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| 25 new of 256 responses total. |
remmers
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response 132 of 256:
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May 29 18:13 UTC 1999 |
Tomorrow I'm heading off to Sedalia, Missouri for the annual Scott
Joplin Ragtime Festival. Since 1999 is the 100th anniversary of the
publication of Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag -- the piece that more than any
other single thing started the ragtime craze -- the festival is extra
big and extra long this year, running for a full week and with many
many ragtime luminaries participating. I'm attending the whole
thing. Can I take that extensive a ragtime immersion? We shall see.
I attended the Joplin festival for the first time last year and was
impressed by the free-wheeling, democratic, small-town-jubilee
ambience. There are formal scheduled concerts (two or three a day),
but there is also music going on all the time at various places around
Sedalia's historic district. Opportunities abound for anyone to sit
down and play the piano, and many do. In the main tent -- at the
former site of the Maple Leaf Club, where Scott Joplin worked as a
piano player at the turn of the century -- it's not at all unusual for
one of the headliners, like John Arpin or Morton Gunnar Larsen to play
a set, followed immediately by a couple of 7th graders playing "The
Entertainer" arranged as a duet. Like I say, very democratic.
Sedalia is the only festival I've been to where you can't possibly
attend every event, because several things are happening at the same
time. During a scheduled concert at Liberty Theater, there are folks
playing in the Maple Leaf Tent, somebody else jamming away on a piano
at the gazebo, and yet another person performing in a tent set up on
the court house lawn.
And then at night, after the last formal concert is over, there's
"after hours" in the Best Western ballroom, where they've got two
pianos set up and anybody who wants to can sit down and play. The
after hours sessions typically go on until 3am or so. And if the
ballroom isn't intimate enough for you, you can hang out in the hotel
lounge and listen to (or play) the piano there, or go to the lobby
where another piano is set up that's open to all comers, etc. etc.
And this all goes on for six full days and part of a seventh. Sedalia
is a festival that knows how to be *festive*.
There's an incredibly stellar lineup of performers this year,
including Max Morath, Bob Milne, Terry Waldo, Mimi Blais, Scott Kirby,
Peter Lundberg, Galen Wilkes, Tony Caramia, John Arpin, Ian and Regina
Whitcomb, Bob Darch, the Elite Syncopators, the Turpin Tyme Ragsters,
Morton Larsen, Sue Keller, Glen Jenks, the Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra,
Trebor Tichenor, Virginia Tichenor, and many more.
The festival also has an explicitly educational component in the form
of symposia on various aspects of ragtime music and history. There's
about twice as many of them this year as in the past. Presenters
include Bob Darch, Scott Kirby (speaking on "Band Concerts in Classic
Ragtime", a subject in which I have an interest), Tony Caramia, ace
washboard player Mike Schwimmer (giving a history of the washboard in
ragtime), Ed Berlin, Max Morath, Dave Jasen, Galen Wilkes, and
Patricia Lamb Conn (daughter of the great ragtime composer Joseph
Lamb).
Something else that's educational: Tony Caramia, one of the headliners
(and also an Associate Professor of piano performance at the
Eastman-Rochester School of Music) gives private lessons. I've signed
up for an hour with him. Should be interesting.
This is going to be a great festival. In addition to all the music,
I'll get to see friends whom I never see other than at ragtime
festivals. When I get back, I'll let y'all know how things went.
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tpryan
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response 133 of 256:
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May 30 17:51 UTC 1999 |
Wasn't The Maple Leaf Rag the first million selling peice of
music in America? Could it also be the first million selling thing?
(before McD's sold a million copies of the same burger).
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bookworm
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response 134 of 256:
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Jun 11 23:29 UTC 1999 |
It wouldn't surprise me. Maple Leaf Rag was very big during its time.
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remmers
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response 135 of 256:
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Jun 15 02:52 UTC 1999 |
The Maple Leaf Rag is widely cited as being the first million-seller
piece of sheet music. According to Scott Joplin biographer Ed Berlin,
this is questionable. There is no doubt, however, that it did sell
very well and was a major factor in sparking the ragtime craze.
I've been to two ragtime festivals since I last posted here - the
Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Missouri (a BIG one), and the
Egbert Van Alstyne Festival in Woodstock, Illinois (smallish). I'll
try to post reports on both soon.
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lumen
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response 136 of 256:
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Jun 19 13:38 UTC 1999 |
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.
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orinoco
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response 137 of 256:
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Jun 19 21:26 UTC 1999 |
I'd love to see a copy too, when you get it finished, Jon.
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remmers
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response 138 of 256:
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Jul 4 21:57 UTC 1999 |
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.
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tpryan
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response 139 of 256:
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Jul 5 21:08 UTC 1999 |
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.
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remmers
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response 140 of 256:
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Jul 6 14:54 UTC 1999 |
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.
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remmers
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response 141 of 256:
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Jul 6 15:31 UTC 1999 |
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.)
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remmers
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response 142 of 256:
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Jul 26 18:30 UTC 1999 |
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.
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remmers
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response 143 of 256:
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Jul 26 20:03 UTC 1999 |
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.
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lumen
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response 144 of 256:
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Jul 26 21:26 UTC 1999 |
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..
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remmers
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response 145 of 256:
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Jul 29 17:47 UTC 1999 |
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.
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remmers
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response 146 of 256:
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Jul 31 14:13 UTC 1999 |
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/
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lumen
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response 147 of 256:
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Aug 13 21:11 UTC 1999 |
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?
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remmers
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response 148 of 256:
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Nov 12 16:27 UTC 1999 |
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.
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remmers
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response 149 of 256:
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Dec 12 23:36 UTC 1999 |
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...
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krj
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response 150 of 256:
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Dec 13 05:02 UTC 1999 |
Waaaah, I wish I'd known this was coming up.
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remmers
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response 151 of 256:
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Dec 13 18:26 UTC 1999 |
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.
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remmers
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response 152 of 256:
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Dec 22 23:16 UTC 1999 |
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/
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remmers
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response 153 of 256:
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Jan 28 14:20 UTC 2000 |
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.
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remmers
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response 154 of 256:
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Feb 18 15:16 UTC 2000 |
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.
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remmers
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response 155 of 256:
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Feb 23 00:36 UTC 2000 |
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
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oddie
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response 156 of 256:
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Feb 24 05:33 UTC 2000 |
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?
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