121 new of 256 responses total.
I was at John's place the other day, working on a rag I sent him. It's a very rough draft, and I was working in 8-bar phrases instead of the standard 16. He played his interpretation of it, added some ideas for additional eight-bar material, and started developing the material for a B section. It was pretty easy-- I could see he was inverting the musical lines and motifs in general, and we dropped the key a major 3rd from G major to E flat major. John has a diskclavier built into the Yamaha piano he uses in his music room, so we got it programmed into memory and saved to disk. He graciously gave me the disk so I can take it to our small university piano lab and see if I can't have a computer MIDI program read it. It's much easier to then have a manuscripting program take care of the writing for you. The song is nothing terribly new-- I was almost certain that I'd heard the tune somewhere before when it popped into my head. When I first started playing it, before I wrote it down, I thought back to the few rags I've played, and realized I'd never played it. Many of the techniques I've used, however, are used in other ragtime pieces. I hope to get the song finished, and send John a demo tape of something MIDI-sequenced. I'd like to have him record it, and I also would like to hear it played sometime, even if it isn't terribly original.
I'd love to see a copy too, when you get it finished, Jon.
Next week I'll be attending the Ragtime Institute at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Three days of lectures, master classes, and private lessons with some of the top performers and composers in ragtime today: Scott Kirby, Glenn Jenks, Frank French, David Thomas Roberts, and others. It's being held in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival, which I'm also attending. I recently learned something about the age distribution of the students enrolled in the Institute. Five people (including myself) in their 50's and 60's, one 39-year-old, and everybody else under 20. This data tends to confirm my suspicion that ragtime appeals the most to kids and coots.
Overlooked by the Baby Boomers? Then again, a number of boomers I know are also into other pre-Rock and Roll music, including swing era jazz or early Blues.
Well, ragtime had its last big revival in the 1970's, as a spinoff of Joshua Rifkin's Joplin recordings and the soundtrack of "The Sting". I'd say it's about due for another one. I'm not sure if the current popularity of swing era music will help foster a new ragtime revival or not. I'm encouraged by the fact that some talented younger performers are doing ragtime. Reginald Robinson, for example. In Sedalia there were several featured performers who are still in high school and who are really excellent: Neil Blaze (17), Marit Johnson (16), Martin Spitznagel (16), Sara Roth (15). Spitznagel in particular is extremely talented and accomplished; he composes as well as plays. I expect he'll be putting out CD's soon.
Spitznagel has a web page at
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/2422/
The site has a few MIDI files of his own renditions of rags by Joplin
and others, plus biographical information at
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/2422/personal.htm
(Be forewarned that being a Geocities site, it inflicts annoying pop-up
ads on you.)
Martin's renditions of Joplin are somewhat idiosyncratic and I think
show the jazz influence of his teacher Tony Caramia. Check out in
particular his original but somewhat brash interpretation of "Maple Leaf
Rag". (It helps if your browser has a MIDI plug-in.)
Hmm... I've attended four ragtime festivals this past spring and summer, and haven't gotten around to writing my planned comprehensive reports on any of them. What stops me is the daunting task of trying to organize complex events into what would be rather long essays. So I think I'll give up on comprehensiveness and coherence and instead post short snippets about my experiences, in no particular order. That way, I'll at least get *something* written down.
I spent nine days earlier this month at the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Institute and Festival in Boulder, Colorado, where the mountains begin. It was the 8th annual RMRF and the first one that I attended. (In fact, I'd never been to Colorado before this trip.) The Institute, held on the University of Colorado campus, was a new feature this year - three days of lectures, master classes, and private lessons, intended for both young people and adults who wanted to improve their skills in performing ragtime music. The instructors were four of the leading performers and composers of ragtime today: Scott Kirby (my favorite Joplin interpreter), Frank French, Glenn Jenks, and David Thomas Roberts. There were about a dozen people enrolled in the Institute, with an almost even split between high school students and folks over 50, and one 30-something person representing the middle. Enrollees' skill levels were all over the map, ranging from near beginners to some rather accomplished musicians. For my private instructor, I drew Glenn Jenks, whom I already knew from previous festivals. In two private lessons, we worked on James Scott's "Peace and Plenty Rag" and "Ragtime Oriole," for which Glenn had some useful suggestions regarding interpretation and technique. In the master class, all the students had to perform a solo in front of the other students and the four instructors, who would then critique the student's performance.^OThis was the most nerve-racking part of the Institute for me as it was, I suspect, for most of the other students. I did "Peace and Plenty Rag", and it went decently except that I let the tempo run away with me a bit much (I tend to play faster when I'm nervous). Three days after the Institute was over, there was a Student Concert in which the Institute enrollees were all expected to perform (except for a handful who were at a distinctly lower skill level). Between the Wednesday when the Institute ended and the Saturday of the Student Concert, I put in about six hours of practicing to make sure I had all the technical and interpretive points nailed down. For the concert, I played Scott's "Ragtime Oriole," which went quite well. Despite the fact that I was playing in front of a couple hundred people in a large auditorium, I found this to be much less nerve-wracking than the master class had been, and so was able to be much more relaxed. I'm sure the practicing helped.
By the way, John, I haven't examined the diskclavier disk yet-- I still need a Mac program that will translate it as a file readable by a manuscripting program. (Um, even if it was for IBM PC instead, a Power Mac could still read it, right?) note to those who came in late: I'm hoping to one day have a new ragtime composition that John could showcase for me.. just for the experience.. don't know about getting it published for royalties..
Over the last couple of years I've collected a little original sheet music from the ragtime era. I haven't been systematic about it, and have no intention of getting into collecting in a big-time way - it's a pretty expensive habit - but if in my travels I spot an antique store or used bookstore with a sheet music collection, I'll look it over to see if there's anything interesting that's not too expensive. I spotted my most interesting recent acquisition last June at the Egbert Van Alstyne Festival in Woodstock, Illinois. Dick Zimmerman was at the festival as a performer. In addition to performing, Zimmerman is a considerable researcher and music collector - he was the person who unearthed a copy of Scott Joplin's long-lost "Silver Swan Rag" back in the 1970's. Zimmerman brought some of his old sheet music to the festival that he wanted to unload and had it on display for sale. In leafing through the collection I spotted a copy of George Botsford's classic "Black and White Rag" from 1908. It was one of the most popular pieces of the ragtime era; its popularity survived the ragtime era and it went on to become a big band staple in the 1920's and later. It's a piece I like a lot and learned to play recently from a reprint of a 1920's edition. In examine Zimmerman's 1908 copy, I immediately spotted a some differences from the version I know - completely different introduction, walking bass, and a few other things. So I decided I had to have this, since (1) it was the original version, and (2) it's significantly different from the version I knew and had heard other people play. Plus it was only $14, since it wasn't in particularly good shape, although all the music was there and perfectly legible. Over the last few weeks I've been re-learning the piece using the 1908 edition, and have it pretty well down now. The original works better at a slower tempo than the 1920's edition, suggesting that the composer (or someone else, perhaps) made changes to accommodate the faster tempos fashionable in the 1920's, which was the era of "novelty ragtime". In any case, I prefer the 1908 version musically. Since I've never heard anyone else play this version, it may be a unique feature of my repertoire.
By the way, I found an excellent MIDI file of Botsford's "Black and
White Rag" (1908 version) on Warren Trachtman's website:
http://www.trachtman.org/MIDI/Misc/blakwhit.mid
It's played a little bit faster than I do it, but I think the tempo is
just fine.
Trachtman's ragtime-oriented website is excellent, and I recommend
checking it out for MIDI files, sheet music, and other things:
http://www.trachtman.org/
In case you see this before you get your mail (Grex is down): I need a backup of the diskclavier disk; I've misplaced it. I'm beginning to think I need to work on this rag after I get to Michigan. I have no idea when I'll find the time to finish it. Did you find any translator programs that could convert the data to an IBM/Mac file that a manuscripting program could read?
Greetings, live from Sacramento, California! I'm here for the West Coast Ragtime Festival, which runs today through Sunday. Thought I'd be out of touch with Grex, but I found a Kinko's with internet access near my hotel, so here I am. Since I'm being charged by the minute, I'll make this brief. Arrived Wednesday evening. Before I left, I got email from a California ragtime friend of mine by the name of Nan Bostick. She was a headliner at last summer's Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival and recommended that I try the piano in the Ice Cream Emporium there. So yesterday I drove down to Sutter Creek to check things out. Turns out that Sutter Creek is a little tourist town near the site of Sutter's big gold discovery of 1849. It's even located on highway 49. The whole town if about four blocks long, with a heavy emphasis on gift shops, antique stores, and eateries. I found the Ice Cream Emporium. In the back sat an upright piano with various folios of ragtime music on the music desk. A good sign -- the place was ragtime-friendly. Nobody was playing the piano, so I asked the counter clerk if it was okay to try it out. She said sure, the boss usually plays it all day, but he's not here today. So I sat down and played a few tunes. They went over well with the assembled customers. They especially seemed to like the Charlie Johnson tunes I've learned recently: Barber Pole Rag, Fun on the Levee, Pigeon Wing. If there's time, I'll head back to Sutter Creek before I return to Michigan; I'm curious to meet "the boss". It's about 8:30 a.m. now; the festival gets underway at noon and goes more or less continuously until late Sunday afternoon. Terrific lineup of performers this year. I'm really looking forward to it and to seeing various ragtime friends again. Dunno if I'll have time to check into Grex before I get back home.
Hm, someday I'll post a followup report on the West Coast Ragtime Festival, maybe. It was a fine event. In a few minutes I'm off to the annual "Christmas Ragtime Bash" at the Unitarian Church, featuring Bolcom & Morris, Mike Montgomery, and others. Ta ta for now...
Waaaah, I wish I'd known this was coming up.
Guess I shoulda posted an announcement here. Sorry. It wasn't very well publicized; I found it by scanning the Observer events listings. Nonetheless, it was a full house by 20 minutes before start time. This despite the less accessible location of the new church, the larger seating capacity there (I think), and the absence of publicity. It was a fun and lively concert. The emcee for the evening was Mike Montgomery of Detroit, a performer, scholar, and piano roll collector who's been around for a long time. Some forty years ago he performed an invaluable service to the ragtime community by seeking out the great classical ragtime composer Joseph Lamb and recording Lamb playing his rags (including many unpublished ones) on tape. This was just a year or two before Lamb's death, so it's thanks to Mike that we know about a lot of Lamb's compositions. I've encountered Mike at a few ragtime festivals around the country over the last couple of years, and we've joked about the fact that despite the fact that we're both Michiganders, we'd never actually met in Michigan. Well, last night we finally did. Montgomery led off with a performance of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag", appropriate since 1999 is the hundredth anniversary of its publication. After pointing out that saloon players of the ragtime era mostly learned music by ear rather than from sheet music, (many couldn't read music), and tended to play in their own style rather than note-for-note, he played "Maple Leaf" in the key of F (it's written in A flat) with some departures from the written score. Sounded pretty good. Next William Bolcom performed, minus wife Joan Morris, who was down with a cold and "off voice". He zipped through a Venezuelan "Danza", Eubie Blake's "Charleston Rag", and his own composition "Graceful Ghost". Difficult music all. I don't believe I'd ever heard him perform "Ghost" live before, and he did it a little differently from his early-seventies recording. A bit brisker tempo, and he didn't "swing" the 16th notes like he did in the recording. James Dapogny did some stride pieces, his specialty: Jelly Roll Morton's "Stratford Hunch", James P. Johnson's "Snowy Morning Blues", Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag". Then he was joined by vocalist Susan Chastain for a couple of numbers: "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea", and a gospel tune. I'd not heard Chastain before; she has a powerful but very warm voice, and was a delight to listen to. The first half of the concert closed with an unscheduled appearance by Rick Grafton, who runs a club called "Rick's Ragtime Cafe" in Toledo. He gave a rousing rendition of an obscure but excellent rag called "The Vamp" from about 1916. Audience response was enthusiastic; hopefully he'll be back. Hopefully I'll get a chance to seek out his establishment in Toledo. After intermission, Montgomery opened with an amusing vocal number named "He's Just a Cousin of Mine" by Chris Smith of "Ballin' the Jack" fame. Then Terry Parrish, a newcomer to Ann Arbor, did a set. Parrish is a doctor (child psychiatrist, I believe) and runs a clinic in Indianapolis. Despite the fact that music isn't his full time job, in my opinion he's one of the best performers in ragtime today - this opinion formed from hearing him at various festivals. So I was glad to see him show up at the Bash; I believe Montgomery took the initiative in getting him here. His set showcased a variety of ragtime styles: Brun Campbell's "Frankie and Johnny Rag" (based on the folk song), Tom Turpin's "St. Louis Rag", Les C. Copeland's eccentric "Bees and Honey Rag" (unpublished, Parrish learned it from listening to a piano roll), and a couple of his own compositions. The evening closed with a set from boogie woogie pianist Bob Seely, who has been playing piano at Chuck Muir's Charlie's Crab Restaurant in Troy since the dawn of time, and whose appearance at the Bash is an annual event. As Montgomery put it, Seely has to be last on the program because nobody would want to follow him. The man is a wizard at the keyboard, a dynamo who brings his own battery-operated portable fan along and sets it on the piano to keep himself cool while playing. He performed pieces by boogie great Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammondo (sp?), as well as perennial favorites, his boogie versions of the inspirational tunes "A Closer Walk with Thee" and "Amazing Grace". I've heard him do it all before but never get tired of it. Neither does the rest of the audience apparently, who gave him a standing ovation. At one point, Montgomery proposed having several Ann Arbor ragtime concerts throughout the year instead of just the one, bringing in more performers. This was music to my ears. To judge by the popularity of the Christmas concert, I think the audience support would be there.
Ragtime's already respectable presence on the web recently received a boost: mp3.com had added added a ragtime section to its site, from which you can download high-quality recordings of piano and orchestral ragtime pieces in MP3 format. The page is labeled "traditional jazz", but most of the selections on it are in fact ragtime. The existence of this new ragtime site is due largely to the efforts of pianist Richard Zimmerman and ragtime researcher and historian Tracy Doyle. Zimmerman announced all this at the West Coast Ragtime Festival last month. Various performers are represented on the site. I especially recommend the selections by Zimmerman and by the Dawn of the Century Ragtime Orchestra. URL: http://genres.mp3.com/music/jazz/traditional_jazz/
An upcoming Ann Arbor ragtime-related event this coming Sunday, Jan. 30: Faculty Recital/Superbowl Alternative Concert at the Britton Recital Hall, U of M School of Music. Featured performers are pianist William Bolcom, violinist Stephen Shipps, cellist Erling Blondal Bengtsson, and pianist Gabriela Frank. Bolcom will be playing some of his own works, including I believe some ragtime material. Starting time is 7 p.m.
Further Adventures in Ragtime Ballet
------------------------------------
Yesterday evening I paid a return visit to the Milligan
School of Ballet in Dearborn Heights. I had agreed to
perform a rag at her students' recital in May, so Karen
Milligan asked me to stop by the school during a class
to play some rags for her and the students. She would
tape them, decide which one she'd like performed at the
recital, and then would use the tape for rehearsals.
So I made up a list of rags that I thought would be
suitable for dancing. Some up-tempo pieces from the
ragtime era: George Botsford's "Black and White Rag",
Harry von Tilzer's "Cubanola Glide", Charlie Johnson's
"Pigeon Wing" and "Fun on the Levee". Also Charles
Daniels' slower-paced intermezzo, "Louisiana". I threw
in a couple of mellow contemporary rags as well, Galen
Wilks' "Creeks of Missouri" and David Thomas Roberts'
"Roberto Clemente". I was also prepared to play Scott
Joplin's "The Entertainer", but Karen declared that they
wouldn't do that one since it's already been done to
death. Can't say I was too surprised.
Karen and the girls appeared to enjoy everything, but
the biggest hits were "Roberto Clemente", "Pigeon Wing",
"Fun on the Levee", and "Black and White". I got a
round of applause when I was done, and Karen said she'd
give me her decision via email. Not sure what she'll
choose, but I'm betting on "Roberto Clemente", or maybe
that plus "Fun on the Levee" if she decides to do two
rag numbers.
Ragtime social notes from all over:
One side effect of hanging around the ragtime circuit is that
from time to time one hears personal news about the major
personalities. This is probably of limited interest to
anyone reading this item, but Tracy Doyle - ragtime scholar,
occasional piano player, and producer of the Van Alstyne
Festival - just announced that she and Richard Zimmerman,
ragtime pianist extraordinaire (he made one of the best
recordings of Scott Joplin's complete works, back in the
1970's) - are engaged to be married. Congrats to Tracy
and Dick.
(I guess that was only one social note. Maybe I'll post
another one someday.)
As I mentioned earlier, Tracy and Dick have lately been
extremely busy putting MP3 ragtime material up on the
web. See http://www.mp3.com
I've a question for you, John--I should probably know this, having done a 'research project' on jazz last year, but I can't remember-- Was ragtime originally an improvisatory music, or one that strictly adhered to the composer's score? How is it played today in that respect?
Ragtime was always improvisatory to an extent, but not in
the same way as jazz. The ragtime syncopated style of
performance appears to predate by several years the
appearance in print of pieces that were labeled as "rags".
So at the beginning, the music wasn't written down, but
rather, musicians learned it by ear from hearing other
musicians perform it. Under those circumstances, it was
seldom the case that two musicians played the same piece
exactly alike. However, once a musician had learned a
tune, he or she tended to play it pretty much the same
way every time, perhaps occasionally incorporating some
new variation that they'd thought of; improvisation per se
wasn't part of the ragtime style. Pieces generally
consisted of three or four sixteen-bar strains, repeated
in some fixed pattern such as AABBCCDD or AABBCCB, and
musicians usually didn't depart from this architecture.
Around 1898 ragtime piano solos, songs, and band
arrangments started to be published. In short order
the ragtime craze took hold and ragtime publishing became
a huge business. Nonetheless, professional musicians
continued to play the music in their own styles, seldom
performing it note-for-note as written. For one thing,
a musician's image and reputation was founded in part on
his or her unique style of playing. For another, many
musicians of the time didn't even know how to read music
and learned pieces by ear. In the musical circles in
which he moved in his younger days, Scott Joplin was
known as the "King of the Ragtime WRITERS" because he
was one of the few who knew musical notation and
actually wrote his compositions down.
Those ragtime composers -- such as Joplin, Joseph Lamb,
and James Scott -- who wanted ragtime to be taken
seriously on a par with classical compositions, said that
they preferred that their music be played note-for-note,
as written. I don't think they had much success getting
their contemporaries to do that. Even Joplin didn't follow
his own advice, as we know from the testimony of people
who heard him play, and from the few piano rolls that he
cut. In repeats of strains, one hears significant departures
from the written scores in the bass line.
Nowadays, ragtime players seem to fall into two camps: the
note-for-note camp and the variations-are-desirable camp. To
the former group belong Joshua Rifkin, Scott Kirby, and
David Thomas Roberts, and Glenn Jenks, for example. In the
latter one has Bob Milne, Richard Zimmerman, Tony Caramia,
and Sue Keller.
This is a bit of an oversimplification, because I don't know
of any current ragtime musician who plays everything exactly
as written; limited variations on repeats are considered to
be okay, even by the note-for-noters. And there are musicians
whose adherence to the written score depends on what composer
they're playing. Jeff Barnhart or Sue Keller might stick
close to the score with a Joe Lamb rag but go wild with
variations on Jelly Roll Morton.
A musician who departs from the printed score doesn't
necessarily draw the variations out of the air. A couple
of years ago, I heard Richard Zimmerman perform a Charlie
Johnson piece that I'd also been working on. He threw in
an enormous number of variations: interior melodies, doubled
bass lines, etc. Later I asked him about that. He told me
that ragtime pieces were often published in band arrangments
as well as piano solos, and that he studies the band
arrangments and incorporates elements from them into his
solo performances, trying for a kind of orchestral effect.
Zimmerman has prodigious technique, so it works.
I'm not the ragtime scholar that Zimmerman is, but in my own
playing -- although I tend to play pretty close to the
written score -- I incorporate variations that are consistent
with common practice during the ragtime era. This includes
such things as playing the melody an octave higher on repeats,
doing the bass line in octaves, or playing the final strain of
a piece at slightly slower tempo for a "grand finale" effect.
Thank you John -- that was far more information than I found in any of the books I read on jazz history. (Of course, if I'd concentrated on that early period I probably would have found out more...) I remember reading about Jelly Roll Morton, however, as many seem to consider him the "bridge" between ragtime and jazz. I also think I read somewhere that Scott Joplin studied formal classical composition at a music school (or possibly with another composer.) And he did seem to have some classically-minded ideas, publishing a book of ragtime studies and writing a full-length ragtime opera (which, sadly, won almost no popular acclaim...)
Joplin attended a small all-black college in Missouri, where he
studied music. He is one of the few ragtime musicians of that
era (certainly one of the few black musicians) to be college-
educated.
Morton was definitely a bridge between ragtime and jazz. He
liked to claim that he invented jazz, although that is no doubt
an exaggeration.
Joplin appears to have written two operas: "A Guest of Honor"
and "Tremoneesha". The former has been lost, although I
believe I've read that his composition "The Ragtime Dance",
published both as a piano solo and as a song, is taken from
it. We have the score to "Tremoneesha", and there have been
a few productions of it in the last 25 years or so. The
quality of "Tremoneesha" is rather uneven (especially the
lyrics -- Joplin was not the master of lyrics that he was
of instrumental music), although the finale, "A Real Slow
Drag", is one of his most splendid creations.
I was thinking of "Treemonesha," as I hadn't heard of "Guest of Honor". Isn't it also true that Treemoneesha was unsuccessful partially because it featured a solo piono accompanying the voices, rather than a band or orchestra?
I thought I might be spelling it wrong, so I looked it up, and
I was. It's "Treemonisha."
Hm, I'll have to look up the bit about piano accompaniment. I
know that a piano arrangement of the score was published, but
I had always assumed that it was scored for full orchestra
originally. Modern productions of the opera have featured
orchestral accompaniment.
One of my most moving and memorable experiences at last summer's
Scott Joplin Festival was hearing a performance of excerpts
from "Treemonisha", performed by the Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra,
a chorus, and soloists -- all from Oslo, Norway.
The Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra also performed at other festival
events. I don't know to what extent they tour in the United
States, but if you ever get a chance to hear them, don't misss
them. They are wonderful.
resp:156, resp:157 Perhaps it is partly because of that reason that I haven't finished the rag I started. When I visited Ann Arbor last summer, I met with remmers to discuss ideas on how to improve it. He played it with a few lovely embellishments, improving bass lines and just generally playing it much better than I could. He also improvised a small part to give me ideas on the next section, inverting the melody line and dropping the key down a major 3rd. Well, my music dictation stinks, so I've procrastinated writing anything more. remmers recorded it to disk using a Yamaha Disclavier, and so I could tape what he played, but I couldn't transcribe it using MIDI equipment. The lab proctor, who is one of the composition majors in the department, said the signal was probably too degraded coming from the Disclavier. So, until I work up the nerve to attempt further painstaking writing, "Ann Arbor Rag" probably won't be finished any time soon.
Spoke to Karen the ballet teacher today -- after listening to the tape I made multiple times, she's decided to do George Botsford's "Black and White Rag" for her ballet recital. It's a deligtful piece and fun to play, so I have to say I'm pleased with the decision. Another reason for the choice is that her students' ballet costumes are black and white. I'm anxious to see what kind of choreography she works out for it. She'd like me to wear black and white too. (Remmers in a tuxedo? Hmm, I'll have to give this some thought...)
But_as_an_established_entertainer,_you_already_own_a_tux,_right?__;)_________
Scott, why are all your responses these days filled with underscores instead of blanks?
See_item_188_in_Agora.__It's_on_purpose,_anyway,_but_item_188_explain_a_bit__ more.________________________________________________________________________
Dunno how "established" I am, but in any case I don't own a tux, so I'd have to rent one. Another possibility is some kind of ragtimey "saloon" get up with red armbands.
I think the latter sounds very appealing, but of course, I'm sure it would depend on the sensibilities of the audience.
Tomorrow I'm off for the Tom Turpin Ragtime Festival in Savannah, Georgia. This will be the fifth annual Turpin Festival and the fourth that I've attended. I've heard it will also be the last -- the person who runs it isn't planning to do it any more. One purpose of this year's festival is to honor "Ragtime" Bob Darch, whose 80th birthday is this year and who has been active in researching, performing, composing, and promoting ragtime music since the early 1950's, essentially before anyone else was doing it. His contributions to the genre have been immense.
Had a great time at the Tom Turpin Festival in Savannah. Headliners were Mimi Blais, John Arpin, Sue Keller, Dick Zimmerman, Dick Kroeckel, Terry Parrish, Terry Waldo, Steve Spracklin, and Bob Darch. The only one I'd never seen before was Spracklin, who turned out to be a Mississippi river boat cruise director who plays excellent ragtime in a strong rhythmic style. I learned a lot that I didn't know about "Ragtime Bob" Darch, whose 80th birthday the festival celebrated. Over the last 50 years, Darch has probably done more than anyone alive to promote and preserve ragtime. Back in the 1950's and 1960's, he traveled all over the country, seeking out rare sheet music and inteviewing all the oldtimers he could find from the ragtime era who were still alive, supporting himself by playing piano in saloons. In particular, he was instrumental in rescuing Joseph Lamb (composer of "Ragtime Nightingale") from obscurity and bringing Eubie Blake back into the public eye and to the concert stage. Darch is himself a composer, having written over 150 rag instrumentals and songs. He's still in pretty good shape and performed at several of the festival concerts. Another thing I didn't know about Darch was that he had eight children. (!) A sizeable number of them showed up with their families, which meant that a significant portion of the attendees at the special Darch dinner were, in fact, Darches. Regarding Lamb in particular -- he dropped out of the music business around 1920 but continued to compose. When Darch found him in the late 1950's, it turned out that he had dozens of unpublished manuscripts lying around the house, some of which were among the finest music he ever wrote. A few were subsequently published, in a now out-of-print folio called "Ragtime Treasures". Most have not been, however. Darch brought a stack of unpublished Lamb sheet music with him to the festival, and I had an opportunity to look through it. Lamb's daughter, Patricial Lamb Conn, was at the festival and will be sending me a few things that I requested -- "Spanish Fly", "Joe Lamb's Old Rag", and "Chasing the Chippies". My friend Nan Bostick from California was at the festival to present a seminar on Detroit ragtime. It turns out that Detroit was an important center of ragtime playing and publishing. She and I did a couple of two-piano numbers at after-hours: Charles Daniels' "Louisiana" and Harry P. Guy's "Pearl of the Harem." I also played Joplin's "Peacherine Rag" and "The Entertainer" with another amateur pianist, John Yates, from Toronto. I also did a few solo numbers at after-hours. I find that the more I perform in front of audiences, the more comfortable it gets for me. Another friend who showed up was music collector Audrey Van Dyke, who gifted me with yet another stack of Xeroxed rare sheet music. Audrey is also an excellent ragtime piano player, and a fine interpreter of Scott Joplin. She's not comfortable playing in front of people though. When the audience had cleared out after one of the concerts, she and I took over the piano and took turns playing some pieces. This is in all likelihood the last Savannah Festival. Ann Steele, the organizer and director, has moved to New York City and is now a full-time theatrical agent, leaving her no time for ragtime festival organizing in distant cities. I'll miss it. Top quality entertainment, yet relatively small, with plenty of opportunity for audience members to meet and talk with the performers.
I would like to meet Zimmerman one of these days. I have one of his CD's and it is fantastic. Remmers is no slouch either, I just wish he made a few CD's as well.
Spent last Friday and Saturday at the Zehnders Ragtime Festival, held at Zehnders Restaurant in Frankenmuth, Michigan. This is an annual event that I've attended for four years now. It expanded somewhat in length and scope this year, starting with a Wednesday evening concert and concluding with a Sunday brunch, but due to work obligations and the fact that I didn't try to get tickets until the Saturday and Sunday concerts were sold out, I attended only two days of the festival. Featured performers this year were Bob Milne, Jeff Barnhart, Martin Jaeger, and the Etcetera String Band. All were familiar to me except Jaeger, who comes to ragtime from a classical background and who heads the music department at an institute in Switzerland. I got in early Friday morning, a good hour before the first festival event of the day. I noticed that Zehnder's lounge was unoccupied and contained a piano, so I killed time by playing for about an hour, to an audience consisting of a few Zehnders staff who wandered in from time to time. At 10:30 there was a seminar on string bands in ragtime, featuring the Etcetera String Band, a three-man group out of Kansas city that features a banjo, a mandolin, and a guitar. They're superb musicians with an encyclopedaic knowledge of the history of their instruments. One interesting point brought out in the seminar was that although ragtime is today thought of primarily as piano solo music, during the ragtime era (roughly 1898 to 1918) it was commonly played by all sorts of ensembles, ranging from small mandolin groups to full sized concert bands and orchestras. Following lunch in a restaurant with overpoweringly Bavarian decor but highly American food, I attended the second seminar of the day, on ragtime piano playing styles. Milne, Barnhart, and Jaeger -- all of whom have very different approaches to ragtime music -- held forth and gave demonstrations. Friday evening's dinner concert was quite interesting and at times ranged outside the boundaries of what is normally considered ragtime. Jaeger did a selection of Gershwin pieces, including an impressive rendition of Rhapsody in Blue in Gershwin's original arrangement for piano solo. Before that, I had only heard the piece performed in the familiar "concerto" format with orchestral accompaniment. I learned something that I hadn't known -- the orchestral arrangement is not by Gershwin but rather Ferde Grofe' (of "Grand Canyon Suite" fame) who at the time was the arranger for Paul Whiteman's band, which premiered the piece. In any case, the solo piano version is much more difficult for the piano player, since it includes various orchestral effects that in the standard version are played by an actual orchestra. Also in the Friday night concert, the Etcetera String Band played a few delightful selections of Caribbean music -- a Haitian "marange" (sp?) and some other things. Since ragtime was greatly influenced by folk music of the Caribbean, I didn't feel that this was out of place at all. Following the concert there was the usual "afterglow" session in Zehnders Tap Room, in which any performers who aren't too tired, plus anybody else who feels like it, plays. Jeff Barnhart did a nice set with washboard player Mike Schwimmer, following which the Etcetera band and Bob Milne did a few tunes. When they were ready to pack it in, I and another person played a couple of numbers. We closed the bar around 1 a.m. Saturday started with three hours of silent movies to live piano accompaniment. I sat through the first hour -- a couple of Charlie Chaplin shorts from circa 1912 -- then took off to have a shopping moment at Birch Run, a mega-size outlet mall a few miles from Frankenmuth. Returned to Frankenmuth for a "meet the artists" session later in the afternoon, held at the food court in Zehnders basement. Each of the piano players played a set and chatted with anybody who felt like chatting with them. At the end of it there were a few minutes left over. Barnhart invited me to play, so I did a couple of Charlie Johnson tunes, "Barber Pole Rag" and "Snookums". These were well-received. Being sans tickets for any further events, I then headed back to Ann Arbor. Although I didn't attend the whole thing, I thought this was the best Frankenmuth festival I've been to so far. It was also the best attended -- in past years I wouldn't have had trouble getting tickets when I did. I'd say this bodes well for the health of ragtime.
By the way, Martin Jaeger also composes rags. At Frankenmuth I picked up a folio of three of them: "Welcome Rag", "Baroque Rag", and "China Rag". The first two are especially delightful and not too difficult technically, so maybe I'll learn to play them someday. Jaeger's classical background show -- "Baroque Rag" is based on the J.S. Bach chorale "Sanctify Us by Thy Goodness".
Last night I went to a run-through of the piece I'll be performing in the ballet recital, so that the girls could try it out with live piano and I could see how it had been choreographed. Pretty cute, especially the part at the end where the girls all run around the piano. The recital is Saturday, May 13 at Mercy High School in the northwest Detroit suburbs, Middlebelt Road at 11 Mile. Start time is 7:30pm. Tickets $7 at the door, $3.50 for children. (My spot is about 5 minutes out of a 90-minute program.)
I'll be in period costume, more or less, for the ballet recital: black vest, red bow tie, red garters on the sleeves, and a straw hat with black band.
you're gonna put parliament funkadelic on yore straw hat!?
Would that be authentic for the time period (circa 1910)?
Nahh....for an early 1900s black band, you'd need a banjo group or some dixieland musicians. Which is a pity, because George Clinton could have really stirred things up in 1910, I suspect.
john could just don *blackface*
It wouldn't work with his reddish hair and complexion.
Not to mention other problems with the blackface concept in this day and age. Dress rehearsal is tomorrow night. I'll let y'all know how the costume goes over.
tell 'em it's a period piece.
Actually, I heard a surprising story the other day about "Porgy and Bess". Apparently it was originally contemplated to have Jerome Kern write the score, rather than Gershwin, and cast Al Jolson -- in blackface -- as Porgy. Sheesh! Dress rehearsal went well, and in particular, my period costume was a hit. Mercy High School's auditorium is a huge, cavernous place, with an enormous stage. The piano is an excellent Yamaha grand with a crisp, light touch that I like a lot. On account of the auditorium's size and accoustics, however, they're amplifying the piano. Performance is tonight.
The performance Saturday night went well. My number opened the second half. House lights went down, I walked onto the stage in period costume, sat down at the piano - which was set up stage left - and commenced to play George Botsford's "Black and White Rag". The six ballerinas - appropriately in black and white costumes - emerged from the wings and proceeded to do the dance that Karen had choreographed, ending up with them running around the piano during the final section of the piece. When it was over I stood up and we formed a line, holding hands, and took a bow. Then the lights were blacked out and we all exited the stage. I watched the rest of the recital from the wings. It was really quite impressive. A number of dance pieces, strung together via the Cinderella story. Various music styles, ranging from classical to Disney showtunes to jazz. Dancers ranged in age from low single digits to adult. Impressive costumes. Mary saw it all from an audience perspective; so I'll let her comment on that.
This was a wonderful evening. Just charming. The sets, costumes, choreography, and range of expertise went far beyond what I expected for a dance recital. I can understand why she does this only every other year. The dancers ranged in age from 4 years old to EMU alumni. John's piece was especially well received. It was the only dance done to live music and that added a whole lot. Plus, he had more advanced dancers doing some pretty sophisticated moves. Anyhow, I'll look forward to attending the next one two years from now.
On Wednesday I'm off to the annual Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Missouri. It's the biggest of the ragtime festivals and arguably the best. Headliners this year include Scott Kirby, Morten Larsen, Butch Thompson (of Prairie Home Companion), Terry Waldo, Bob Milne, Trebor and Virginia Tichenor, Richard Zimmerman (back after a three-year absence), Jeff Barnhart, Reginald Robinson, and others. Most of whom you've probably never, or barely, heard of. But trust me, they're great. This year they're re-instating the "tent" -- an open-air facility where anybody can sign up and play, to an almost guaranteed large audience. They didn't have it last year, and lots of people missed it, including me. Unlike last year's double-length festival -- celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" -- this year's festival runs the normal four days. Still, they'll be packing in around eight formal concerts, plus other events in various open-air venues, plus the usual afterglow sessions in the Best Western ballroom, which tend to run to 3 or 4 am (a real test of my stamina, since I tend to be a morning person). I'll let you know if anything exciting happens. I'm sure it will.
Don't know when (if ever) I'll get around to writing a halfway complete summary of this year's Scott Joplin Festival. I got in a reasonable amount of playing -- sets on three consecutive days in "the tent", plus open piano at after hours. I personally felt that my playing was a lot more solid this year than last, and I got a number of favorable comments. Got in some two-piano playing -- with Nan Bostick from CA, and Gale Foehner from St. Louis. The latter is an old-timer who's a great improvisor; we did an impromptu rendition of Botsford's "Black and White Rag", with me playing mostly by the notes and Foehner providing embellishments. There were dozens of fine musicians at the festival; I'll just mention a few things that I thought were extra special: o Tony Caramia's master class. Caramia, besides being a ragtime player, is a professor of piano pedagogy at the Eastman School of Music. He conducted a master class (basically, a lesson that's open to the public) featuring half a dozen or so younger performers, ranging in age from 11 to 19. These kids' talent and interest in ragtime make me hopeful for the future of the genre. Highlight of the class was a *kickass* rendition of Joplin's "Magnetic Rag" by 11-year-old Emily Sprague, rendered with an assurance and a collection of embellish- ments that you'd expect only from much older and more experienced performers. o The "Ragtime Revelations" concert. This event features both new performing talent and new and newly-discovered music. Most of the kids from the master class played, as did John Petley, an excellent player from the Washington D.C. area whom I'd heard before; this was his first year in Sedalia as a "featured performer". The winning pieces in the original composition contest were also performed. Of the several concerts present each year at this festival, "Ragtime Revelations" is always one of my favorites -- it's guaranteed that I'll hear something new and different, and experience fresh talent. o Reginald Robinson. He is one of the most amazing new talents to appear on the ragtime scene in years. He's a young African-American from inner city Chicago, and as such does not fit the demographic profile of the typical contemporary ragtime player, almost all of whom are white and middle- class. In the past, Robinson has played music of Joplin, Lamb, and other composers of the ragtime era, but nowadays he is mostly into composing and performing his own music -- rags, marches, and other forms current in the ragtime era. He is a wonderful composer and an astounding performer. If ragtime music ever re-attains the popularity it deserves, you will hear of him. His piece "The 19th Galaxy" is not to be missed. o Elite Syncopation. A ragtime ensemble consisting of piano, clarinet, violin, cello, and string bass. Beautiful sound. Their rendition of Charles Johnson's folksy "Hen Cackle Rag" was a delight. I purchased their CD, and so can hear them again anytime I want. o The "Ragtime Music Hall" concert. This is the last formal concert of the festival and is always special. This year the emcee was Butch Thompson (of Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion" radio show) and feature the Butch Thompson Trio and a number of other performers. As the grand finale, all two dozen or so musicians in the concert came on-stage to do the Joplin/Marshall "Swipesy Cakewalk", which being exactly 100 years old was the "theme song" of this year's festival. Enough for now. More later, maybe.
The 28th annual Ragtime Bash is this Sunday, December 10, at the Unitarian Church in Ann Arbor, 4001 Ann Arbor-Saline Road. Start time is 7:30pm, but arrive early -- seating is first-come-first- served, and the event always sells out. (I try to get there an hour in advance.) This year's lineup: boogie pianists Mark "Mr. B" Braun and Bob Seely; ragtimers Bob Milne and Mike Montgomery; pianist/vocalist Kerry Price; jazz pianist James Dapogny with vocalist Susan Chastain. They're all great.
Addendum to the above: Tickets are $15 at the door, $10 for students and seniors.
While I'm here, I'll give a brief report on the 2000 West Coast Ragtime Festival, held in Sacramento CA the weekend before Thanksgiving. The festival takes over the meeting rooms at the Red Lion Inn for three days, with four concerts in progress at almost all times -- sort of like Missouri's Scott Joplin Festival, on a smaller scale. You buy a festival pass and can come and go as you please to any of the venues. This year's lineup included established performers I've seen at numerous other festivals -- Dick Zimmerman, Sue Keller, Mimi Blais, Trebor and Virginia Tichenor, Terry Waldo, Frank French, Ian Whitcomb, etc. -- plus various west coast folks I don't see elsewhere, such as Eric Marchese and Tom Brier -- plus talented newcomers like Marit Johnson, Elise Crane (both still in high school) and Neil Blaze (college freshman). My friend Nan Bostick appeared in a couple of scheduled sets and asked me to perform with her -- we had fun doing more-or-less improvised duo-piano versions of Harry Kelly's "Peaceful Henry", Charles Daniels' "Louisiana", and Harry P. Guy's "Pearl of the Harem". I did some solo performing at after-hours, which gave me a chance to try out for an audience a few of the pieces I've learned recently -- several Charles Johnson rags, Botsford's "Royal Flush", Irene Giblin's "Sleepy Lou", Joseph Lamb's unpublished "Bee Hive Rag", James Scott's "Don't Jazz Me". Alan Rea and Sylvia O'Neill gave an interesting seminar on the life of American composer Louis Gottschalk, who pre-dated the ragtime era by several decades, but whose incorporation of American folk music and syncopated Latin rhythms into his compositions makes him in some sense the "father of ragtime". At the festival I became aware of Texas composer David Guion. Anybody familiar with him? There's one piece of his that ragtime performers like to play, the misleading-titled "Texas Fox Trot", published in 1915 when Guion was about 20 years old. "Fox trot" suggest something upbeat and bouncy, but the piece is fairly slow and beautifully harmonic, alternating dark minor-mode strains with beautiful lush major-mode passages. I heard it performed twice at the festival, thought it was wonderful, and am currently working on learning to play it. It's fairly difficult. After the festival I did some web research on Guion. He's apparently best known for piano arrangments of various American folk tunes. I picked up sheet music of his "Turkey in the Straw" at the festival -- it's theme & variations, beautifully arranged, but very difficult. I'd like to learn to play it too, but it's going to take a while.
What I've heard of Gottschalk's music is **wonderful** stuff.
John, I think the point is that it's a *Texas* Fox Trot. 8-{)]
Haven't put anything in this item for a while, so a few updates: I performed David Guion's "Texas Fox Trot" for an audience for the first time a few weeks ago, at an informal "family night" concert organized by my wife's cello teacher. I have to say it was a hit. People asked me afterwards who the composer was, and if I knew anything more by him and about him. It really is an amazing piece, one of the best compositions to come out of the ragtime era. I'll be performing at the Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival this coming August, in Sutter Creek, California. It's a lovely tourist town south of Sacramento, in wine country, and the site of Mr. Sutter's gold discovery in 1849. Haven't attended the festival before, but I'm told it more or less takes over the town for three days. More info. is available on the festival web site, http://www.ragtimemusic.com/scrf/ , which sports photos of the performers, including yours truly. Closer temporally and geographically is Zehnder's Ragtime Festival, which takes place most of this week in Frankenmuth, Michigan, about 80 miles north of Ann Arbor. I'll be attending as much of it as my schedule permits. This year's headliners are Bob Milne (as always), Sue Keller, Reggie Robinson, Brian Holland, Tony Caramia, and the Et Cetera String Band, and probably one or two other folks I'm forgetting. I'll be in pig heaven as I listen to ragtime whilst pigging out on Zehnder's fine cuisine.
I've posted a "parlor ragtime recital" in this year's Grex auction. See item 51 in the Auction conference <item:auction,51> .
As of yesterday, my "parlor ragtime recital" auction item was "going once" for a bid of $30. If you want the recital and are willing to pay more than that, you should make a bid on it soon. See item 51 in the Auction conference <item:auction,51> . Tomorrow I leave for the biggest and best ragtime festival of them all, the annual Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Missouri. Headliners include many of the big names in ragtime, including Bob Darch, Sue Keller, Mimi Blais, Scott Kirby, Morton Larsen, David Thomas Roberts, Jan Douglas, Bob Ault, Reginald Robinson, Tony Caramia, John Arpin, Trebor and Virginia Tichenor, the Bo Grumpus group, the Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra, Terry Parish, and many others. The festival takes over the town's historic district and fairgrounds for five days of wonderful music. What a blast!
That parlor ragtime recital is a TREAT! If you haven't bid, check it out. I was wondering about something you said during the recital you gave for me and my friends. What is "slide" and how is it different from "ragtime"?
It's "stride", not "slide". "Stride ragtime" is a playing style
that originated in New York around the mid-1910's. Two of its
foremost practioners were Luckey Roberts and James P. Johnson.
I'll quote from Jasen & Tichenor, _Rags and Ragtime_ (Dover,
1978):
The word Stride means the syncopation alternating
between the right and left hands and the counter
melodies created by a moving bass line. This was
putting a new twist on the regular way to play
ragtime -- alternating the syncopation between
both hands made it twice as difficult to perform,
thereby enabling the performers to win contests.
It not only sounded harder to do, it was in fact
harder to do.
On another topic: I just got back from Sedalia. Great
festival! I'll post a report in a day or two.
I image "slide piano" would rather difficult to play. You'd have to reach into the piano with the slide while pressing the keys with the other, and the pedals would probably be out of reach. Still... if famed Delta bluesman Robert Johnson had grown up with a piano instead of a guitar...
ROTFL. What an image.
Eh?
Oops, sorry about the blank response. Next response will be my report on the Scott Joplin Festival.
The 2001 Scott Joplin Festival took place from Wednesday, June 6 to Sunday, June 10, in Sedalia, MO. I was there. Of the four Scott Joplin Festivals I've attended, I think this one was the most fun for me and the most rewarding musically. Too much going on to attempt to report on everything -- multiple free outdoor venues, plus formal reserved-seat concerts, plus open piano at after hours. So I'll just mention some highlights: The "Women in Ragtime" concert. It wasn't officially part of the festival but shared many of the same performers. All women. My friend Nan Bostick from California co-emceed, along with Mimi Blais of Montreal, who organized it. Highlight for me was Nan's and Nora Hulce's rendition, on two pianos, of Grace Bolen's exquisite 1901 rag "The Smokey Topaz" (composed when she was 16!). It's a fact that many of the ragtime composers during the ragtime era (1897-1917, roughly) were indeed women, so there's lots of material to be mined for concerts like this. (During the intermission, I spotted Marty Eggers, bass player with the Bo Grumpus trio. He was there selling copies of the excellent "Tichenor Family Album" CD. As husband of Virginia Tichenor and son-in-law of Trebor Tichenor, he's 1/3 of that group as well. We chatted about various things, including krj.) Private lesson with Tony Caramia, piano professor at the Eastman School of Music and frequent headliner at ragtime festivals. I played a few things for him that I've been working on lately and got a lot of useful feedback. Caramia also gave a "master class" featuring some half dozen players ranging in age from 12 to 19. After hearing folks play like college freshman Neil Blaze, high schoolers Marit Johnson and Elise Crane, and twelve-year-old Emily Sprague, I'm optimistic for the future of ragtime. It's in good hands. There were over thirty contracted performers at the festival, most of whom I heard play at least once. Plus a number of other folks, like me, who weren't on the official program but who played at various events. Heard a ton of great music, most of which I won't talk about in the interest of keeping this short. But I'll say that the concert to honor David Thomas Roberts -- one of the finest contemporary composers and performers of ragtime -- was wonderful. I was impressed enough by Brian Keenan's playing of folk ragtime to purchase his new "Traditions" CD. Bo Grumpus was in fine form at the various venues where they played. My favorite ragtime ensemble, the Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra from Scandanavia, was at the festival as part of its bi-annual U.S. tour, playing music for dancing in the "tea tent" as well as a terrific set at after-hours in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning. Their singer really rocks. Actually, they all do. Several opportunities to perform this year. I was asked to play at the informal opening and closing concerts of the festival, and I also did a twenty-minute set at the Stark Pavilion. Plus an impromptu session in the headquarters hotel lobby with guitarist Craig Ventresco & percussionist Pete Devine (2/3 of the Bo Grumpus group), and banjo player Bob Ault (1/3 of the Etcetera String Band). We jammed for about an hour and attracted a fair-sized audience, with Devine using a pair of drumsticks on the table, chairs, drinking glasses, and other surfaces in lieu of his usual equipment. And one evening when most people were at a concert that I'd decided not to attend, I ran into pianist Terry Parish from Indianapolis in the hotel ballroom and we did some duo-piano stuff. Fun festival. This year, I took my digital camera along and will be posting some photos on the web.
I've just acquired software to convert between Yamaha Disklavier format and MIDI. This enables me to post my own piano performances on the web. See http://jremmers.org/midi for a list. I've posted two pieces recorded earlier today: Charles L. Johnson's "The Alabama Slide" (1915) and James Scott's "Sunburst Rag" (1909). They're both first takes with no editing whatsoever, so don't be surprised at hearing a flub here and there. The tone quality of a MIDI depends strongly on the playback software. I've listened to my performances on both QuickTime and Yahoo Player. The latter is closer to actual piano sound, but I rather likely the faintly bell-like quality QuickTime produces, especially in the melodious trio of the Johnson piece.
I've not found a way to rewind, but I like what I've heard of "The Alabama Slide." I look forward to listening the other one.
Thanks Joe. I took a few pictures at the Sedalia Festival, mostly on the first and last day. The rest of the time I was busy with other things. You can find a sampling at http://jremmers.org/Sedalia2001 .
I like the last picture. :)
Thumbnails would be a nice touch. I'd offer code, but I can't get to
my own home page just now. (The file server is up, but it's not yet
serving files.) I *think* it would be something like:
<A HREF="http://jremmers.org/Sedalia2001/john_remmers.jpg">
John Remmers
</A IMG SRC="http://jremmers.org/Sedalia2001/john_remmers.jpg">
There are some size markers in there, too. Look at the source of
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~gelinas/House.html
for an example of how I did it.
OK, the server is letting me look at my files now, if only slowly. Here
is one of the the pictures:
<A HREF="House-3dDraft/102Burton-FrontView.JPG">
<IMG SRC="House-3dDraft/102Burton-FrontView.JPG" border=0 height=72 width=96>
</A>
I included text by using a table, and putting the text on one row with
the pictures on the next row. It *should* be possible to put the text
before or after the IMG tag.
{Yes, I could re-write this response to eliminate the evidence of my
thinking, but I'll leave it. ;)
I dipped a little farther back in time and added a 1901 piece to my ragtime MIDI page: Detriot composer Harry P. Guy's "Pearl of the Harem", subtitled "Oriental Rag Two Step". The alternating 8th note bass line motif in the first half of the first strain establishes an Oriental mood, changing to traditional ragtime boom-chick bass in the second half of the strain. I've heard that the piece was originally intended for banjo duet and later arranged for piano solo. http://jremmers.org/midi/
Joe's #206 slipped in. Yes, I thought of doing thumbnails but was feeling lazy. I'll add them at some point.
Sorry for the drift, but regarding the thumbnails (#206), wouldn't it be better to make an actual smaller version of the image rather than using the width= and height= options in <img>? I always thought half the point of thumbnails was to avoid wasting time loading big images you don't want to see and concentrate only on the ones that interest you... NetPBM toolkit provides a nice way to do this (I don't know whether it's on grex...) djpeg pic.jpeg | pnmscale -xysize 100 100 | cjpeg > picthumb.jpeg or djpeg pic.jpeg | pnmscale -xysize 100 100 | ppmquant 256 | ppmtogif > picthumb.gif (gif file might or might not be smaller size, I don't know...) again, sorry for the drift
Well, yeah, the techie discussion might be better elsewhere, but on the other hand, it's nice to know that people are actually reading this item. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself here. :) (And yes, I was planning to do the thumbnails as smaller images, to save bandwidth.)
I read it. It's interesting. I just don't have much of anything to add...
I've really enjoyed your MIDI files, John. I usually play them in WinAMP, and the three of them now are usually in random play while I work. It's just like having a professional pianist at the next desk! I'm very impressed that these are first takes. I know there is software available (I have it around here somewhere) that will let you play with the voices in the MIDI file --- change the piano voice to banjo, for example. I'm dying to see how "Pearls of the Harem" would sound. :)
(typos, sorry. Here's the cleaned up response...) Thanks, Mickey. For a change, I've recorded something that probably everyone reading this item has heard -- Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer", published in 1902. The piece didn't enjoy large sales at the time but became a hit 70 years later when it figured prominently in the soundtrack of the movie "The Sting". It's been speculated that Joplin originally wrote the tune for a mandolin or banjo ensemble (such groups were common at the time) and only later arranged and published it as a piano solo. There's no proof of this, but the general style of the piece and the fact that it is dedicated to "James Brown's Mandolin Club" lend credence to the theory. See http://jremmers.org/midi/entrtanr.mid for my performance.
Sorry about backtracking. Now that you have read John's report on the 2001 Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, and have seen pictures from it, three concerts from the fest can be heard at: http://www.kcmw.cmsu.edu/ The concerts are the "2001 Kickoff Concert," "Cradle of Ragtime," and "Legacy of Scott Joplin." Although I haven't listened to them in their entirety, I believe they are the complete concerts. (KCMW has archived complete Joplin Fest concerts in the past.)
Thanks for the pointer, Anna. Of those three, I attended only the Kickoff Concert, so this will give me a chance to fill in some blanks. In past years, the Kickoff Concert has featured the music of various composers from the ragtime era such as Scott Joplin. This year's kickoff was a significant departure from tradition, devoted exclusively to the works of David Thomas Roberts, perhaps the finest contemporary composer of ragtime music and a major influence on other contemporary composers and performers of ragtime. I recommend this concert highly, especially if you're acquainted only with the ragtime of the past -- as emcee Scott Kirby pointed out, it will likely change your view of what ragtime music is about.
In honor of Mickey's home state, I've recorded David Guion's "Texas Fox Trot". This extraordinary rag was published in 1915 when the composer was still in his teens. The title misleads; it's a slow, moody piece that alternates between minor and major modes, quite unlike anything else from the ragtime era. It sounds like it could have been written last year. http://jremmers.org/midi/txfoxtrt.mid
A technical point: The software I'm using appears to lose pedaling information when it converts from Disklavier to MIDI format. I don't know if that's the fault of the software or a limitation of the MIDI format. At any rate, the result is that some passages come out sounding staccatto and disconnected that were not played that way. On much ragtime that's not too noticeable, but it is on "Texas Fox Trot", where I use the sustaining pedal extensively.
The sustain pedal would fall under the "continuous controller" MIDI messages, and probably varies enough from manufacturer to manufacturer to be difficult mapping to begin with... and then most consumer MIDI sound sources probably wouldn't know what to do with it if it was in the data stream.
Ah, so you're suggesting that it may be a limitation of playback software rather than the conversion or MIDI itself.
Maybe I should download one and see what my lil' Yamaha box does with it? I can actually edit MIDI events, so it would be possible to see any controller data.
...but it will have to wait until I can get my MIDI cable back. :(
OK, I checked out the Texas Fox Trot midi file. It does indeed have sustain pedal data. Sounds nice on my sound box, too.
That's good to hear. So the problem is likely the playback software I'm using (standard Windows products).
What's your sound source? I'd expect that sound-card MIDI voices wouldn't be smart enough to respond to controller events.
After more curiosity-inspired research I've demonstrated that my trusty Yamaha QY70 does indeed follow the sustain pedal. John is rather sparing of sustain, so I had to edit out the "sustain off" events to even hear much of a difference. Next I'm going to move it back into the PC domain to see how my sound card handles it.
On Tuesday, July 10 and Thursday, July 12, Nan Bostick will be presenting two ragtime-related lectures at the Detroit Opera House, as part of the Learning at the Opera House summer program. Tickets are $10 at the door. Tuesday, July 10, 7 to 9 p.m. - Seminar on Jerome H Remick (major music publisher during the ragtime era, based in Detroit), followed by a sing-along of Remick hits led by Mike Montgomery. Thursday, July 12, 7 to 9 p.m. - Seminar on Harry P. Guy and the Detroit ragtime scene with Arthur LaBrew. (Detroit composer and bandleader Harry Guy was a major figure during the ragtime era. He wrote "Pearl of the Harem", which you can hear at http://jremmers.org/midi/prlharem.mid ) Nan is from California and is one of today's leading researchers on ragtime. Detroit ragtime is one of her specialities. She's also a very entertaining speaker and a fine piano player. Her lectures are always illustrated with plenty of music, played by herself and/or friends. If you have any interest at all in ragtime music, you'll probably find these presentations entertaining and enlightening.
I've added another piece to my ragtime MIDI page, Charles Johnson's "Golden Spider Rag" (1910). Listen to it at http://jremmers.org/midi/gspider.mid Also, I've written brief "liner notes" for the selections on the http://jremmers.org/midi/ page.
And another: James Scott's "Prosperity Rag" (1916). Hardly anybody seems to play this piece, but I've loved it ever since I sight-read it for the first time a few years ago. Recently I decided to work it up for public performance. The first strain has much in common with the composer's better-known "Grace and Beauty".
The URL for "Prosperity Rag" is http://jremmers.org/midi/prsprity.mid
I received an updated flier in the mail today for the Sutter
Creek Ragtime Festival, in which I'll be performing in a
couple of weeks. It appears there's an event billed as
"The Piano Duel of the Century" in which I'm to be involved.
Quoting from the flier:
The Festival will end on Sunday afternoon with a
rip-roaring "piano cutting" contest at the Sutter
Creek Auditorium starting at 1:30 p.m. The
special "Granny Nanny" (Bostick) vs. "Hot Rod"
Tommy (Brier) Piano Dueling Concert is a new
addition to the festivities and promies to
include great ragtime and lots of shtick.
The incomparable Elliot Adams, pianist with the
Porcupine Ragtime Ensemble, has agreed to assist
"Granny Nanny" in Sunday's affair. "Hot Rod"
Tommy ramains undaunted by her call for
reinforcements. But John Remmers, guest
performer from Ann Arbor, Michigan, feels Brier
is being "put upon" and will be lining up on
Brier's side to equalize the odds. Carmichael's
Alan Ashby, Azalia, Oregon's Keith Taylor, and
other surprise guests are expected to join this
not-to-be-missed Festival finale.
Guess I'll find out when I get there just how the "script"
is supposed to go. But I must say I'm glad I'm on Tom
Brier's team rather than the opposing side. He is a
*fantastic* pianist.
The festival kicks off at 4 p.m. on Friday, August 10
and goes through Sunday. The performers will play at
various free venues around town; admission is charged
for the Saturday evening concert and Sunday's "duel".
If you're going to be in that part of the world on that
weekend and feel like dropping in, I'd be delighted to
see you. Details are on the festival's website:
http://www.ragtimemusic.com/scrf/
A schedule for the Sutter Creek festival is now online at
http://www.ragtimemusic.com/scrf/schedule.htm
It's all subject to last-minute change, but as of now I'm
scheduled to perform at the opening jam session at the
Ice Cream Emporium at 4pm on Friday August 10, at Susan's
Place Restaurant during the dinner hour on Friday, at
various times and places (as yet unknown to me) around
town on Saturday, and at the closing concert at 1:30 p.m.
on Sunday. Not the Saturday evening concert, which it's
been decided to reserve for the headliners.
I'm back from Sutter Creek. The festival was great fun, although I must say that the sheer amount I was performing plus the central California heat tested my endurance somewhat. More details when I have time to write them down. And there will be pictures on the web. Tomorrow I'm off to a closer venue, the first Lapeer Ragtime Festival in Lapeer, Michigan. As an attendee, not a scheduled performer. Appearing will be Bob Milne, Sue Keller, and the Bo Grumpus group.
A few notes on the Sutter Creek Festival. I arrived in California a few days early, in order to have time to visit with my sister in Stockton and travel to the San Francisco area to see my nephew, try to hook up with a couple of Grexers (scg and munkey), and shop for some vintage clothes to wear in the festival's finale concert. Visits with sister and nephew went fine, Grexer rendevous didn't happen (phone tag failure), and the clothes shopping was unnecessary as I was able to find just what I needed right in Sutter Creek. Somewhat surprising since Sutter Creek is a just a little tourist town tucked away in the hills of the Mother Lode region of California, forty miles or so southeast of Sacramento, with a downtown section that's only three blocks long. But thanks to a tip from a friend about a Sutter Creek store called Romancing the Range devoted to vintage western wear, I was able to find an 1800s style vest, shirt, and puff tie that gave me just the "ragtime professor" look that was wanted. The festival itself went from Friday to Sunday, at various venues around town. Festival headquarters was the Ice Cream Emporium, an combination ice cream/sandwich/gift shop with a vintage look. It's owned by Stevens Price, festival organizer and himself a ragtime piano player. From around 4pm on Friday - when the festival got underway - to about 3:30pm on Sunday, I was a pretty busy guy. On Friday I played a half hour gig at the Ice Cream Emporium, then an hour-long set at Susan's Place, a restaurant across the street. Then back to the Ice Cream Emporium for an more jamming. I think I worked dinner for myself in there somewhere, but I don't remember for sure. Saturday was the killer: I ended up doing FIVE gigs: half an hour at the local hotel, then another half hour at the theater, then 45 minutes in an open courtyard, then another 45 minutes at the theater, then finally another half hour at Susan's Place. Breaks between most (not all) of the sets. The other performers were similarly put through their paces. Oh, did I mention that all this running around town getting from one place to another took place in 90+ degree heat? I think I drank as much water on Saturday as a usually consume in three days. The festival headliners (Virginia Tichenor, Bo Grumpus, Keith Taylor, Tom Brier) had it even worse, since they also had to perform in the Saturday evening concert. By the time my Susan's Place stint was over, I felt quite wiped out and grateful that I could simply relax and enjoy listening to the concert. Which was excellent; a special highlight for me was a to-die-for performance by Virginia Tichenor of David Guion's "Texas Fox Trot", accompanied on string bass by her husband Marty Eggers. I play the piece myself and have mentioned it elsewhere in this item; it's one of my favorites in all of ragtime literature. On Sunday morning I did some more playing during open piano at the Emporium, but my only scheduled gig was the Sunday afternoon "Piano Duel of the Century" concert, billed as a contest between twenty-nine-year-old keyboard whiz Tom Brier and Nan "Granny Nanny" Bostick. The "duel" turned out to be a friendly two- and three-piano play-along involving Tom (who can play anything, usually at sight) playing with various other performers, interspersed by various humorous sketches having to do with the "duel" aspect. In my bit, I played a "ragtime professor from out east" who had come to Tom's aid out of outrage at his shabby treatment by Granny Nanny. Following my improvised dialog on this point, the three of us played Harry Guy's "Pearl of the Harem" and Charles Daniels' "Louisiana" on three pianos. (Unrehearsed, I might add. Who needs rehearsals?) The concert ended with ALL the performers banging away on Charles Johnson's "Dill Pickles". Doing this festival was great experience, and I got to meet and hear some fine performers I hadn't encountered before. Such as Keith Taylor and Elliott Adams. A couple of composers showed up too, both to listen and do a little unbilled performing -- Gil Lieby from Nebraska, whom I hadn't heard of before but who's written some very nice stuff, and Galen Wilkes, who's written a couple of my favorite contemporary rags: "Creeks of Missouri" and "Last of the Ragtime Pioneers." And I got a lot of favorable feedback on my playing (and Sunday afternoon play-acting), which was nice of course. I took a bunch of pictures and plan to make some sort of organized website of them, like I did for the Sedalia festival. In the meantime, here's a sampler: View of Main Street: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8020025.JPG Interior of Ice Cream Emporium: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8020023.JPG Stevens Price: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8020024.JPG Tom Brier playing one of his (many) compositions: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8020021.JPG Bo Grumpus playing for dancers: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8030032.JPG Bo Grumpus at the Saturday concert: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8040041.JPG Virginia Tichenor and Marty Eggers, Saturday concert: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8040043.JPG Nan Bostick at Susan's Place: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8030037.JPG "Ragtime Professor" Remmers, Sunday concert: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8040060.JPG Professor Remmers and Granny Nanny, Sunday concert: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8040061.JPG Three-piano "Pearl of the Harem", Sunday concert: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8040063.JPG Tom Brier and Keith Taylor, Sunday concert: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8040068.JPG "Dill Pickles" finale, Sunday concert: http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8040072.JPG
Oops. The URL for Main Street actually points to a picture
of Nan Bostick on piano and Kittie Wilson on washboard. The
correct Main Street URL is
http://www.jremmers.org/SutterCreek2001/P8020014.JPG
Very handsome professor there, remmers. Thanks for sharing such a cool story and the pictures.
Just a brief note or two on the Lapeer Ragtime Festival, which took place a couple of weekends ago. In case you're not familiar with it, Lapeer, Michigan is a smallish town east of Flint a ways, in the midst of farm country. It's only a 1.5 hour drive from Ann Arbor, hence very easy for me to get to compared to a lot of the festivals I attend. It was also the first ragtime festival held in Lapeer. My impression is that the city fathers finally realized that they had a ragtime superstar in their midst -- Lapeer is Bob Milne's home town -- and decided to capitalize on that by asking Bob to organize a festival to coincide with "Lapeer Days", a big annual celebration with tents on the main drag, a carnival, a parade, and other such small-town-USA carryings-on. In retrospect the timing probably wasn't the greatest -- the festival had to compete with othe Lapeer Days events, and that probably reduced attendance by locals. The small downtown theater where the festival was held was only about half full for the concerts. That said, the festival was excellent musically, and the audience, although smallish, was enthusiastic. The performers were Bob Milne, Sue Keller, and the Bo Grumpus trio. I've seen and heard them all many times before, but they were all in fine form. I think that Bo Grumpus in particular benefits from a smaller, more intimate setting like the vintage little theater where the concerts were held. They were certainly well received by the audience. A festival highlight for me was their rendition of a number called "Bogalusa Strut" from the 1920s, in which they pulled out all the stops. (It's also on their latest album, "Blues & Rags", which I was inspired to acquire.) I also found the small scale of the festival -- a Friday night concert, and a Saturday afternoon combination seminar/concert -- to be a nice change of pace from the more mammoth festivals held in Frankenmuth, Sedalia, and Sacramento. Next year, they're not going to try to put on a ragtime festival during Lapeer Days. What they're doing instead looks quite interesting and innovative -- a mid-September "Ragtime Retreat" with an educational as well as entertainment component: a number of seminars and private piano lessons, in addition to the usual concerts. I'll put festival pics up on the web when I've had time to organize them.
You're absolutely right, John. Bo Grumpus, the 30-something string-percussion trio from San Francisco, did an excellent rendition of "Bogalusa Strut," during Saturday's concert at the Lapeer Ragtime Festival. I'm glad I was there to hear it. I think the trio really responded to the audience's enthusiasm. As a collector of early, pioneer popular recordings, I think the neat thing about Bo Grumpus is that a good deal of the music it plays is borrowed from vintage recordings--pre-1930 78s and cylinders. The musicians in Bo Grumpus are record collectors. Craig Ventresco, the guitarist and leader, specializes in the early and forgotten popular artists of the late 1890s/early 1900s, like Will F. Denny, Harry Tally, Silas Leachman and a handful of studio bands. These recordings inspire the renditions of Bo Grumpus. Hence, old, obscure popular tunes get revived, such as "Shame on You" (1904), "Gayest Manhattan (March)" (1898), and "Too Much Ginger" (c. 1916). It's rare to hear such selections played and recorded today. They're excellent tunes that have been lost for too long in graying record grooves; they are worthy of revival. Bo Grumpus has a style and spirit that can successfully put over the old tunes to today's audiences. There's nothing corny or old-fashioned about its interpretations. Then again, it's not three guys jamming in different directions and making the tune unrecognizable. The composer's original intent is preserved. Renditions of rags, marches, one-steps, etc. are lively and energetic--they grab the attention of the audience. At concerts, the trio's sense of humor helps to keep things zipping along. Bo Grumpus' instrumentation is different than other small ragtime groups I've heard. I think this contributes to the trio's uniqueness and popularity at fests. Craig's playing has been described as, at times, sounding like two guitars at one time. He seems to effortlessly play almost any popular tune off old recordings. Pete Devine plays vintage traps, and oversees crash cymbals, skulls, wood block, Chinese tom-tom, hand cymbals, washboard (played with brushes), tap shoes, and other noisemakers. According to pianist Bob Milne, the host of the Lapeer festival, Pete was voted the number one US percussionist in jazz and ragtime, by his fellow musicians. Marty Eggers, on string bass, brilliantly keeps up with whatever Craig and Pete dish out. As always, it was a treat to hear and see Bo Grumpus. Plus, I even got to help Craig put together part of the playlist for Saturday's (Aug. 18) gig. Craig and I are record-collecting and rag-fest pals. We speak the same language. Therefore, it was a highly productive brainstorming session . . . in the theater's back alley, with the garbage can serving as the desk! I came up with two of the last three selections of the concert--"Too Much Ginger" and the often-recorded (before 1920) "Ben Hur Chariot Race March." I also reminded Craig that Billy Murray, the prolific and versatile pioneer recording artist, died Aug. 17, 1954. Craig agreed that it would be good to do a "tribute," even if one day late. It was a bit difficult trying to think of a Murray song that Craig could play AND sing. We finally agreed on the c. 1906 comic song "He Goes to Church on Sunday."
Thanks for the post, Anna. It's nice to have some insight into
the way a group like Bo Grumpus operates. And nice work on the
playlist for the Saturday concert -- all good tunes.
I've put together a small picture gallery on the Lapeer festival:
http://www.jremmers.org/Lapeer2001/
See http://www.ragtimemusic.com/scrf/festival_prior_year.htm for a report on August's Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival. Included are a writeup of the festival and a picture gallery, featuring photos taken by yours truly and others.
Just learned about an interview with David Thomas Roberts that was broadcast on National Public Radio a few weeks ago. Roberts is a leading composer of New Ragtime and the related genre Terra Verde. He's the composer of one of my favorite pieces of contemporary ragtime, the piano solo "Roberto Clemente" (which he performs during the interview). He's also an able lecturer and teacher; I took master classes and private lessons from him at the two Ragtime Institutes held in Boulder, Colorado in 1999 and 2000. The interview was broadcast on August 29, 2001 on "All Things Considered." You can listen to it on the web by going to the NPR archives at http://www.npr.org/archives/ and entering "David Thomas Roberts" and the above date and program information in the form.
Slightly off-topic, but I'd like to put in a plug for the "Ghost World", the film version of Daniel Clowes' wonderfully funny and poignant novel-in-comic-book-form of the same name. It's about Enid and Rebecca, a couple of young women freshly graduated from high school who aren't sure what they're going to do next with their lives. Enid in particular has a lot of trouble figuring out how she fits into the modern world. The movie is basicially faithful to the tone of the book but with some major new plot twists. Most significantly, there's a new character played by Steve Buscemi -- a middle-aged record collector befriended by Enid. The guy is a fan of vintage jazz, ragtime, and blues, and like Enid is something a misfit. The two form a bond, and complications ensue that are both comical and disastrous. The screenplay is by Clowes and director Terry Zwigoff. Zwigoff is himself a musician and vintage music afficianado -- he played cello with Robert Crumb's "Cheap Suit Serenaders" ensemble -- so I'm sure the musical elements of the plot are due to him. This kind of music is so neglected nowadays that I was glad to see it acknowledged in a movie that is at least marginally mainstream. I was amused to hear the names of classical ragtime composers Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb mentioned. The playing of Bo Grumpus guitarist Craig Ventresco can be heard on the soundtrack. I liked the movie a lot. Thora Birch is perfectly cast as Enid. Several other characters from the book are beautifully captured as well, such as Enid's father and his girlfriend (played unbilled by Teri Garr). Catch it on video if you miss in in the theater.
I read the first couple pages of the "Ghost World" graphic novel. I'd have read more, but I was short of time. It looked better than, but disturbingly similar to, the same author's "David Boring", which I read about half of until my mind revolted.
Did it live up to the title?
"Ghost World" is the the only Clowes that I've read, so I have no idea how it compares to his other work. But I liked "Ghost World" so much that I do want to check out his other stuff. On the ragtime front, my activity level has declined in intensity since I resumed teaching full-time in September. I've been working on learning a couple of rags by the contemporary composer David Thomas Roberts: "Roberto Clemente" and "Through the Bottomlands". And I'll be heading out to the West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, CA later this month.
resp:244 - Yes. (I thought that rather too obvious a comment to make, but yes.)
Tomorrow I'm leaving to attend the West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, CA. I'll let you know how it went.
I'm back from the West Coast Ragtime Festival and will post some details later. In the meantime, a couple of short announcements: Pianist Bob Milne will be giving a "Holiday Ragtime Piano Concert" on Saturday, December 15 at Pease Auditorium on the Eastern Michigan University campus in Ypsilanti. Tickets are available by phone at (734)487-2282 or on the web at http://www.emich.edu/convocation . In addition to ragtime, Milne plays boogie woogie and blues. He's one of my favorite performers, and I think any of his appearances is well worth attending, almost as much for his entertaining and informative comments on the music as for the music itself. (I'll certainly be there.) Archive Impact has just released an interactive CD-ROM called "American Scrapbook: Detroit Memories, Volume 1". It's a retrospective of Detroit from the turn of the century to World War II, told in words, photographs, and music. My piano playing can be heard on the soundtrack in a couple of places -- "Princess Rag" and "Ragtime Oriole", both by James Scott. Ragtime pianist and historian Nan Bostick also performs on the CD.
As I've announced elsewhere, I'll be performing at this Sunday's Holiday Ragtime Bash at the Unitarian Church in Ann Arbor. For those who might want to go, details are in Music item 51, response #36 (resp:music,51,36). This concert is an annual event that dates back to the 1970s ragtime revival. It started out as a series of fundraisers, organized by William Albright and William Bolcom, for a new church organ, and then took on a life of its own, continuing long past the point when the organ was purchased. William Albright usually hosted it; following his death a few years ago, Mike Montgomery took over the program director and emcee chores. As time went on, the focus drifted away from ragtime and towards related forms -- blues, boogie-woogie, pop tunes. This year there's a conscious effort to emphasize ragtime once again, a decision of which I heartily approve of course. The first half of the concert will showcase major composers of the ragtime era -- Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, James Scott, Tom Turpin, Jelly Roll Morton, and others. The second half will be more free-wheeling, but still with the emphasis on ragtime I think. Performs include William Bolcom, Joan Morris, James Dapogny, Terry Parish, Kerry Price, Bob Seely, and yours truly, among others.
Found while cruising Amazon.com: Bo Grumpus guitarist Craig Ventresco has a ragtime guitar album called THE PAST IS YET TO COME. This is listed as #83 of Amazon.com's best CDs of 2001.
Thanks for the reference, Ken. I didn't know about that one.
Looking it up on the web, I found this review:
Guitarist Craig Ventresco may be one of the best ragtime
pickers alive today. He was heard fingerpicking on the
Crumb soundtrack, but with "The Past Is Yet to Come,"
we get an entire disc of his dizzying guitar solos. The
results are stunning. Ventresco's ability to perform rags
by Big Bill Broonzy, Eubie Blake, and Scott Joplin is
awe-inspiring; his dense arrangements sound impossibly
difficult to play, but they are a sheer pleasure to
hear...his energized playing breathes new life into
the works. Ventresco's a real talent and ragtime lovers
couldn't ask for a finer disc of guitar music. It may
be sacrilegious to admit, but Ventresco's technical
ability is right up there with Blind Lemon Jefferson and
Blind Blake -- the only things missing are the pops and
hisses of the 78s. An incredible disc. --Jason Verlinde,
Amazon.com
Clearly I shall have to acquire this CD.
I've been a little slow posting reports on my recent activities --
West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, CA and the Holiday
Ragtime Bash in Ann Arbor. Hopefully this weekend...
i really enjoy his stuff on the crumb soundtrack.
Ragtime pianist and composer Scott Kirby will be appearing in Ann Arbor this Saturday, February 23, 8pm at the Kerrytown Concert House. In addition to being one of the best ragtime pianists around, Kirby is a prolific composer and arguably the finest interpreter of Scott Joplin's music today. Having been one of his master class pupils at the Ragtime Institute in Boulder, Colorado, I can attest that he is also a superb teacher. In addition to performing, Kirby is one of the organizers of the annual Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival and for the past two years has been music director of the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Missouri. The concert is billed as "a look at the evolution of ragtime." I imagine that he will be performing and commenting on early ragtime as well as contemporary works by such composers as David Thomas Roberts, Frank French, and himself. This is a rare opportunity for people in the Ann Arbor area to hear and hear about ragtime by one of the contemporary masters of the genre. If you think of ragtime as simply non-serious, honky-tonk style music, Kirby's persentation may well change your point of view. Tickets are $10, $15, and $25. Call the Kerrytown Concert House at (734)769-2999 for reservations. (I would have posted an announcement earlier but only found out about the concert yesterday.)
Hm, I've been neglecting this item lately. Not for lack of activity. I'll summarize the year's activities so far: Scott Kirby's KCH concert was nearly sold out and a great success. Selections were his typical eclectic blend of classical ragtime, contemporary ragtime, Latin American syncopated music, with a generous helping of his own compositions. A lot of stuff that isn't often performed in Ann Arbor. Audience response was enthusiastic. This was his first Ann Arbor appearance. I know Scott from various ragtime festivals. He'd forgotten that I live in Ann Arbor and was surprised to see me there. He told me afterwards that this was one of his more gratifying performance experiences, and that he'd like to make Ann Arbor appearances a regular part of his concertizing. Hopefully that will happen. This past spring I attended Zhender's Ragtime Festival in Frankenmuth, MI, the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, MO, and the Blind Boone Festival in Columbia, MO. I go to the first two every year, but the last was a new experience. The Blind Boone Festival is held right after the Joplin Festival, and Columbia is not far from Sedalia, so I decided to stop off and take in one day of it on my way home. I'm glad I did. Heard a couple of excellent performers I'd not encountered before. Bob Milne gave a fascinating lecture on connections between pool playing and piano playing, how he's applied things he learned from the former to the latter. (I hadn't known that in addition to being a professional musician, Bob was a pool hall hustler back in the 1960s, a sideline he got into while he was a french horn student at the Eastman School of Music.) His props were a pool table and an upright piano. He showed us that he's still in good pool-playing form by demonstrating a number of tricky shots. That evening, the incomparable Morton Gunnar Larsen of Norway gave a solo concert, playing classical and contemporary ragtime, some Gottschalk, and a smattering of other things. The man has dazzling piano technique, especially evident in his performances of Jelly Roll Morton and Zez Confrey pieces. Larsen is another performer whom I'd really like to see make it to Ann Arbor someday, hopefully with his incomparable Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra in tow. This past spring I decided to try my hand at competition and entered the World Championship Old Time Piano Playing Contest, held in Peoria, Illinois over the Memorial Day weekend. It's an annual event that started in 1975. To compete, I had to prepare six pieces, with two being played in each of three rounds -- elimination, semifinals (top 10 contestants), and finals (top 5 contestants). Period costume required (see mine at http://jremmers.org/oldtime.jpg). I was really nervous, first of all because I was a freshman contestant and most of the contestants were contest veterans, secondly because I was being judged, thirdly because the venue was a cavernous hotel ballroom with an audience of several hundred people (and seating capacity of probably a thousand). As it turned out, things went well. I was the only freshman contestant to make the semifinals, and I finished in 7th place. And now I have a much better idea what to expect and how to prepare when I try the contest again. (For information on the contest and to see the final rankings, visit http://www.oldtimepiano.com) Next week I'm off to the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival in Boulder, CO. I expect the music will be good; not so sure about the air quality.
One other note: I've posted a few more of my performances on my MIDI site at http://jremmers.org/midi/ . These are live recordings with no editing, so please excuse the occasional flub or missed note. "Sensation Rag" and "Ragtime Oriole" are two of the pieces I performed at the Old Time Piano Playing Contest. W. C. O'Hare's "Cottonfield Capers" from 1901 is a cakewalk; not strictly ragtime I suppose. It's a deligtful tune rescued from obscurity by republication in the current issue of Chris Ware's occasional periodical "The Ragtime Ephemeralist", which I picked up at the Sedalia festival. My performance might be the only existing solo piano recording of "Cottonfield Capers" in existence, although one can find a (very intriguing) 1902 band recording on the Ephemeralist website: http://home.earthlink.net/~ephemeralist/soundfiles.html
For folks in or near Ann Arbor: The annual Holiday Ragtime Bash at the Unitarian Church is this Sunday, December 8, at 7:30 PM. Although I hadn't originally expected to, last-minute developments make it appear that I *will* be performing again this year. I don't know what or how much I'll be playing yet -- stil have to confer with the concert dirctor about that. Other performers are Bob Milne, Terry Parrish and the Elite Syncopaters, and Kent Eschelman. The Unitarian Church is located south of Ann Arbor at 4001 Ann Arbor-Saline Road (corner of Ellsworth Road). Admission is $15, $12 for students and seniors. Tickets available at the door, or in advance at Nicolas' Books. Seating is first-come- first-served, and for a good seat it's advisable to get there early, like around 7:00. This year's concert is the 30th in this long-time Ann Arbor annual tradition.
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