Scott Joplin Music

This historical and enjoyable CD re-issues some very rare Ragtime, but not you're typical Ragtime piano solo. This is ragtime being played by dance orchestras and small groups a the peak of it's popularity. Many people think of ragtime as just being played by piano, well during the late 1800's early 1900's ragtime bands were quite popular, though they didn't improvise(ragtime is completely written out) they are full of syncopation. Fans of traditional jazz will enjoy this, even though there is no improvising, there is a lot of hot syncopation, and it's just enjoyable music. Such lehendary bands as Arthur Pryor's Band, Edison Grand Concert Band, Handy's Orchestra and Eubie Blake Trio. Some highlights include Silence and Fun ["A Ragtime Oddity"] performed by Sousa's Band, Jazzing Around performed by Eubie Blake Trio, Coon Band Contest performed by Arthur Pryor's Band, Dallas Blues performed by Wilbur Sweatman's Original Jazz Band, and a highly enjoyable Music Box Rag performed by Victor Military Band. The music on this CD is joyous and fun, and is recommedned to traditioanl and vintage jazz collectors.

I also have to highly recomend two CD's by a new band called The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, they re-create the ragtime band of Arthur Pryor on their two finest CD's "On The Boardwalk" and "The Whistler & His Dog," both are essential.

I've collected ragtime recordings for some time, and I'm always delighted to find "non-traditional" arrangements of my favorite classic piano rags. Usually, I'm amused by the novelty of hearing these rags orchestrated for instruments other than the piano, but after a few plays, the novelty frequently wears off and I'm back to my piano recordings. Not so here! This is a magnificent recording by a top-notch group in the style of the Canadian Brass. The arrangements are fresh and exciting, they breathe new life into many of these classics. Still, the arrangements are faithful to the originals, and make no attempt to "jazz up" these old rags. The disc has a beautiful warm sound to it, and the members of the Avatar Brass Quintet play magnificently. I particularly like their versions of "Creole Belles," "A Real Slow Drag," and one of the prettiest rags I've ever heard, "Slippery Elm Rag." This has quickly become one of my favorite ragtime discs in my collection. I've listened to it dozens of times, but I never tire of it. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up before it goes out of print. Highly recommended!

This is a wonderful disc featuring classic American rags performed by a talented brass quintet. The timbral dynamics of the quintet are gentle and stunning at the same time. The ensemble's timing and inflection are excellent. Track times are good.

I endeavored to track down some music written by William Ryden, and ran across this gem of an album, consisting of rags arranged, and in one case composed, by him for brass quintet. (Some time back, I had been at a chamber orchestra concert, and one of the featured works, by Ryden, impressed me enough for such a search. That featured work, a setting of Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" for vocal quartet, narrator and chamber orchestra, was perfect "pops concert" fare, but alas has yet to be recorded. Too bad; it was both charming and amusing.)

Ryden has to his credit the composing of more than 250 rags for piano. One of them-"Frogmore Stew"-is among the brass quintet arrangements on this album, and, based on its hearing, he seemingly deserves as much prominence as William Bolcom, following in the tradition of Scott Joplin (who has five of his more famous rags included on the album).

Scott Joplin! Who can forget the pathbreaking Nonesuch LP of his piano rags that Joshua Rifkin did more three decades ago, and the effect that album had on the genre? It wasn't just "The Sting" that reflected this rediscovery; this "craze of the times"; it seemed that everyone and his brother wanted to get in on the act. One popular release of the times was Gunther Schuller's "The Redback Book," with the New England Conservatory Orchestra. And I could swear that the Canadian Brass had taken their own whack at the craze, but, in checking my LP library, as well as an Amazon search, I may have conflated a possible Joplin album from them with "The Village Band" album, brass quintet transcriptions of other music from the Gilded Era.

Well, never mind the Canadian Brass! The Avatar Brass Quintet perform these works with all the skill and panache that one could ask for. Not only do we have five Joplin rags, as well as the one by Ryden himself, but equally famous works by Eubie Blake and Irving Berlin, a rare piece by George Gershwin, and a number of rags by some lesser-known contemporaries of Joplin.

What more could one ask for? Well, I for one would like to hear more of Ryden's own rags; maybe not all 250 of them, but at least a few more than just "Frogmore Stew." Perhaps an album that combines Bolcom and Ryden rags as arranged by Ryden for brass quintet would be just the ticket.

In the meantime, this "Magnetic Rags" album fills the bill nicely.

Bob Zeidler

Genius, this CD is. I hear a lot of Scott Joplin in this other CD on CD Baby. Check it out. RBP (Ragtime Blues and Polka.)[...]

This disc is a real gem, with its companion "The Entertainer".The original rolls are executed with a vintage piano-reproducer Welte-Steinway 1910, and performed part by Scott Joplin himself (six pieces in total for the two CD)and part by other period pianists.
It is a journey in the earth of American Classic Music, the link between the european salon music and the afro american traditional, with a strong classical compositional background as Scott Joplin himself was proud to say. You can listen to it with the real performing style and with an original piano.
A revelation.

I think we have a tendency to play older music to match the expectations of our modern ear. This can bring new views and fresh insights, but it can also lose the original vision of the composer. I enjoy the massive orchestrations played on modern instruments, but I also value the original orchestrations played on period instruments. This disk is an example of the latter. W. C. Handy is one of the greats of the era and here he plays the masterpieces of his time in the style of the time. The clean (re-)recording brings out new emphasis and subtleties that I hadn't heard in modern performances. Eugenia is a lovely piece as is Cleopha. A Real Slow Rag starts out almost in a tango mood. Scott Joplin's New Rag picks up the pace. And there's the continuous thrill of "hearing" W. C. Handy play for us. I keep coming back to this disk for a refreshing look back to the American music of a century ago.