Biography
Born in Peru, Illinois, Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey first touched the piano at age four. While still in high school he already directed his own dance ensemble. After graduation he pursued formal training in serious music at Chicago Musical College, where the French Impressionists captured his attention; their "modernistic" harmonic language would later define much of his output as both composer and performer.
In 1915 he accepted his first paid position, demonstrating music at the Chicago branch of Harry von Tilzer’s firm, and there issued his earliest songs. Two years later he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, though his service never advanced beyond the stage of the Navy-sponsored revue Leave It to the Sailors. During the show’s run he made his initial piano roll for the Imperial Company, recording the production number “Over the Top.”
Once discharged, Confrey joined QRS as pianist and roll editor, ultimately creating nearly two hundred rolls, most of which he prepared himself. Peers considered him among the most exacting editors in the trade, above all when shaping his own material. One of his earliest QRS efforts, the original “My Pet,” introduced novelty ragtime, a manner that absorbed structural traits of French Impressionism and challenged even competent players, though amateurs were still invited to try.
The breakthrough arrived in 1921 with “Kitten on the Keys,” whose sheet-music sales surpassed one million copies and turned Confrey into a national figure; over time the piece ranked third among the most-recorded rags, behind only Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” and Euday Bowman’s “Twelfth Street Rag.” That same year he began cutting phonograph discs, appearing by 1932 on Edison, Emerson, Brunswick, Victor, and HMV. For the final three labels he was accompanied by pickup orchestras most often directed by Walter “Gus” Haenschen or Nathaniel Shilkret. Recordings never received the same care he gave to rolls and printed scores; on at least one date pianist Phil Ohman substituted for him.
On 12 February 1924 Confrey appeared as featured soloist, billed above George Gershwin, at the Experiment in Modern Music concert in Aeolian Hall that premiered “Rhapsody in Blue.” Later that year he left QRS for the Aeolian company, yet his roll-editing activity tapered off by the late 1920s. He kept composing and publishing until retiring after World War II, producing character pieces for piano, popular songs, miniature operas, and pedagogical works. Public recognition later declined, and he died of Parkinson’s disease at seventy-six.
Despite the range of his catalog, Confrey remains known chiefly as the “King of Novelty Ragtime.” He is further identified with the 1921 song “Stumbling” and such pieces as “You Tell ’Em Ivories” (1921), “Coaxing the Piano” (1922), “Dizzy Fingers” (1923), and “Nickel in the Slot” (1923). These works stand as classics of the novelty-ragtime idiom, and several have entered the standard instrumental jazz and pop repertoire. His final novelty rag, “Giddy Ditty,” appeared in 1935.
In 1915 he accepted his first paid position, demonstrating music at the Chicago branch of Harry von Tilzer’s firm, and there issued his earliest songs. Two years later he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, though his service never advanced beyond the stage of the Navy-sponsored revue Leave It to the Sailors. During the show’s run he made his initial piano roll for the Imperial Company, recording the production number “Over the Top.”
Once discharged, Confrey joined QRS as pianist and roll editor, ultimately creating nearly two hundred rolls, most of which he prepared himself. Peers considered him among the most exacting editors in the trade, above all when shaping his own material. One of his earliest QRS efforts, the original “My Pet,” introduced novelty ragtime, a manner that absorbed structural traits of French Impressionism and challenged even competent players, though amateurs were still invited to try.
The breakthrough arrived in 1921 with “Kitten on the Keys,” whose sheet-music sales surpassed one million copies and turned Confrey into a national figure; over time the piece ranked third among the most-recorded rags, behind only Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” and Euday Bowman’s “Twelfth Street Rag.” That same year he began cutting phonograph discs, appearing by 1932 on Edison, Emerson, Brunswick, Victor, and HMV. For the final three labels he was accompanied by pickup orchestras most often directed by Walter “Gus” Haenschen or Nathaniel Shilkret. Recordings never received the same care he gave to rolls and printed scores; on at least one date pianist Phil Ohman substituted for him.
On 12 February 1924 Confrey appeared as featured soloist, billed above George Gershwin, at the Experiment in Modern Music concert in Aeolian Hall that premiered “Rhapsody in Blue.” Later that year he left QRS for the Aeolian company, yet his roll-editing activity tapered off by the late 1920s. He kept composing and publishing until retiring after World War II, producing character pieces for piano, popular songs, miniature operas, and pedagogical works. Public recognition later declined, and he died of Parkinson’s disease at seventy-six.
Despite the range of his catalog, Confrey remains known chiefly as the “King of Novelty Ragtime.” He is further identified with the 1921 song “Stumbling” and such pieces as “You Tell ’Em Ivories” (1921), “Coaxing the Piano” (1922), “Dizzy Fingers” (1923), and “Nickel in the Slot” (1923). These works stand as classics of the novelty-ragtime idiom, and several have entered the standard instrumental jazz and pop repertoire. His final novelty rag, “Giddy Ditty,” appeared in 1935.
Albums
Singles
