Scott Joplin Music

WOW! What a fun and entertaining CD. This is a CD for any music lover to add to their collection. The song selection is amazing as it spans from classical to jazz and rock. I have never heard anything like this before. Every song on this CD is great... There is nothing average about it. Whether you are a musician or a music lover this is a CD for you.

I have something to confess : I like the sound of piano rolls.It's a little bit mechanical,and rigide, but it has a particular flavor and charm that is,I think,very attractive.I love Fats,Jelly Roll,James P.,James Scott or Scott Joplin's piano rolls.This old time music,and this old time rhythm,has something very melancholic that makes it indispensable and entrancing.None of these seventeen rolls has originally been played by Scott Joplin himself.Eight of them were originally issued at the turn of the century,and the nine others were produced in the sixties by a roll collector from StLouis,Mo,named Hal Boulware.But they are as close to the original arrangements that it is almost impossible to distinguish them.Scott Joplin's talent for writing explodes in each tune;this man,born 1868,and who died in 1917,half mad,after the disaster of his most ambitious work,an opera called "Treemonisha",created some of America's most beautiful melodies.Few jazz musicians played his tunes,because it was some kind of old time stuff;I just can name a few: Paul Lingle (hope that Delmark will soon reissue his three Euphonic lps),Jelly Roll Morton (who gave a magnificent rendition of "original rags" in 1939),MaryLou Williams ("elite syncopations","pineapple rag" and the wonderful waltz "pleasing moments",in his "Nite life" album issued on CD by Chiaroscuro),and an outstanding version of "the entertainer" by Jaki Byard on a very rare japanese Victor LP from 1972.This CD will be treasured by all lovers of old dusty things,of old music that will be an essential part in the birth of stride and swing.Even free jazz musicians will remember it,because it's part of their roots : listen to Dave Burrell's "Am rag" for example.I think these seventeen tunes are fascinating,as those included in Scott Joplin's two other albums on Biograph,because of the beauty of the music and the quiet melancholy that comes out.

Watching all-time favorite film "The Sting" on cable reintroduced me to the great Marvin Hamlisch score and set me to thinking about getting a Joplin album. Searching Amazon, I found this recording.

What the online description does NOT tell you is that this recording is comprised of piano roll performances. As such, there is little or no variation in volume or sustain, giving the recording a perky quality, rather than the more contemplative quality of the Hamlisch interpretations.

Liner notes discuss the piano roll industry of Joplin's time, including the practice of liberally interpreting scores into three- and four-hand arrangmetns. this recording consists of vintage-era performances, and also modern-era performances by piano roll collectors who punched their own.

I found this an interesting addition to my music library from the historical standpoint, but for "pure listenability"... well, I'm going to order the Hamlisch "Sting" soundtrack, short though it is.

I have for a long time owned the LP of the piano rolls created by Joplin.
Piano rolls are music produced by relatively crude machines and are unable to give more than a pale imitation of the player's style.
You are much better off listening to good exponents of ragtime like Joshua Rifkin than thinking that piano rolls are actual music.

This CD shows the beginning of jazz. This is where it all began. Scott Joplin is a great composer of ragtime. It is a fun CD to listen to, but it must be listened to in context of it's historical meaning, or it can become very monotonous. If you're not an avid jazz lover, this probably isn't for you.

These recordings are not re-mastered Scot Joplin works but rather "piano rolls" and as such are very mechanical sounding.At no place on the catalog info does the words"piano roll" appear and therefor this album is a swindle. Tin Ear

The piano rolls featured on this CD date from the turn of last century and the 1960's. The selections are good. Just the right thing to spark some interest in Ragtime music for my 12 year-old son. (It did!) I was hoping the selections would be more faithful to the period. Perhaps they are! But, while purists will enjoy the true-to-the-scoreness of the tracks they will also be disappointed in many of the tempos.

One reviewer noted that the songs sounded mechanical. I agree, some do. The end of Maple Leaf Rag, for instance, culminates in such a frenetic pace I thought I was listening to a hurdy-gurdy race.

We also purchased The Complete Music Of Scott Joplin. This is a 4 CD set. There is a lot of music for the money. John Arpin plays with lots of vituosity and embelishments. But 4 Cds are less convenient.

I do enjoy a liveliness to my ragtime, and this did inspire my son to play a couple of pieces so I am very happy.

What else were you expecting? You think they had 8 track recorders in Joplin's day? You think they had digital or even analogue technology?? Heck, dude, they didn't even have ELECTRICITY! lol

I'm just happy to know that Joplin's original recordings on this CD are the closest thing we have to hearing original recordings from the Classical Masters. I wish the piano roll had existed in Beethoven's day...or Chopin's. I doubt many people would be screaming about the digital conversion quality if it had. ;)

When I bought this album, I was a swinging grad student. The music accompanied me when I was working on my experiments (organic synthesis!). I never got bored, it really got me in the mood! So when I was planning my wedding banquet a few years later, I used some of the tracks (from number 6 onwards) during the event. This album will help me chronicle at least the past 3 years of my life. Buy it, you won't regret it. It will inspire you to move on with your life