William Henry Dixon (August 29, 1879 - May 14, 1917) was an American ragtime pianist and composer.
https://ragpiano.com/comps/whdixon.shtml
William "Will" Henry Dixon
(August 29, 1879 - May 14, 1917)
Compositions
1901
Mirabella: A Mexican Serenade [1]
Gracie [1]
I Don't See No Streets Named After You [1]
Queenie [1]
My Sparkling Ruby [1]
Buttin' In [1]
Lilly [1]
This Lovin' Gag Won't Pay Expenses, Babe [1]
1904
Dance of the Bugs
My Twilight Dream of You: Ballad [2]
Fesia [2]
Lucinda [2]
None of it Goes for Mine [2]
Bessie, My Black-Eyed Baby [2]
1905
Malinda (Come Down to Me)
1908
I Am Wild About That Kind of Love
Everybody Knows I'm Crazy 'Bout You [4]
1909
Come Right In, Sit Right Down, Make Yourself
at Home [2,5]
1910 Don't Make Me Laugh, Bill [4] 1912 Take Me to the Cabaret 1913 September Eve: A Trot Breath of Autumn: Waltz Ardente Ivresse: Valse Lente Brazilian Dreams: Tango-Intermezzo 1914 The Chase: Fox Trot Delicioso: Tango Aristocrático La Nativa (The Native): Maxixe Brésilienne 1915 Go 'Long, Mule, Go 'Long [2] Unknown Des Innocences Douces
1. w/Arthur S. Shaw 2. w/Thomas Alfred Anderson 3. w/Joe Jordan 4. w/Henry S. Creamer 5. w/Bob White Other Works 1901 Uncle Tobe's Thanksgiving (Poem) [Christian Evangelist - 11/28/1901] Buttin' In (Musical Play) [1] 1903 A Married Bachelor (Musical Play) [3] 1906 A Count of No Account (Musical Play) [3,5] 1907 The Bachelor (Musical Play) [3,5] share on facebookshare on twitter View More Later Composer Biographies Will H. Dixon, while a lesser-known ragtime era composer, was still in the mix of one of the more important group of black musicians of the 1900s and 1910s in Chicago and New York City. Unfortunately, his demise came too early to allow him to shine in the 1920s, another casualty of the "sporting life" that took out way too many musicians of all backgrounds during that period. Will was one of nine children born to John Henry Dixon and Mary Putnam in West Virginia. As they had come from Maryland and Ohio respectively, they were likely not former slaves, The Lincoln School, Wheeling, West Virginia, c.1880s. Given the probable mid-1880s time frame, Will is likely one of the boys in this photo. lincoln school in wheeling west viriginia 1880s
and West Virginia had been divided from Virginia in 1863 as a Northern (Union) State prior to reunification of the country. Of Will's eight siblings, only three made it beyond childhood, including John H., Jr. (4/1873), Harry E. (10/1885), and Estella "Stella" Mae (7/1889). The 1880 enumeration taken in Wheeling, West Virginia, where Will had been born nine months prior, showed the elder John to be a barber.
In their youth, Will and his younger siblings attended the segregated Lincoln School in Wheeling, which was responsible for teaching the children of color in both Ohio and Marshall counties. However, at some point in the 1890s, perhaps seeking better opportunities for the family, John and his brood relocated to Chicago, Illinois. It is probable that Will received instruction in music, particularly piano, harmony and theory, which made him a capable arranger and composer. It also instilled in him an appreciation for both popular music and some of the higher classical forms, as well as a love for theater. For the 1900 census, taken in the so-called "Bronzeville" sector of the south side of the city, John, Sr., was listed as a railroad brakeman, and John, Jr. held the same position. Either Will or the enumerator listed his occupation as "theatrical man." buttin' in coverWill's involvement in the Chicago theater scene is partially obfuscated by a lack of information in traditional newspapers of the time. However, it is possible that he had had contributed a work to the Christian Evangelist periodical in 1901, showing him to be a budding writer through his poem Uncle Tobe's Thanksgiving, which may have been a potential song lyric. (This can also be discounted by the existence of two other Will H. Dixons from western Illinois, both white, who also had written lyrics.) By this time, Dixon had left home in hopes of making a living with his musical talent. His initial move was a foray into minstrelsy, shows based on either real or faux stereotypical black culture, which nonetheless provided a gateway into stage performance. His earliest tours were with Phil R. Miller's Hottest Coon in Dixie Company in late 1900. Within a year he was found in advertisements to be part of Rusco & Holland's Big Minstrel Festival Company,where he was featured as a singer, rather than just an end man (usually named Mr. Tambo or Mr. Bones) as was often the case with such talent. This allowed him to shine on his own, and drew further attention to his particular gifts, as highlighted in the occasional newspaper mention. It is also possible that teamed up with writer Arthur Sumner Shaw, and they created a musical play titled Buttin In that saw very little traction on its own. However, some of the numbers written for it got circulation in both Chicago through McKinley Music and New York through Howley, Haviland and Dresser. Shaw [L] and Dixon.[R] c.1901. Shaw and Dixon c. 1901
A couple of them were taken up by other vaudeville artists on the smaller New York stages. The Mexican serenade Mirabella, published by M. Witmark & Sons, also enjoyed some band arrangements and recordigs. Shaw and Dixon would break up in 1902, and Arthur Shaw would remain in Manhattan as a working musician into the 1920s.
It was during the period from 1902 to 1904 that Dixon started composing songs and even musical plays to lyrics and libretti by black writer Thomas Alfred Anderson, who was more than a decade his senior. As the minstrel company's tours occasionally brought the writers to New York City, they made attempts at selling their works to publishers. The house of M. Witmark Sons, who had been somewhat accepting of black writers and had already issued Mirabella in 1901, took in a couple of their early works for publication in 1904, but not all of them saw the shelves, languishing in storage. Dixon and Anderson also hoped to have some of their works staged, but even in the somewhat liberal environment of Manhattan this was a longshot at that juncture. While Will Marion Cook and Paul Laurence Dunbar had enjoyed some significant success over the past several seasons, and the stars of Bert Williams and George Walker were also starting to shine, meetings with the latter two or even other publishers bore no fruit concerning any productions. Anderson decided to return to Chicago, but Dixon remained in New York, determined to be heard. Learning very quickly that there were bad players in the publishing business, many of them white men taking unfair financial advantage of black talent, Will soon fell in with a much more congenial crowd. This included the likes of composer/publisher Will Marion Cook, his associates Shep Edmonds and Richard C. McPherson (a.k.a. Cecil Mack, and composer/performer Ernest Hogan. (Refer to their individual biographical entries here for more context.) The first three had come together to form the Gotham-Attucks publishing firm, which for a few years provided good opportunities for black performers and composers. They released a couple of Will's works starting as early as 1905. More importantly, however, was Hogan, who quickly recognized Will's potential as a conductor and arranger, not just a singer. dance of the bugs victor record by Fred Van EpsCook, Hogan and Dixon were the primary force behind the formation of the Memphis Students Company in 1905 (possibly named after a similar troupe that had known some success in the early 1890s). They were comprised of around 25 members including a chorus, orchestra, and several variety players. Ernest became their lead comedian and singer, and Dixon the music director. Other notable talents included singers Anna Pankey Cook and Abbie Mitchell (W.M. Cook's wife), and dancer Ida Forsyne as "Miss Topsy, the girl who was not born, but who just grew." Will Cook wrote the bulk of the songs with Dixon providing some numbers now and then with Anderson. They worked many of the vaudeville theaters of New York City, including over 100 performances at the well-known Oscar Hammerstein I Victoria Theater and the Paradise Roof Garden on the roof of that theater, as well as Sunday nights at the Orpheum and other appearances at Tony Proctor's famous 23rd Street venue. The success prompted Cook to organize a European tour for the company. However, Hogan wanted to stay in New York City and heavily objected to the idea. Cook, not known for his even-temperament, decided to go ahead with the tour, prompting Hogan to sue him to prevent their travel. Cook ignored the resulting injunction, simply renaming the group to the Tennessee Students, and then Memphis Students. Even before they tried to embark on their tour, Hogan made the tiff very public, causing him to put the following warning out in the Sunday Telegraph and other New York papers in early October: WARNING TO MANAGERS Information Has Come to Me That Some Malicious Negro Is Offering THE MEMPHIS STUDENTS
FOR ENGAGEMENTS
$100 REWARD will be paid for information leading to the arrest of this contemptible person. This is my original idea and conception and NO ONE has the right to offer this act but my sole agents, Wm. Lykens and Wm. Morris. The Memphis Students is the act which enjoyed the phenomenal run of the entire Summer past at Hammerstein's Victoria. Each member is under contract to me for one year or more and are not offering their services to anyone else… NOTICE: Owing to a close Starring engagement under the management of Messrs. Hurtig & Seamon, I will soon be compelled to leave the Students, but the organization will immediately begin rehearsing (under my personal supervision) new and original music written expressly for them by WM. DIXON, The Greatest Negro Choral Director… (Signed) ERNEST HOGAN Ultimately, not all 25 members signed up with Cook, but enough headliners stayed involved to encourage Cook and Dixon to proceed. By November 1905 they were headed out to conquer the European continent, specifically the Follies Berge in Paris, France, where they remained through early March 1906.fesia cover Over the next few months, it appears that Hogan and Cook resolved their differences enough to get along again. On the group's return they did a run at the music hall managed by Hogan's producers, Jules Hurtig and Harry Seamon. Dancer Ida Forsyne, one of the headliners, had stayed behind in Europe, working engagements for the next several years as an actress in France and England. A passport issued to Dixon showed that he had already considered staying behind himself, noting a possible residency of "a year or two," perhaps to engage in further musical study. However, he came back in either March or April 1906. By this time Hogan had gone on to his own New York show. So his wife, Abbie, headlined for the troupe when they retook the New York stages. Then, virtually nothing was heard from the Students from late 1906 into early 1908, when they reappeared on the New York vaudeville theater scene, getting positive notices for much of the year, and on a few occasions in 1909. They also toured briefly doing engagements mostly in the Northeast states, but it is possible that Dixon was not involved in those travels. The group was largely disbanded before 1910 in order to focus on new horizons, such as the growing Clef Club run by James Reese Europe and Ford Dabney. In later years, writer James Weldon Johnson recalled the Memphis Students, as well as one of the characteristics of their now-esteemed music director, who has sometimes been referred to as The Dancing Conductor: The first modern jazz band ever heard on a New York stage, and probably on any other stage… made its debut at Proctor’s Twenty-Third Street Theatre in the early spring of 1905. It was a playing-singing-dancing orchestra, making dominant use of banjos, mandolins, guitars, saxophones, and drums in combination, and was called the Memphis Students… Will H. Dixon's choreography was full of novelty: All through the number he would keep his men together by dancing out the rhythm generally in graceful, sometimes in grotesque, steps. Often an easy shuffle would take him across the whole front of the band. This style of directing not only got the fullest possible response from the men, but kept them in the right humour for the sort of music they were playing. Just the same, when the Students returned in 1906, Will, perhaps reluctant to deal with any fallout from his defection from Hogan, returned to Chicago for a short time. He gravitated to one of the hottest tickets in town, the Pekin Theatre, which was quickly becoming the domain of Joe Jordan, who was writing and directing monthly—sometimes weekly—shows for the establishment. As Jordan was frequently in New York City, they may have also crossed paths there. While in town, Will was reportedly Jordan's assistant and co-wrote at least two musical productions.cmalinda (come down to me) cover By 1907, Will was back in Manhattan, and attempted to follow in the footsteps of his mentors at Gotham-Attucks staring his own publishing firm, the Will H. Dixon Music Publishing, Company. He set up shop in the Theatrical Exchange Building, 1431-33 Broadway, just a block south of the recently established Times Square. As with many small-time enterprises in a city bursting with them at the time, it did not last very long, but it helped to show his resolve to make a mark on New York and the world around him. Will was quickly indoctrinated and assimilated into the upper echelon of the Black music fraternity of Manhattan, which included luminaries like Williams and Walker, Europe and Dabney, Henry S. Creamer, Theo Bendix, and, when he was in town, Joe Jordan. In addition to attending regular gatherings of the collective group at the Marshall Hotel in Manhattan, over the next few years he would collaborate with many of them as well for published sheet music, specialties for the stage to accompany dancers or actors, orchestral arrangements, and musical numbers performed for the Elite 400 of New York society. While not always a headliner, he was often out front leading a band or an orchestra. A great honor was bestowed on him in 1909 when Will became a participating member of The Frogs, founded by Williams and Walker in 1908, in part as a promotion for their struggling Gotham-Attucks publishing firm. It was made up of the leading black composers and performers of New York during that time. Cecil Mack was the first secretary of the organization, headed by Walker and John Rosamond Johnson. While not directly beneficial to Gotham-Attucks, just the mention of the composers' or musician's names in the reports of various functions they held or appeared at was a peripheral form of publicity. They soon expanded the esteemed group to include professionals from other high-profile fields as well. Still, it was not quite enough to be of much help to the struggling publishing firm. Dixon's efforts soon paid off financially as well as socially. While hardly affluent, for a Black artist in the big city he was able to afford some of the nicer things in life, like a lovely South Harlem brownstone dwelling with a decent piano. He was also well-liked and well-regarded by his peers and the general public.dcome right in, sit right down, make yourself at home cover As was stated in some of his obituaries, "Will H. Dixon was gentlemanly in conduct and he possessed many qualities that stamped him as a man with a good heart and kindly intentions toward all." But he was also a man of opportunity, who did not waste his time in Europe during his visit, but studied what they had to offer in terms of music and culture, eventually integrating it into some of his works. Ultimately much of his income came from performance, not from his published works, a distinction usually reserved for the more prolific writers. In April 1909, Will was brought on by Aida Overton Walker, wife of George Walker who was ailing at that time, for an All-Star Benefit, likely for St. Phillip's Parish Home, one of her many social causes in the black community. As a matter of course and presentation to elevate the event, the group presented an operetta for the second half of the show, King's Guest. At the very same time, Ernest Hogan was less than a month from death, and George Walker would be gone within two years after a long illness. The loss of these pioneers and a change in direction to popular music played by top-notch black orchestras created a shift in direction for Dixon and many of his peers. By 1910, he would help co-found The Clef Club with James R. Europe, and become one of its primary leaders over the next two years, as well as arranger and composer. He shared this distinction with Europe and Ford Dabney, although their published output easily exceeded Will's. Dixon was also a member of several committees of the organization, and the stage director of a couple of their larger shows. At the time of the 1910 census, Will was either on travel somewhere or was somehow missed by the enumerator, as efforts to locate him in that record were fruitless. As far as Will's reputation as a performer, his star was elevated during the early 1910s. He was not only busy working, but was routinely regarded as one of the black authorities on music, often consulted and quoted. In the New York Age of April 8, 1909, for which performer/writer Lester A. Walton had a regular column, Dixon and his peers were pressed on the issue, brought up frequently by "serious" musicians, on the status of ragtime's viability and health. Asking for comment, Walton printed the replies of five of New York's finest black musicians, including Dixon: Only a few days ago in discussing what is commonly known as "ragtime" music, John Philip Sousa gave out the following statement: "Ragtime had the dyspepsia or gout long before it died. It was overfed by poor nurses. Good ragtime came and half a million imitators sprang up. Then, as a result the people were sickened with the stuff. I have not played a single piece of ragtime this season because the people do not want it." Since the announcement by the noted bandmaster that ragtime is a thing of the past [it still had at least eight healthy years left], musicians and critics have become involved in a controversy as [to] the correctness of Sousa's stand. As syncopated music is credited with being of purely Negro origin [the truth is actually a bit more complex], the dramatic editor of The Age recently wrote to some of the young and successful colored composers, asking them what they thought of Sousa's utterances on the subject… (By Will H. Dixon.) Commenting on Mr. Sousa's criticism, I desire to say that I disagree with him. For instance, take the melodies of Will Marion Cook, they are more or less full of syncopation or what is commonly termed ragtime; likewise J. Rosamond Johnson's. Harry T. Burleigh, one of the greatest Negro composers America has produced, has just finished a piano cycle, the theme of which is taken from Darky folk-songs with syncopated rhythm. I feel confident in saying that Mr. Sousa, after reading the score of Mr. Burleigh's cycle, would know that it was the product of a master mind. The trouble is there are may worthless compositions thrown upon the market to-day, and for want of a better name they are termed 'ragtime selections.' I agree with Mr. Sousa that such are short-lived, but the melodious compositions in syncopated rhythm by such composers as I have mentioned shall never cease to be pleasing to the ear of a music-loving public. On May 2, 1912, the Clef Club became the first organization of their kind to stage a concert in the now-famous Carnegie Hall. In addition to a 150-voice chorus, one of the highlights of the evening was a ten-member piano section of the large 125-piece orchestra, of which Will was one of those pianists.don't make me laugh bill cover He had taken another step earlier in the year, marrying recently divorced light-skinned Missouri native Maude Mae Rubey Seay (known also as "Madam Seay") on February 1st, 1912. Both of them fudged their age more than just a little on the official New York City marriage record, with Will claiming to be 21 to his actual 33, and Maude 18 to her real age of 31. A graduate of Western College, she had been a teacher in the Macon, Missouri school district, and in 1902 was married to businessman Frank Seay, divorcing him in 1910. Maude had relatives in Chicago, and had also been engaged in the millinery business there, with a fine reputation for her hats. For Will, she seemed a good fit. As was common during this socially turbulent time, musical tastes and inclination were changing again, and both Europe and Dabney had some specific obligations to white patrons that diverted their attention away from the Clef Club. Will was still a leader in the organization until at least 1916. But the scope of available work was changing. In addition to the Clef Club, Will had joined the Smart Set Company in 1910, which was run by Salem Tutt Whitney, and originated by Tom McIntosh and Sherman H. Dudley. Started years earlier, by 1912 they had split into northern and southern components, with Whitney in charge of the Southern Smart Set Company. A bit closer to the minstrelsy style that Will had gotten his start in, they toured theaters and Chautauquas throughout the Mid-Atlantic into the South. It is unclear how often Will went on the tours,brazilian dreams cover as he was also trying to maintain his profile in New York City with the Clef Club and other concerns. The period of 1913 to 1914 was a particularly productive one for Will in terms of quality of composition. Four works from 1913 are standouts showing Dixon's appreciation of non-popular music forms integrated into a popular but artistic format. Among them were the habanero-tango Brazilian Dreams, the gentle Fox-trot September Eve, and the beautiful waltzes, the sublime and dramatic Breath of Autumn, and Ardente Ivresse. The following year saw the release of the maxixe La Nativa, and another tango, Delicioso. Brazilian Dreams soon became part of the stable of tunes used by the famous dancing pair of Vernon and Irene Castle, who had also engaged Europe and Dabney to provide them with engaging dance numbers. The tune also found its way into the Ziegfeld Follies for the 1916 traveling edition. During this period the Dixons also spent considerable time back in Chicago, where Maude tended after her hat business and other family matters. Well into 1915, Will's name still appeared in the entertainment and music pages of New York and Chicago newspapers, either as a participant, or as a contributor of a performed composition. He was spending more time in the Windy City than the Big Apple, bouncing between them as the need transpired. That year he helped to make another important contribution to the world as on June 1, 1915, Maude gave birth to their daughter, Francesca "Frankye" Alfreta Dixon in Chicago. She would be raised in both Chicago and Harlem, and had a considerable musical future of her own. Unfortunately for Will, by this time the ravages of the sporting life common to so many composers and musicians of this time were starting to catch up to him.kardente ivresse cover He shared something in common with fellow New York composer Scott Joplin, as the onset of tertiary syphilis was starting to tighten its grasp on Dixon. Something else that Will had in common with Joplin was the desire to bring an opera, for which he had written both the score and libretto, to the New York stage, as was stated in his obituary in the New York Age on June 7, 1917. Will continued to work in the 1916 edition of the Southern Smart Set show titled George Washington Bullion Abroad, but was evidently unable to complete the tour because of ongoing issues with his physical and mental state, due to the effects of the syphilis. Some reports suggest that Will perhaps was working beyond his mental capacity at that point, and he eventually had to return to his early home of Chicago where his mother still resided. He was also admitted to ASCAP not too long after the organization was formed. However, Dixon spent most of his final months in his mother's care into the spring of 1917. Just six weeks after Scott Joplin's death, Will succumbed to the same fate in Chicago at age 37 while in the care of his mother. He was buried at Oak Wood Cemetery in Chicago. Will was remembered by many in obituaries over the next three or so weeks with kind notices about him prevailing. However, prior to his death the Chicago Defender had published an article in January 1914 on Dixon as a composer, which summed up his tragically short life in the best of terms: Gentlemanly, courteous, and affable, ever ready to give a helping hand to the fellow farther down, is it to be wondered at that his friends are numbered by the hundreds, and those who have not had the rare good fortune to know him personally have enjoyed the fruits of his efforts in a musical way. For Mr. Dixon is a composer whose fame has spread over both [American and European] continents. The world's greatest singers have taken pleasure in interpreting his exquisite musical compositions, and in the instrumental field he held an enviable position… Mr. Dixon’s talent is best displayed in his classical numbers and critics say his work forcibly reminds them of the old masters. Mr. Dixon is not only a credit to Chicago, but a credit to his race. But Will Dixon's legacy does not end there. Musical talent, good looks, goodwill, and a desire to matter were possibly genetic in this case, along with a widow who did her best with what she had to make a good life for their daughter. Frankye Dixon (seated) with Maude Dixon (L) and Louise Burge (R) c. 1941. frankye dixon, louise burge and maude dixon
Maude was remarried in 1919 to World War I veteran and chiropractor, Captain Alonzo Myers, who had served with the all-Black Buffalo Soldiers unit. It was clear to both mother and stepfather that little Frankye had inherited many of her father's fine attributes, and was a bit of a child prodigy when it came to music. Maude and Alonzo did very well for themselves, entering into the real-estate business in the early part of the "Roaring Twenties." They would eventually own a professional building on 130th Street in Harlem, and Maude became even more successful there than she had in the hat business. The Meyers were partly responsible for opening up an apartment coop at Morningside Park, providing an affordable and nice place for people of color to live.
Frankye was classically trained at the piano in her youth, and eventually attended the Juilliard Music School as well as New York University, capped off by the Teacher's College at Columbia University. She put her training to good use, giving piano and organ recitals and concerts from the 1930s forward, acting as an accompanist to many famous black performers, and even writing on music for periodicals and newspapers. From 1941 to 1942 Frankye toured the United States as an accompanist for the distinguished contralto R. Louise Burge, who was associated with Howard University in the District of Columbia. She also helped break color barriers by performing with the NBC Symphony Orchestra as conducted by no less than Léopold Stokowski. When not on tour, she had a Harlem music studio that trained a new generation of black musicians, preparing them for the joys and hardships of music in a world that was not always accepting of their cultural background, inspiring them to aspire beyond those limits. Now as Mrs. Thompson, Frankye eventually became a professor of music at Howard University, where she spent much of her later career making a difference in the lives of Black students. Between Frankye and Maude, the essence and memory of Will H. Dixon has been kept alive, and he is still highly regarded today by historians and music lovers. Note: There are a few pieces ranging from 1899 to 1917 that have lyrics written by either a Will H. Dixon or William H. Dixon. Given the identity and location of the composers, who were all white, and other factors within the timeline, as well as the fact that this particular Dixon was pretty much a music-only writer with little lyrical experience, these pieces are called into doubt as two other white William H. Dixons were found living in Illinois and Indiana, and were more likely to have been the lyric contributors. Therefore, those pieces are not referenced in this essay. Some of the best detailed research on Will Dixon was done by Rick Benjamin, Director of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, in preparation for his Black Manhattan album series. I highly recommend obtaining this set for both the music and liner notes. Information on Frankye was partially derived from an article on Ancestry's WeRemember.com, as maintained and researched by Lawrence H. Levens, Guardian of the Dixon Family Papers. Additional information on possible early compositions with Shaw are courtesy of Samuel Carner. Much of the information gathered here on both Will and Frankye came from newspapers and other contemporary sources, as well as the usual records of government origin, such as enumerations. Some of the information on Dixon's early years and the Lincoln School came from historical societies in Ohio County, West Virginia.
https://travsd.wordpress.com/2024/08/29/the-rediscovery-of-will-h-dixon/ August 29, 2024travsd The Rediscovery of Will H. Dixon
Don’t get the wrong idea! I almost never take requests on this blog, maybe one time in a thousand. The fuel that this blog runs on is its author’s own whims. Has to come from me. In fact, the best way to ensure that I won’t ever cover a subject is to suggest it to me. Poor Burt Mustin, for example, will have to languish ’til the cows come home, because someone once suggested him as a topic to me.
That said, Will H. Dixon (1879-1917) made his way past the gate for multiple reasons: 1) there is news to report; 2) he is vastly undersung; 3) he deserves attention; and 4) I can pass the buck by handing you off to someone else, the real Will H. Dixon scholar, Lawrence H. Levens, the custodian and guardian of his papers, who of course is the person who brought Dixon to my attention.
While he’s probably not related to either man, today’s subject makes an interesting passing chord between minstrel George Washington Dixon, and blues songwriter and bassist Willie Dixon. His was the ragtime era, of the time before even jazz had gained much of a foothold in pop culture. Our Dixon was a member of James Reese Europe’s Clef Orchestra, and was a friend and associate of such artists as Ernest Hogan, Will Marion Cook, Ida Forsyne, Williams and Walker, Henry S. Creamer, et al. As a member of the Memphis Students Club, he played prestigious vaudeville venues like Proctor’s 23rd Street and Hammerstein’s Victoria, as well as the Folies Bergere in Paris. His songs were sung by the likes of Sophie Tucker, Eva Tanguay, Eddie Leonard, et al.
Thanks, Mr. Levens, for forwarding these excellently thorough articles about Dixon’s life and legacy:
Will (William) Dixon (1879-1917) | Obituary (weremember.com)
The Original Dancing Conductor – Archiving Wheeling
William Henry Dixon (ragpiano.com)
80731-2 (nwr-site-liner-notes.s3.amazonaws.com)
James Reese Europe and the Clef Club Orchestra (harpguitars.net)
Rick Benjamin of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra recorded several of Dixon’s compositions on his Black Manhattan trilogy of albums, released 2007-2017, with research and liner notes by Benjamin.
The big news is that, according to Levens, “a cache of historical musical scores and manuscripts belonging to Will H. Dixon thought to be lost were [recently] discovered in a Brooklyn Heights co-op apartment where Dixon’s daughter Miss Frankye A. Dixon once resided. Also discovered in this historical lot was the 105-year-old libretto and musical score to a Light Dramatic Opera in 3 Acts written in 1915.”
Unfortunately, Dixon died of syphilis (quite common among showfolk and others back then) before the opera could be premiered. But the rediscovery of these manuscripts means that the possibility that these compositions will be performed and recorded is now very real. Read Mr. Levens’ exciting article about the discovery, published in the Amsterdam News back in June, here.
https://www.archivingwheeling.org/blog/will-h-dixon-the-original-dancing-conductor Wheeling-Born Musician and Composer Will H. Dixon Portrait of Will H. Dixon from the James Weldon Johnson and Grace Nail Johnson papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Portrait of Will H. Dixon from the James Weldon Johnson and Grace Nail Johnson papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Before his untimely death, Wheeling Hall of Fame member Chu Berry famously played tenor sax in Cab Calloway‘s Orchestra from 1937-1941. [1] By the time Berry joined the orchestra, Calloway had already developed his legendary style made famous by appearances in films such as the Betty Boop: Minnie the Moocher short (Paramount Pictures, 1932), Cab Calloway’s Hi-De-Ho (1934), and Stormy Weather (20th Century Fox, 1943), all long before his cameo in the 1980 Universal Studios cult classic, The Blue Brothers. “Clad in white tie and tails, dancing energetically, waving an oversized baton, and singing,” writes Alyn Shipton in his Calloway biography, Hi-De-Ho, “Cab Calloway is one of the most iconic figures in popular music.” [2]
But prior even to Calloway’s birth, Will H. Dixon initiated the style that would lead him to be dubbed the original dancing conductor. [3] James Weldon Johnson – American writer, civil rights activist, and early leader of the NAACP — wrote of Dixon: “All through a number he would keep his men together by dancing out the rhythm, generally in graceful, sometimes in grotesque, steps. Often an easy shuffle would take him across the whole front of the band. This style of directing not only got the fullest possible response from the men but kept them in just the right humour for the sort of music they were playing.” [4] By the time Calloway was born in 1907, Dixon was not only a famed stage conductor, but an accomplished singer, pianist, actor, comedian, playwright, and composer of both popular and classical music.
And he was a Wheeling native.
John H. Dixon of Baltimore, MD and Mary Putnam of Barnsville, OH were joined in marriage by the Rev. Jeremiah M. Morris of Simpson M.E. Church in Wheeling, June 27, 1872. [5] The Dixons had four children during their time in Wheeling. Their oldest, John Jr. was born in April of 1873. Will was born six years later, August 29, 1879. A younger brother, Harry, was born October 14, 1885, and a younger sister, Estella, followed in July of 1889. [6]
Will’s father was also a musician and played second alto in an all-African American brass band in Wheeling. Formed in March of 1875, the group received “musical instructions” from Professor Schreiner, leader of one of the German brass bands in the city. [7] Referred to ambiguously in the newspapers as the “colored band,” the members frequently played at celebrations throughout Wheeling, including weddings, Emancipation Day celebrations, Fourth of July parades, and Republican outings in 1875 and 1876. [8] Fellow musicians included Harry Jones and H. B. Clemens on E flat; Henry Snyder, first B flat; David Williams, second B flat; Thomas H. Lewis, first alto; Richard Kinney, first tenor; Thomas Jones, second tenor; John Alexander; baritone; David Robinson, bass; Jerry Crawford, base drum; Charlie Clark, tenor drum; Hamilton Davis, cymbals. [9]
1038 Eoff Street, one of the Wheeling residences the in which the Dixon family lived. It was demolished as part of the City's Urban Renewal program of the 1960s and 70s. 1038 Eoff Street, one of the Wheeling residences the in which the Dixon family lived. It was demolished as part of the City’s Urban Renewal program of the 1960s and 70s. While in Wheeling, the Dixon family lived in the historically Black neighborhood of the Second Ward, first at 1045 Eoff Street and later at 1038 Eoff Street. [10] John Sr. worked as a barber and bath attendant in the early 1880s before becoming a train porter at the McLure Hotel sometime before 1888 and rising to head porter by 1890. [11] When the first Wheeling & Lake Erie passenger train pulled up to the passenger station located at the foot of Market Street Bridge, February 1, 1892, The Wheeling Register reported John Dixon, representing the McLure Hotel, gathered the first passenger. “A half dozen colored hotel porters were in the crowd, and as the train, after shifting the engine about, drew up to the platform, such familiar exclamations were heard, as: ‘Hotel Belah, this way,’ ‘McLuah House your wanting.’ John Dixon, of the McLure, gathered the first passenger. As he threw two grips over his shoulder, he walked proudly off, saying, ‘I win the first dash out of the box.’” [12]
Later that same year, when Will was about thirteen years old, the Dixon family would move to Chicago. [13] The entire family was living at 3656 Dearborn Street at the time of the 1900 Census. 51-year-old John Sr. and 27-year-old John Jr. were both working as brakemen for the railroad, while 20-year-old Will was listed as a “Theatrical man.” [14]
Minstrel sheet music for "Come Right In, Sit Right Down. Make Yourself at Home," by By Bob White, Alfred Anderson and Will H. Dixon, 1909. Minstrel sheet music for “Come Right In, Sit Right Down, Make Yourself at Home,” by By Bob White, Alfred Anderson and Will H. Dixon, 1909. Courtesy John Hopkins Sheridan Libraries & University Museums, Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection. When Will turned twenty-one, he would leave the family home in Chicago, taking his talents to New York to attempt to making a living expanding on his theater experience. [15] Like nearly all African-Americans of his generation, his entry into show business was through minstrelsy. Minstrel shows, traditionally musical comedy plays, featured both white and white performers wearing blackface. Black performers often had to act out heartbreaking stereotypes mocking African Americans to make a living. In her book, Staging Race, author Karen Sotiropoulos notes “for black Americans, the 1890s ushered in a decade of shrinking possibilities, and artists and activists alike desperately sought any avenue for advancement.” [16] Many African American artists saw the minstrel stage as their chance to get their foot in the door while establishing some financial security. Such was the case for Dixon, whose first job was singing with Phil R. Miller’s unfortunately named “Hottest Coon in Dixie Company.” [17]
As a multi-talented artist quickly gaining acclaim, however, Dixon rose to fame as a “central figure” in Black Manhattan at the beginning of the 20th Century. By 1902 he was singing, acting, and writing his own plays and songs. He also began composing songs and musical comedies with Alfred Anderson, one of Chicago’s noted Black lyricists. Dixon’s talents had quickly caught and held the attention of the African-American press, but in the spring of 1904, white America had also started to pay attention. One of the country’s foremost music publishers, M. Witmark & Sons of New York, bought and published several Dixon/Anderson songs. [18]
Advertisement, Hammerstien's Victoria Theatre. From the trade publication, The Cast, June 26, 1905, p. 179. This advertisement for Hammerstien’s Victoria Theatre from the trade publication, The Cast, June 26, 1905, shows Will H. Dixon as the conductor the Memphis Students “Songs of the Black Folks” program. In his chronicling of “Black Manhattan,” James Weldon Johnson noted that though “Negro jazz bands throughout the country had been playing jazz at dances and in honky-tonks” for many years, “the first modern jazz band ever heard on a New York stage, and probably on any other stage… made its debut at Proctor’s Twenty-Third Street Theatre in the early spring of 1905. It was a playing-singing-dancing orchestra, making dominant use of banjos, mandolins, guitars, saxophones, and drums in combination, and was called the Memphis Students.” Johnson goes on to note the this was the band that introduced the dancing conductor, with Will H. Dixon behind the baton. [19]
Dixon would conduct the orchestra at both Hammerstein’s Victoria Theatre (owned by the father of famed lyricist Oscar Hammerstein) in New York City and on their upcoming European tour. On October 19, 1905, The New York Age reported, “France is soon to be invaded by some of the best vaudeville talent of New York, when, under the management of Will Marion Cook, a company leaves New York city next week to begin a three months’ engagement at the Folies Berger theatre in Paris. The company will be recruited mostly from Ernest Hogan‘s Memphis Students and includes: Will H. Dixon, musical director…” [20] The troupe would go on to play the Palace Theatre in London, the Schumann Circus in Berlin, and many of the principal music halls of “all the important cities of Europe.” [21] Dixon’s passport documents indicate he intended to stay overseas for “a year or two.” While in Europe, Dixon would have experienced far more racial freedoms than in America, and used his time abroad to study European music and culture. [22] Upon his arrival back to the United States in 1906, Dixon’s musical compositions began to take on a much more sophisticated European sound compared to his earlier Americana and minstrel pieces (you can hear the progression of Dixon’s music in the below video).
At the end of 1906, Dixon returned to Chicago briefly, becoming a cast member with the Pekin Theatre Stock Company, and assisting the resident music director/composer, Joe Jordan. [23] While there he also co-composed with Jordon and former partner Alfred Anderson the score of the Pekin’s production of A Count of No Account, a musical satire in three acts (Dec. 1906) and The Bachelor, a three-act musical comedy (May 1907). [24]
Following his brief stint in Chicago, Dixon headed back to New York City in 1907, where he opened his music publishing company and continued to make a name for himself. [25] The New York Age – one of the most prominent Black newspapers of its time – upon his return to New York called Dixon, “a talented young man… a playwright and author of great promise.” [26] By 1909 he was regarded as a full-fledged celebrity actor/singer in the African-American theater.
That same year, when John Philip Sousa, composer and conductor known primarily for American military marches, proclaimed in a New York Times article that ragtime music was dead, Dixon was one of five successful black composers to refute Sousa – a list that did not include the self-proclaimed “King of Ragtime,” Scott Joplin, though Joplin was living in New York City for almost two years at the time. [27] In the article printed in the New York Age, Dixon noted, “…the melodious compositions in syncopated rhythm… shall never cease to be pleasing to the ear of a music-loving public.” [28]
In 1910, James Reese Europe, leading figure on the African American music scene of New York City and fellow ragtime/jazz bandleader, arranger, and composer, formed the Clef Club which not only put together its own orchestra and chorus, but served as a union and contracting agency for black musicians. [29] Dixon was a founding member of the Clef Club and a key leader within the organization, acting as the stage director of their October 1910 exhibition concert. [30] When on May 2, 1912, the Clef Club Symphony Orchestra made their debut at Carnegie Hall putting on “A Concert of Negro Music,” Dixon was one of the ten-member piano “section” of the now-legendary performance. It was the first time an African American orchestra had played in Carnegie Hall. [31]
Clef Club Orchestra. 1911. MD Historical Society.
That same year, in 1912, Dixon married widow Madam Maude Mae Rubey Seay in New York City. Known as “The Queen of Milliner’s” “Madam Seay” was a star in her own right. [32]
Will H. Dixon compositions "Delicioso" and "Ardente Ivresse" are advertised in Jacob's Orchesta Monthly, January, 1915, just opposite of a review of the annual concert of the Stone Presbyterian Sunday School Orchestra in Elm Grove, a suburb of Dixon's hometown of Wheeling, WV. Will H. Dixon compositions “Delicioso” and “Ardente Ivresse” are advertised in Jacob’s Orchesta Monthly, January, 1915, just opposite of a review of the annual concert of the Stone Presbyterian Sunday School Orchestra in Elm Grove, a suburb of Dixon’s hometown of Wheeling, WV. Between 1913 and 1914, Dixon wrote four light classical instrumental works: “Ardente Ivresse,” “Delicioso,” “Breath of Autumn,” and “Brazilian Dreams” (three of these songs are featured in the video above), furthering his reputation as a composer. [33] In January of 1914, the Chicago Defender, the city’s African American newspaper once heralded itself as “The World’s Greatest Weekly,” called Dixon: “Gentlemanly, courteous, and affable, ever ready to give a helping hand to the fellow farther down, is it to be wondered at that his friends are numbered by the hundreds, and those who have not had the rare good fortune to know him personally have enjoyed the fruits of his efforts in a musical way. For Mr. Dixon is a composer whose fame has spread over both continents. The world’s greatest singers have taken pleasure in interpreting his exquisite musical compositions, and in the instrumental field he hold an enviable position… Mr. Dixon’s talent is best displayed in his classical numbers and critics say his work forcibly reminds them of the old masters. Mr. Dixon is not only a credit to Chicago, but a credit to his race.” [34]
Dixon continued to write music and perform with musical troupes until 1916, when he began exhibiting signs of “mental trouble,” what we now know was final-stage syphilis. He returned to the family home in Chicago to be cared for by his mother in his final days. [35] Will H. Dixon passed away May 14, 1917 [36] at just 38 years of age. He is buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago. [37]
Will H. Dixon, pictured in the New York Age, June 7, 1917. An obituary ran in the New York Age three weeks later. It read, “Will H. Dixon, composer, wrote a number of pretty musical numbers during his lifetime, and was chock full of ambition. His chief aim in recent years was to secure the production of an opera to which he had written both the libretto and score… Will H. Dixon was gentlemanly in conduct and possessed many qualities that stamped him as a man with a good heart and kindly intentions toward all.” [38]
Two years before his death, the Dixons had a daughter, Francesca Alfreta Dixon, born in Chicago on June 1, 1915. [39] “Frankye,” as she was known, followed in her father’s musical footsteps. She was a musical prodigy in her own right, classically trained and a graduate of Juilliard, New York University, & Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. She was a young society girl and one of Harlem’s leading concert pianists, accompanist to famed Contralto, R. Louise Burge, critic and editorial writer for the New York Amsterdam News, a music scholar, lecturer, and a tenured Professor of Music at Howard University’s College of Liberal Arts & the School of Music. [40]