Annotation:Ivy Leaf Reel (1)
Tune properties and standard notation
IVY LEAF REEL [1]. AKA and see "Johnson's Reel (3)," "Smoky Chimney (The)." American, Reel or Clog. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The composition is among the several credited to Zeke Backus in Ryan's/Cole's 1000-he was perhaps a New England bandleader. There was a Charles Backus who was a blackface minstrel performer in the mid-1800's, who performed for some time in San Francisco. Zeke is sometimes identified with him, but whether they are the same man, or related, is unknown. Zeke is mentioned in Thomas Allston Brown's A History of the New York Stage (1902, pp. 361-362) in an entry on "a place of amusement" that featured minstrel and variety performers, called White's Melodeon, located at 53 Bowery Street in the mid-19th century:
Among those who became famous in the minstrel world afterwards, and who appeared here, were Master Juba, Neil Hall, tambourine; Bill Smith, bones (Smith was noted for his large mouth); Frank Stanton, banjo; Clem Titus, violin jig player; and Zeke Backus, violin jig and reel player.
Backus was also an original member of Edwin P. Christy's famous Christy's Minstrels, whose opening performance was at New York City's Palmo's Opera House, in 1846, where they continued performances until 1852, and also met with great success in London.
George C. Coe's Album of Jigs and Reels contained the tune under the title "Johnson's Reel (3)", and was published in the United States in the 1880's at about the same time Boston publisher Elias Howe issued his Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883), where the tune is called "Ivy Leaf." The melody is in O'Neill's Music of Ireland (1903) as the hornpipe "Smoky Chimney." See also the related "Seán sa Ceo/Cheo." Cape Breton fiddler Winston Fitzgerlad recorded a clog (hornpipe) version of the tune, a setting that has been imitated by other Cape Breton fiddlers.
Source for notated version: Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford].
Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 45. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 32, p. 12. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 73.
Recorded sources:
See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]