Skip to main content

Mark Olitsky: The Banjo Wizard of Cleveland

My first exposure to the dance-groove rhythm of Mark Olitsky’s banjo was in a brief YouTube clip of him playing at the Tazewell County (Va.) Fiddler’s Convention. Just over half a minute was enough to leave me craving more. Thankfully, Olitsky lives in Cleveland, just half an hour north of my home.

For the past two years, I’ve attended a workshop with Olitsky at the Kent State University annual Folk Festival, where I’ve tried to gain just a tiny insight to his playing style. Last week, he explained his approach to the banjo and old-time music.

“I don’t know how I would describe my style,” he says. “When I first started playing, I tried to put in a lot of melody notes, not really a melodic banjo style — I wasn’t proficient enough for that — but something that I thought might sound like an intricate take on the melody, with as much drop thumb as possible.”

However, that all changed after Olitsky attended his first music festival in the South, where he saw banjo players who played a more rhythmic style to accompany the fiddlers.

“They weren’t necessarily dropping their thumb a lot — some didn’t at all, but the syncopation and the groove were amazing to me,” Olitsky recalls. “I’m sure that I could have found that revelation back home, as there were some great players in Cleveland, but it took going to music festivals to really open my ears. After that I tried to find what notes to leave out of my playing, and to be more aware of the rhythms that can be played along with the melody.”

Some people have described Olitsky’s playing as “popcorn style” because of the rhythmic pop he sometimes creates. Olitsky finds the label confusing. Whether this term is meant to be derisive or not, he is in good company, as other well-known players such Richie Stearns of The Horse Flies, Frank Lee of The Freight Hoppers, and Tom Riccio of the Bubba Red Hots have also been lumped into this group. As with any label, it’s limiting to what these players do and far from actually describing the sound they create.

You can hear Olitsky play on a number of recordings and there are many video clips of him online. What you’ll find is how he varies his playing to complement the fiddler while driving the rhythm. Sometimes you’ll hear him play high up the neck, and other times he’ll play a bassier accompaniment. You’ll hear that popping pulse, but you’ll also hear his virtuosic approach to melody, counter-melody and harmony.

Olitsky started playing the banjo in the 1970s while he was a student at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He remembers getting together between classes with his friend Neil Carroll, who is now an old-time fiddler and banjo player living in Asheville, N.C.

“Someone brought an old banjo around and we’d try to figure out what to do with it,” he says. “We both ended up taking lessons at Goose Acres Folk Music Store, which was next to the Case Western Reserve University campus.”

Goose Acres was run by Peter Smakula and his son, Bob, who were both accomplished banjo players. Goose Acres has since closed. Peter died in 2008, and Bob now owns Smakula Fretted Instruments in Elkins, W.Va.

“When I first met Pete I told him that I wanted to learn how to play bluegrass banjo, the only style that I was aware of at the time,” Olitsky says. “He told me that I should start by playing old-time in order to start some rudimentary right hand work so that I could concentrate on the left hand. I didn’t really want to do this, I didn’t even know what old-time was, but I went along with it. I got to a point where I ‘graduated’ to trying to learn bluegrass banjo, but it didn’t last very long.”

It was too late. Olitsky was hooked on old-time music.

It may seem strange that Cleveland was the setting for Olitsky’s early exposure to the banjo. Although Cleveland is most often associated with burning rivers and rusty factories, Olitsky says the city had a strong community interested in this Appalachian music.

“When I first started to learn banjo, and before I started going to Southern music festivals, Cleveland had a nice old time music scene and I listened to Bob Smakula’s banjo playing a lot,” he says. “I also tried to find any recordings that I could find of Kyle Creed, Wade Ward, and Fred Cockerham. But Tommy Jarrell’s ‘Come and Go With Me’ was the album that I never got tired of listening to. I had the opportunity to hear him fiddle at festivals, but I never saw him play banjo. I don’t know if you would call him an influence of mine, since I don’t play anything like he did, but I thought that his banjo playing was incredible.”

Olitsky says other early influences were the younger musicians like Al Tharp’s playing with the Plank Road String Band, David Winston, and John Herrmann, among many others.

* * *

To be continued. Read part 2 of "The Banjo Wizard of Cleveland" tomorrow. Until then here is Olitsky at last year's Portland (Ore.) Old Time Gathering: 

Comments

  1. thanks for doing this. Are there any videos of Mark playing that aren't from his back? I watched him at Clifftop as long as i thought was polite, but i couldn't figure out what he was doing. Like John Hermann and others, he primarily plays rhythm, but it's hard to figure out how to do that, especially if you've been trained at many workshops and classes to play {mostly} melody.

    jim

    ReplyDelete
  2. Viper -

    Do you know if Mark is taking on students and how to contact him? I live on the West side of Cleveland and I'm a new banjo player. I'd like to take some lessons...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Andrew,

    Thank you for your comment. I'm not sure if Mark is taking on students now or not. I know of one reader who was taking lessons recently, but I don't believe they were on a regular (i.e., weekly) basis. Mark typically hosts a workshop at the KSU Folk Festival, which I encourage you to attend and meet him face to face. The free workshops are not yet posted, but will likely be on Saturday, Sept. 22.

    I'll post to the blog when I know more. In the mean time, you should check out the Raccoon County festival in Burton in a couple weeks. Bob Smakula is scheduled to play a set, and he was one of Mark's early influences. Also, be sure to visit the Northeast Ohio Old Time Music Group on Facebook. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Viper -

      I'll check out all these resources! Thanks for the help.

      Andrew

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ultimate Banjo Joke Compendium

This post is dedicated to my friend Joel Specht. Ever since the Olitsky & Moskovitz concert last month, my son has been obsessed with banjo jokes. During one of the MANY tuning breaks, they asked the crowd to fill the time by telling their favorite quips about the old five-string. Joel told many that night. I've been trying to remember them, along with best ones I've heard over the years for when my son asks again, so I thought I'd make this list. Question: What's the difference between a banjo and an onion? Answer: Nobody cries when you cut up a banjo. Question: How do you know if the floor is level? Answer: The banjo player is drooling out of both sides of his mouth. Question: What's the difference between a banjo and trampoline? Answer: You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline. Question: What's the definition of perfect pitch? Answer: When you can throw a banjo into a dumpster without hitting the sides. Question: How do yo...

Clawhammer Picks and You: A Review

Clawhammer picks are a useful tool for increasing volume or to overcome fingernail challenges, such as broken, too short or weak nails. There are all sorts of commercial and homemade solutions available for banjo players, but it can be difficult to decide which options to choose. Thankfully, I've already done some of the work for you. Just to be clear, I prefer my natural fingernail for frailing. However, there was a time when I experimented with regularly using a pick, and there are instances now where I find that a pick is necessary. Today, I'll take you through the five options I've tried. These are all available online at prices ranging from about $1 to $13. Reversed/Reshaped Dunlop Pick ($0.75) This was the most common suggestion before other companies started addressing the gap in the clawhammer pick market. Take a bluegrass pick, flatten it out and wear it backwards. The problem is that it's hard to get the fit right. While Dunlop picks are cheap and r...

Summer Blockbusters: Top 10 Banjo Movies

We’re nearing the end of the summer movie season, which this year has included blockbusters like Avengers: Infinity War , Solo: A Star Wars Story , Incredibles 2 and other movies, including some that weren’t produced by Disney. However, none of these films showcases a banjo in any way. It's not like the banjo hasn't been featured on the silver screen throughout film history. The five-string has starred in numerous movies, sometimes in its proper context as a musical instrument and other times as a comedic prop. Whether making a cameo or starring in the hands of the main character, it's well past time to present my Top 10 Banjo Blockbusters: O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, this movie sucked me into the realm of old-time , bluegrass and country music in general. The banjo is featured in a number of songs on the soundtrack and shows up on screen a few times throughout the movie. Top Banjo Moment: Delmar picks the banjo b...