‘The Bryce Edwards Frivolity Hour’ – A Whizz-Bang Good Time

By Alix Cohen

Tonight the inimitable Bryce Edwards and his snappy, sophisticated band take us as musically close to the 1920s and 30s as we’re likely to get. A historian and owner of antique instruments, the musician talks the talk and walks the walk.There’s no affectation. Edwards and his band love this music.They play with pleasure and respect, embracing the era, its vocabulary and tropes.

“The Gold Digger’s Song – We’re in the Money” (Al Dubin/Harry Warren 1933) swings in conjuring a line of tapping chorines. Edwards plays expert ukulele. Brass waves giant coins. A slow, Hawaiian-flavored verse arrives in Pig Latin. “Is everybody happy?”

Trumpet emerges clean and bright. I have a suspicion Mike Davis is a descendant of Gabriel. Ricky Alexander’s alto sax sashays with warmth and fluency. Bass sax (Jay Rattman) contributes oom pah underpinning and later, a rarity, leads melody. Conal Fowkes lifts his hands high over piano keys, fingers dancing fast and precise.

Edwards bounces into “At the Motion Picture Ball” (Howard Johnson/Joseph H. Santly 1920) Motion-picture balls were a genuine, publicity- generating phenomenon of the silent-film era. Eyebrows rise and fall like semaphores. Left foot keeps time; the right intermittently kicks back at the knee. Movement is infectious.

The artist plays Stroh ukulele for “Brown Eyes, Why Are You Blue?” (George W. Meyer/Alfred Bryan 1925) Fitted with a resonating metal diaphragm and horn, the rare instrument was used before amplification was common.“You know, honest and true/Brown eyes should never be balaooo,” he warbles.

“Hot Cawfee aka Coffee” (Bartley Costello/Bennie Krueger 1926), takes shape – phrase-stop, phrase-stop, like Morse Code. Vocal technique includes yodels, scats and eeks (a high, thin, vocal sound with deliberately exaggerated nasal quality.) Hips pick up rhythm; knees sway. “Hold tight! Good night! You’re the honey for my money…”

Edwards learned “Blue River” (Joseph Meyer/Alfred Bryan 1927) from recordings of Al Jolson and Bix Beiderbecke. “Birds in the trees and a song in the breeze/Blue River, why are you blue?” he earnestly sings. Trumpet and clarinet music loop around lyrics, then take us out, “wah whaah.”

Featured vocalist and Edwards’ proudly stated girlfriend, Reilly Wilmit, duets on “They Didn’t Believe Me.” (Herbert Reynolds/ Jerome Kern 1914) Lightly plucked mandolin recalls soft-shoe. The couple also offer “Home in Pasadena” (Grant Clarke/Edgar Leslie/ Harry Warren 1939), including jaunty counterpoint. They bridge with a few dance steps and some vaudeville jokes.

An attractive young woman, Wilmit has a musical theater background. Her appealing voice is not quite in period sync yet and she needs to look at her audience, but the two are charming together.

George L. Cobb was a ragtime pianist who could play anything. Challenged to interpret Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C Minor, he produced 1918’s “Russian Rag.” Tonight’s sole instrumental, the piece is a rousing, unexpected meld with braiding themes.

“We can’t be hotsy- totsy all the time,” Edwards quips introducing “Laugh Clown, Laugh.” (Sam M. Lewis/Joe Young/Ted Fiorito 1928) Out comes the megaphone…and strains of Pagliacci. Long-lined and peppered with parlando, the song is poignant.
“I’m a Dreamer Aren’t We All?” (Buddy De Sylva/Lew Brown/ Ray Henderson 1929) is helmed by Jay Rattman, “the Fred Astaire of the bass saxophone.” Lyrics sail out, turn, and curve back like boomerangs.

Sophie Tucker recorded “Makin’ Wicky- Wackey Down in Waikiki.” (Al Hoffman/Burton Lane 1931) The song begins traditionally corny, then combines ragtime syncopation with Hawaiian melody and imagery. ‘Send ’em home smiling! They always do.

Photos – Alix Cohen
Opening: Conal Fowkes, Bryce Edwards, Mike Davis, Ricky Alexander, Jay Rattman

The Bryce Edwards Frivolity Hour
Bryce Edwards- (Vocals, Banjo, Ukulele, Mandolin, Songophone); Mike Davis (Cornet, Vocal Harmonies); Ricky Alexander (Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Vocal Harmonies), Conal Fawkes (Piano, Vocal Harmonies) Jay Rattman (Bass Saxophone);
Reilly Wilmit (Featured Vocalist)
Birdland 9/14/26