Rose Trio on cassette both playing at ICA Festivals and locally in Wigan,Lancashire.When I find time I will send these to the USA, where Dan Worrall has offered to arrange for them to be digitised.I also recollect that JW and friends attended a Concertina Convention(perhaps at Kendal,Cumbria)in the early 1970's.Wigan was a real hotbed of concertina playing with good number of both Crane and Maccann players.The town also supported at least four repairers,the last one Levi Lambert of Newtown,Wigan died in the 1970's

[Dirge]

Thank you both very much. Most enlightening.

 

I can add a little more; the discussion about the 2 Harrys had me looking because I thought it explained something but I was mistaken; there is a selection of tunes called, not Jack and Harry's but 'Jack and Tommys Tunes'. (well TOOMMY.S on the cover!). It's a medley of naval flavour definitely done by Stanley. I'd guess Jack W and a friend commissioned a special arrangement. I thought I remembered the Elliots were Jack and Tommy and that they might have originated it.

 

Then I noticed something I hadn't spotted before; one of the books has a couple of pieces with lists of names again (including J Rigby, mentioned by Wes, incidentally) only this time they have annotations; one just has 'red ink Treble arrangement' at the top and in small figure there are the notes to fit 'Limelight' by Chaplin onto a treble, imposed on a score for a 71 duet. So it is serving more than one purpose. Is this a judges copy? Jack Whalley might well have judged the competition he sponsored I suppose. The second one is even odder; it's still a Stanley arrangement (got the rubber stamp) but lacks the perfect calligraphy; it seems to be deliberately drawn big and open; and it has all sorts of comments all over it 'out for tenor treble', 'not written for J Rigby', 'out for treble' and then next to it in different ink 'and for tenor treble', 'treb' and such like. Despite the fact that poor old Rigby is excluded he's in the list at the beginning again. Curious.

 

The bottom line is I count myself lucky to have acquired this stuff. And yes, one day I'll get copies to the ICA library...in the meantime you might hear me play some of it one day.

[wes williams]

Is this a judges copy? Jack Whalley might well have judged the competition he sponsored I suppose.

It's very unlikely that Jack was a judge; the ICA always had a professional adjudicator at their Festivals, with someone like Ken Loveless covering the 'folk' side.

 

Trying to make sense of anything like this takes you into the realms of a Sherlock Holmes type mystery, and I've found myself in your situation many times with old material. Often you don't get anywhere, but occasionally something crops up a few years later that solves it, so don't fret too much if things don't make sense. If you need any help with your lists of names, email me and I'll see what I can dig up.

 

One thing that sets an end date on your Stanley material is this excerpt from the ICA newsletter of August 1969:

 

HARRY STANLEY has now finished writing music and would like to dispose of the music which he has accumulated over the years. He wonders if any I.C.A. members would be interested in acquiring some of the music. If so, would the please write to him at 26, Algernon Road, Rotten Park, Birmingham,16.

 

So its always possible that Stanley items could have been acquired when he had this final clearout, and may not fit in with a player's standard tastes or capabilities. And as Mark said, Wigan and the surroundings were a 'hot-bed' of concertina players, so you may find pieces arranged for 'concerted' playing, with parts for English, as well as Duet.

 

Jack Rigby wrote a letter to Accordion Review in December 1950 which gives a lot of local players' names:

I have been a Concertina-player for many years . . . I bought an Anglo when I was twelve years of age, a 20-key model. Having mastered the rudiments of music, I eventually got a 30-key one. Then I heard Professor MacCann at Wigan Hippodrome and I soon bought a 39-key Duet. After this I invested in a 46-key which I played for many years.

 

I also play the piano, being engaged for quite a time at different places and sometimes take the Duet along for Wedding parties, etc. when no piano is available. Today I play a 56-key instrument . . . I am 73 years of age and live alone, but I am happy with my piano and Concertina.

 

I have several friends who also play this instrument but one of the best players I have ever heard on the Duet was an old collier named Charlie Rosbottom, of Hindley. He won a contest at the Wigan Hippodrome and received a silver cup presented by Professor McCann. Rosbottom played Belphegor March.

 

The best English player I have heard is Tommy Morriss, of Atherton, who played at a charity concert at Leigh Hippodrome. His offering was Poet and Peasant.

 

Another good Concertina-player is Herbert Beardsworth, of Westhoughton. He plays the English 56-key Aeola. While still another talented Concertinist who plays a 72-key Duet is Tommy Ingram, of Hindley. Then there is Billy Liptrap, of Hindley, who plays an Anglo, and Dick Gregory, also of Hindley, who plays a 46-key Aeola Duet.

 

Mine host at the 'Horse Shoe Hotel' Hindley, is another very fine player of the 56-key English.

 

There are plenty of Concertinists in the Wigan area.

 

JACK RIGBY, Westhoughton.

 

Harry Topping died about Xmas 1979. Jack (John?) Rigby was probably still around in August 1968, and 90 or more:

 

Mrs. Rigby suffered a broken hip earlier this year, and has now returned home to become the principal engagement for the time being of John Rigby, the noted Wigan player. The I.C.A. sends good wishes for speedy recovery to all.

Edited January 31, 2011 by wes williams

[michael sam wild]

Nice to see all the names of 'ordinary' folk playing to a high standard. I do notice renewed interest in our local paper where listings of musical activities are given , choirs, singing, bands violin etc. maybe we will see a swing back to learning instruments rather than downloading and 'playing ' MP3 players .

 

School music is being hit again by spending cuts but I wonder if those old boys and girls didn't learn within the family and the community.

Edited January 31, 2011 by michael sam wild

[Dirge]

Wes, after your post I'm now sure I have a couple of Stanley's working arrangements from which he could 'knock off' a fair copy tailored to the player's instrument at will. I thought that's what they looked like, what with scruffy crossings-out, annotations for different instruments, even a couple of lines of a piece that is then abandoned and crossed out on the back of one, but couldn't see how they'd be on their own; it seemed to me that either such pieces would have been destroyed or Stanley's heirs would have a huge pile in the loft! But your producing that announcement that he was taking offers to clear his back catalogue, as it were, explains how Jack W would have just a few, and I have no way of knowing what else was acquired then; fair copies that for one reason or another Stanley kept and included in the final dispersal wouldn't look any different, although one piece is marked 'copy' at the top and I would think is a prime candidate for this category.

 

You're right about it being like detective work; but it's been fun trying to piece together their history, and thanks largely to you and Mark I'm much the wiser. I wish I could do the same with my instruments; I'd love to know their history, but it all comes back to 'If only they could speak', sadly. (I keep threatening to sign my name inside mine when I 'trade up', just for the amusement of future owners, but somehow I never do. Nor did anyone else it seems...)

[Dirge]

And the clearance sale nicely explains why I have just the one piece for piccolo Maccan too. (since we're discussing them elsewhere)