written by Gumble between 1909 and 1919. Albert Gumble was born in
North Vernon, Indiana, on September 10, 1883. He was the younger brother of pianist, songwriter, and publisher Moses Edwin Gumble. He was educated at the Auditorium School of Music (later known as the Ohio Conservatory of Music) in
Cincinnati where he was a pupil of
Clarence Adler After graduating, he moved to Chicago where he began composing in the early 1900s. He composed several more rags for the music publisher
Jerome H. Remick, including the "Bolo Rag" (1908), "Minstrel Band Rag" (1909), "Georgia Rag" (1910), and "Red Fox Trot" (1917). In addition to composing rags for Tin Pan Alley, Gumble also simultaneously worked as a songwriter. Scholar
John Bush Jones stated that "Between 1909 and 1919 Albert Gumble seems to have made a career out of writing the music for nineteen
dixie tunes with words by ten different lyricists." Some of his dixie songs published by Jerome H. Remick included "Lady Love" (1909, lyricist William M. McKenna), "At The Mississippi Cabaret" (1914, lyricist A. Seymour Brown, recorded by the
American Quartet), "Welcome Honey To Your Own Plantation Home" (1917, lyricist Yellen, recorded by
Al Jolson), "So This is Dixie" (1917, lyricist Yellen), "Southern Gals" (1917, lyricist Yellen), and "There's A Lump of Sugar Down in Dixie" (1918, lyricists
Alfred Bryan and Yellen; recorded by Al Jolson). Music publisher
Leo Feist published another dixie medley by Gumble and Yellen, "There's Nothing Sweeter Than A Girl From Dixieland" (1917). "Are You Sincere?" was a hit song for
Elise Stevenson who recorded the work for the
Victor Talking Machine Company in 1908. His romantic ballad "On Lake Champlain", about two lovers who are paddling by moonlight at midnight on the
North American Lake, was published in the 2009 anthology
New York Sings: 400 Years of the Empire State In Song. . Published by Jerome H. Remick. Gumble also wrote music for
Broadway. He contributed some instrumental music to
Harold Atteridge and
Sigmund Romberg's 1918 musical
Sinbad at the
Winter Garden Theatre, and his song "Peachie" (lyricist Yellen) was written for Act 2 of the
musical revue Frivolities of 1920 at the
44th Street Theatre. His greatest contribution to musical theatre was co-writing the score to
Red Pepper with
Owen Murphy.
Red Pepper used lyrics by
Howard Emmett Rogers and was staged at the
Shubert Theatre in 1922. Gumble and Murphy's score was rooted in
jazz at a time when musical fashion on Broadway was just beginning to shift in that direction. Their forward thinking score shocked the reviewer in the
New York Post who criticized their music for its embrace of that music genre. Gumble continued to publish music with Remick through 1928 after which he worked as a staff composer and arranger for
Donaldson, Douglas, and Gumble which was co-founded by his brother and songwriters
Walter Donaldson and Walter Douglas. In the 1930s his career slowly shifted away from composing and arranging into piano playing. In 1938 he took a position as resident pianist at the
Ansonia Hotel in Manhattan where he remained until his death eight years later. Albert Gumble died on November 30, 1946, in New York City. He and his wife, Florence Loraine Simmons, whom he married in 1915, had one son together, Albert Gumble Jr. ==References==