- Dennis James (musician)
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Dennis James at the keyboard of the Mighty Wurlitzer at the Coleman Theater in Miami, Oklahoma in September 2007, where he played the score for Clara Bow's 1927 film It
Dennis James is an American musician who has played "a pivotal role in the international revival of silent films presented with live music."[1] Primarily an organist, since 1971 he has presented live accompaniments for silent films, with piano, theatre organ, chamber ensemble and full symphony orchestras, both around the United States and internationally. He is a noted performer on the musical glasses and the glass armonica, performing in New York at the Caramoor Festival and Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival (2011). He has also been active into the preservation and restoration of theater organs.[1]
Contents
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 MacClain, in concert when the latter suffered a heart attack before the performance, and that exposure put him on the 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 Ragatz.[2]
James' interest in silent film performance with live music dates from 1969 at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.[4] As James recalls, "The late 'Flicker Fingers' himself, California touring theatre organist Gaylord Carter, was at the Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ console and on the screen Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in The Mark of Zorro.[4] In classic 'Chorus Line' fashion, I turned to my Dad at the end and said 'I can do that!'"[4]
Silent film organ performance
James began performing films with orchestras in 1971.[5] From 1975 to 1989, James was the appointed "Resident Organist for the Ohio Theatre" in Columbus, Ohio reviving a professional position vacated in 1942.[6] James had his organ concerto with orchestra debut with the Chicago Symphony at Orchestra Hall in 1984.[2] James toured in the 1980s with silent film stars Lillian Gish and Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, providing musical accompaniment on national tour revivals of their motion pictures.[6] The New York Times reported on December 13, 1981 that James would play at the recently restored Pascack Theater in Westwood, New Jersey, a deluxe movie house with facilities for stage productions and a specially built Wurlitzer pipe organ for accompanying silent films. James "follows the technique and style of the old-time accompanists, cueing the music exactly to the action and mood on the screen."[7] In 1999, James was House Organist for the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, House Organist for the Paramount Theatre in Seattle and House Organist for the Historic Everett Theatre in Everett, Washington.
Appointments
James is the newly (2010) appointed "Theatre Organist for the Washington Center" a professional position in the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia, Washington, and also the newly appointed (2010) "House Organist" for the Coleman Theatre, Miami, Oklahoma and "House Organist" for the Lynwood Theatre on Bainbridge Island, Washington, while continuing as the regular silent film organist for the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, California), California Theatre in San Jose, California and Poncan Theatre in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Production company
James also performs both in the U.S. and internationally under the aegis of his own production company, Silent Film Concerts.[8] James has one of the largest private libraries of authentic silent film music in existence including complete original film scores and hundreds of published generic silent film music compositions that are used to imitate original musical scores where the originals do not survive.[6]
Tours
James has played at the Pordenone and Rome Silent Film Festival, Cinema Muto, as well as appearances for special exhibitions at the Louvre. His scorings have been used on archival recordings of silent films for the American Film Institute, National Film Registry, New York Museum of Modern Art, the Library of Congress, Pacific Film Archive, George Eastman House, American Federation of the Arts, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the British Film Institute.
Dennis James at the Poncan Theatre in Ponca City, Oklahoma for his special commission of the 1925 Silent Film Tumbleweeds about the Cherokee Strip land rush as part of a celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of Oklahoma statehoodCommissions
In 1991 James was commissioned to score the 1928 Soviet science fiction spectacle Aelita, Queen of Mars and decided to add sounds to the score from an actual original 1929 RCA theremin that he had restored by Robert Moog.[4] "I contacted Clara Rockmore, the leading virtuoso 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 DC.[4]
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.[9]
Musicianship
Stephen Salmons, artistic director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, praised James for his artistic scope and range.[10] "Dennis James is both a musician of tremendous artistic scope and range, and a scholar who strives to preserve and restore this unique 20th century musical practice. He is without doubt the greatest practitioner of the art of solo silent film accompaniment. To witness a contemporary audience experience the beauty and power of silent film through the overwhelming symphonic dynamism that Dennis James unleashes with unerring skill on the theatre organ is an absolute revelation. He's a national treasure."[11]
Peter Mintun, a pianist and cultural historian, praises the authenticity of James' approach to silent films.[5] "Theatre organist Dennis James is one of the only living musicians who understands what is musically, historically, and cinematically appropriate for silent films. Dennis James’ choice of music (some of which is original) subconsciously guides the listener into many moods, tension, bliss, excitement, despair, terror, and hilarity. He is able to accomplish this while remaining correct for the period of the film. In other words, if Mr. James’ performance had been played when the film was first exhibited, it would have been considered contemporary. He would never attempt to modernize the feeling of the period by creating a score that would clash.”," says Mintun.[5]
Glass armonica performance
Dennis James plays the Glass Armonica at the Poncan Theatre in Ponca City, Oklahoma on April 2, 2011. Photo Credit: Hugh PickensJames plays the glass armonica and has collected other vitreous vibrators including Francis Hopkinson Smith's 19th century Grand Harmonicon, modern glass instruments such as Sascha Reckert's verrophone, the cristal baschet, and a wide variety of glass flutes and glass bells.[4] James played 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".
James performed glass armonica on Linda Ronstadt's album Winter Light. "Linda explained she had first heard the sounds of rubbed glass some 15 years before, just where, though, escapes her to this day.[4] She kept that ethereal sound in her mind all those years and it was during the orchestra sessions and post-session mix on the track "A River for Him", written by Emmylou Harris, that Linda had the inspiration to add the glass tones", says James.[4] James appeared on the Late Night with David Letterman with Ronstadt.[4] "It was a great surprise. A sort of unspoken message in the air to me before the broadcast was 'Do not say anything on the air!' After all, these things are Linda's appearances. When David Letterman leaned over his desk and directed a question to me I simply froze - on playback of the dub I can see myself caught and unable to speak. I received a glance from Linda that said to me it was OK and so when he tried again I called back a flip one liner and on things went from there," says James.[4]
James recorded an album of all glass music, Cristal: Glass Music Through the Ages co-produced by Ronstadt and Grammy Award-winning producer John Boylan.[12] James plays the glass armonica, the cristal and the seraphim on the CD in original historical compositions for glass by Mozart, Scarlatti, Schnaubelt, and Fauré.[12] James collaborates with the Emerson String Quartet, operatic soprano Ruth Ann Swenson, and Ronstadt.[12]
Discography
- Dennis James at the "Fotoplayer"[10]
- Dennis James at the Movies. Ohio Theatre Summer Series (1975)[10]
- Dennis James at the Movies. Ohio Theatre Summer Series, Vol 2. (1977)[10]
- Dennis James Classic Theatre Organ[10]
- Dennis James at the RTOS Wurlitzer[10]
- Dennis & Heidi James - Puttin' on the Ritz[10]
- Cristal: Glass Music Through the Ages (2002)[12]
Citations
- ^ a b Carl Bennett, Dennis James on SilentEra.com. Accessed online 16 January 2006.
- ^ a b c "Biography of Dennis James" State University of New York at Albany.
- ^ Espe, Erik (8 March 1996). "Classical Glass". Palo Alto Online. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/listings/1996_Mar_8.2NDARTS8.html. 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
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ The Ponca City News. "Silent Film Organist To Play The Poncan Theatre for 'Tumbleweeds'" September 6, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g South Puget Pipeline Online. "Dennis James."
- ^ The Ponca Theatre. "William S. Hart in "Tumbleweeds." September, 2007.
- ^ a b c d Sony Classical Music. "Cristal – Glass Music Through the Ages"
External links
Categories:- Silent film
- American keyboardists
- Glass harmonica players
- Living people
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