Dennis James (musician)
Dennis James (born 1950) is an American musician and historic preservationist. Beginning in 1969, he presented historically informed live accompaniments for
James has also become active in the preservation and restoration of other historic instruments such as the French Cristal Baschet and Ondes Martenot plus has begun performing early syncopated jazz and mid-century moderne styled period-piano repertoire within a multitude of other specialist musical activities generally considered of marginal cultural impact and predominantly subject to the periodic whims of amateurs and enthusiasts.[1]
Early musical training
James was born in Philadelphia in 1950 and began formal organ training at the age of 12.[2] At the age of 16, he replaced his teacher, Leonard ‘Melody Mac’ MacClain, in concert when the latter suffered a heart attack before the performance, and that exposure put him on an international touring circuit.[3] James attended Indiana University's School of Music as a student of concert and church organ performance, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees under the tutelage of Dr. Oswald G. Ragatz.[2]
James' interest in silent film performance with live music dates from 1969 at the
Silent film organ performance
James began performing films in October, 1969 and soon in full scale revival performances together with symphony orchestras beginning in 1971.
Organ performance positions
James currently is the appointed (2010) "Theatre Organist for the Washington Center" a professional position in the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia, Washington, the appointed (2010) "House Organist" for the Historic Coleman Theatre, Miami, Oklahoma, the Cinequest Festival silent film organist for
Production company
James performs under the aegis of his own production companies, Crystal City Music and Silent Film Concerts.[8] James has assembled one of the largest private libraries of authentic period-published historical scores and generic historical music in existence (including complete original film scores and hundreds of published generic silent film music compositions that he uses to create compiled musical scores for his recreations where the originals do not survive).[6]
Tours
James has accompanied silent films at the
Commissions
In 1991 James was commissioned by the BFI to score the 1924 Soviet science fiction spectacle Aelita, Queen of Mars and he decided to include period-texture sound effects to the score produced from an original 1929 RCA theremin that he had restored by Robert Moog.[4] "I contacted Clara Rockmore, the leading virtuosa of the instrument still then living in New York, who taught me to play it. Then I began performing my Aelita film score all over the world, from the Louvre in Paris to the British Film Institute in London and the National Gallery in D.C."[4] In addition to scoring the theremin for Aelita, Queen of Mars, James has utilized the theremin for Fritz Lang's now-restored silent films Metropolis and Woman in the Moon at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.[4] Recent tour seasons include collaboration with historic keyboard specialist Michael Tsalka[9] touring as the Duo Filmharmonia performing all classical repertoire scorings, commissioned initially by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to the restored 1921 German version of The Asta Nielsen “Hamlet”, with Danish actress Asta Nielsen. That "historical compilation scoring is made up solely of excerpted compositions by the sons of [Johann Sebastian] Bach performed in a keyboard duo-performers format utilizing three instruments (organ, fortepiano, harpsichord) and a guest mezzo-soprano vocalist."[10] The duo also scored and performed on tour the preserved Marion Davies “Janice Meredith” and the Conrad Veidt “Hands of Orlac” silent films.
On September 14, 2007, James performed the score to Tumbleweeds in a live performance at the Poncan Theater (built in 1923) in Ponca City, Oklahoma as a special commission as part of a celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of Oklahoma Statehood.[11]
Glass armonica performance
James plays the Franklin glass armonica and has collected other vitreous music instruments including several Francis Hopkinson Smith's 19th century Grand Harmonicons, one of the few surviving Beyer 18th c. Glass-cords, and modern glass instrument inventions such as verrophone, the Cristal Baschet, along with a wide variety of glass flutes and glass bells.[4] He is currently constructing an expanded version of the French Bouteillophone creating a touring continuo instrument for 18th c. ensemble repertoire plus developing his own glass instrument invention, the Mesmerphone. James played his glass instruments on Marco Beltrami's film scores for The Minus Man (1999) and The Faculty (1998).[4] "I first became aware of glass instruments at about the age of 6 while visiting the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. I can still recall being mesmerized by the appearance of the original Benjamin Franklin armonica then on display in its own showcase in the entry rotunda of the city's famed science museum.".[4] In the interest of historical and philological accuracy, James adheres to Franklin's original name, "armonica" without the "h".
From 2010 to 2015 James served as the initial appointed Lecturer in glass music studies at the
James recorded for Sony-Classical release an album Featuring several glass music instruments, Cristal: Glass Music Through the Ages co-produced by Ronstadt and Grammy Award-winning producer John Boylan.
Discography
- Dennis James at the "Fotoplayer"[13]
- Dennis James at the Movies. Ohio Theatre Summer Series (1975)[13]
- Dennis James at the Movies. Ohio Theatre Summer Series, Vol 2. (1977)[13]
- Dennis James Classic Theatre Organ (1985), recorded on the Morton organs at the Ohio Theater in Columbus, and Forum Theatre in New York.[13][14]
- Dennis James at the RTOS Wurlitzer[13]
- Dennis & Heidi James – Puttin' on the Ritz[13]
- Cristal: Glass Music Through the Ages (2002)[12]
Citations
- ^ Carl Bennett, Dennis James on SilentEra.com. Accessed online 16 January 2006.
- ^ State University of New York at Albany.
- ^ Espe, Erik (8 March 1996). "Classical Glass". Palo Alto Online. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Dennis James interview" interviewed by Rich Bailey January, 2002
- ^ University of South Carolina Film Studies. "Dennis James, Silent Film Accompanist."
- ^ a b c Silent Era. "Dennis James"
- ^ New York Times "New Jersey Guide: Chaplin in Westwood." December 13, 1981.
- ^ Theater program, "Seattle Theatre Group presents German Expressionist Silents", January 2006.
- ^ "Home". michaeltsalka.com.
- ^ "Ciné-concert: The Asta Nielsen Hamlet (German version)". Archived from the original on 2016-07-10. Retrieved 2016-09-11.
- ^ "The Ponca City News. "Silent Film Organist To Play The Poncan Theatre for 'Tumbleweeds'" September 6, 2007". Archived from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Sony Classical Music. "Cristal – Glass Music Through the Ages" Archived 2006-11-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f "South Puget Pipeline Online. "Dennis James."". Archived from the original on 2007-09-15. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
- ISSN 0040-5531.