Frank Groundsell

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Frank Groundsell (born July 1, 1889 in Southampton , † February 26, 1941 in Glasgow ) was a British comedian and entertainment musician ( conductor ), who also appeared in Europe under the names Frank Wagner and Mr. Maseltop; In 1919, as F. Groundzell, he was the "creator of the first German jazz record".

Live and act

Groundsell performed as a clown in his father's inn at a young age , sang in a choir and learned the banjo and cornet . In 1900 he was sent by his father as a cadet on the training ship Mercury , where he completed both school and military training. He then worked for some time in a chemical factory to join The Zerbinis , a variety group of acrobats and musicians, in 1903 . In 1904 the troupe met the orchestra of John Philip Sousa while on tour . Impressed by their march and ragtime numbers, an imitation was added to the program, with Groundsell imitating the conductor.

In 1911 Groundsell founded his own troupe, The Four Wagners , in which he conducted and played cornet, but, impressed by Houdini , also worked as a magician and in 1913 received an engagement at the Berlin Kerkau-Palast , where he conducted an orchestra in a very eccentric way and performed numbers like Alexander's Ragtime Band , Dixie and Baby Doll performed . In 1914 Max Winter put him at the center of a report for the Arbeiter-Zeitung . During the war, Groundsell managed to obtain an American passport. In 1915/16, according to his autobiography, he was recruited as an agent by the British secret service during a short trip from Berlin to Amsterdam, for whom he then worked until the end of the war. In 1916 he appeared as part of a circus show in Rotterdam, and then performed with his own orchestra mainly in the Netherlands until the beginning of 1919. Then he worked in Berlin, where in December 1919 he recorded " Tiger Rag " and other German records with "Jazz" with his Original Excentric Band for the Berlin record company Homokord , which were released on January 15, 1920 and sold well. At the end of 1920 he was active with his orchestra in Prague.

From February 1921, Groundsell was back in London, where he also appeared as an eccentric conductor. Appearances for 1923 from Brussels are documented, for spring 1927 from Berlin. At the end of the 1920s he ran the Bieber café in Hamburg. Due to the Great Depression , he was back in Great Britain in the early 1930s. After founding and bankrupt a pension, he went to sea and worked in various professions before he became a criminal. In 1935 he published his autobiography, The Lunatic Spy, with Jarrolds . In 1941 he died in Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow; a poor hospital.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deutschlandfunk
  2. ^ According to Wolfgang Knauer , not only were all votes written out; "The stiff rhythm and the awkward-looking handling of the syncope" reminded him of the ragtime arrangements of recordings by (American) brass bands at the time. - W. Knauer "Play yourself, man!" The history of jazz in Germany. Stuttgart 2019, p. 27
personal data
SURNAME Groundsell, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wagner, Frank; Mr. Maseltop
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British comedian and entertainment musician
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Southampton
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 1941
Place of death Glasgow