Scott Joplin was "The King of Ragtime Writers;" a composer who elevated "banjo piano playing," a lowly entertainment associated with saloons and brothels, into an American art form loved by millions. Born in Texas in either 1867 or 1868, Scott Joplin was raised in Texarkana, the son of a laborer and former slave. As a child, Joplin taught... [+] Read More

Scott Joplin was "The King of Ragtime Writers;" a composer who elevated "banjo piano playing," a lowly entertainment associated with saloons and brothels, into an American art form loved by millions. Born in Texas in either 1867 or 1868, Scott Joplin was raised in Texarkana, the son of a laborer and former slave. As a child, Joplin taught himself piano on an instrument belonging to a white family that granted him access to it, and ultimately studied with a local, German-born teacher who introduced Joplin to classical music. Joplin attended high school in Sedalia, Missouri, a town that would serve as Joplin's home base during his most prosperous years, and where a museum now bears his name.

In 1891, the first traceable evidence of Joplin's music career is found, placing him in a minstrel troupe in Texarkana. In 1893, he played in Chicago during the Columbian Exposition was held, reportedly leading a band with a cornet. Afterward, Joplin settled in Sedalia, worked with other brass bands and founding a vocal group called the Texas Medley Quartette. During an 1895 appearance in Syracuse, New York, the quality of Joplin's original songs for the Texas Medley Quartette so impressed a group of local businessmen that they arranged for Joplin's first publications. Around 1896, Joplin enrolled in Sedalia's George R. Smith College for Negroes to study formally, publishing a few more pieces in the years to follow.

In 1899, publisher John Stark of Sedalia issued Joplin's second ragtime composition, Maple Leaf Rag. It didn't catch on like wildfire immediately, but within a few years the popularity of Maple Leaf Rag was so enormous that it made Joplin's name; and Joplin earned a small percentage of income from it for the rest of his days, helping to stabilize him in his last years. By the end of 1899, Joplin presented his first ambitious work, the ballet The Ragtime Dance, at the Wood Opera House in Sedalia. It didn't appear in print until 1902, and then only in a truncated form. Joplin moved to St. Louis in 1901, as did Stark, who set his new publishing venture up as "The House of Classic Rags." Joplin wrote many of the other rags he is known for during this time, including The Entertainer, The Easy Winners and Elite Syncopations.

In 1903, Joplin organized a touring company to perform his first opera "A Guest of Honor," which foundered after a couple of months, leaving Joplin destitute. He had recovered well enough to appear at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair to present his rag The Cascades, which proved his second great success. Joplin also married for a second time to a woman who died only a few weeks into their marriage after a bout with pneumonia, plunging Joplin into another bout of despair. During a visit to Chicago in 1907 he renewed an acquaintance with the St. Louis pianist Louis Chauvin, who did not long outlast their visit. Joplin utilized a strain drawn from Chauvin's playing into the finest of his "collaborative" rags, Heliotrope Bouquet. This was published after Joplin moved to New York in 1907. Stark had also resettled there, and they resumed their partnership to some degree, but Joplin also published through Seminary Music, likewise home to aspiring songwriter Irving Berlin. Through Seminary many of the best of his late works appeared, such as Pine Apple Rag, the transparently beautiful "Mexican serenade" Solace and the harmonically adventurous Euphonic Sounds.

From 1911 until his death in 1917 most of Joplin's efforts went into his second opera, Treemonishia, which he heard in concert and except performances, but never managed to stage during his own lifetime. With his third wife Lotte Joplin, Joplin formed his own music company and published his final piano rag, Magnetic Rag (1914), one of his best. By this time, debilitating, long term effects of syphilis was beginning to break down Joplin's health, although he did manage to make seven hand-played piano rolls in 1916 and 1917; though heavily edited, these rolls are as close as we are likely to get to hearing Joplin's own playing. One of them is W. C. Handy's Ole Miss Rag, which suggests that Joplin might have had a hand in its composition or arrangement. Joplin was tireless and selfless in his advocacy of his fellow Ragtime composers, collaborating with James Scott, Arthur Marshall, Louis Chauvin and Scott Hayden and helping to arrange others by Artie Matthews and the white New Jersey composer Joseph Lamb, whose work Joplin pitched to John Stark.

Maple Leaf Rag remained a constant in popular music throughout the Jazz Age, but the better part of Joplin's work remained unknown until the "Ragtime Revival" of the early 1970s, during which "Scott Joplin" became a household name and Treemonishia was finally staged by the Houston Grand Opera. Although primary sources on Joplin's music were still extant as late as the late 1940s, today not a single manuscript page in Joplin's hand still exists and only three photographs of him have survived, along with precious few first-hand quotations. Joplin died in a mental facility convinced that he had failed in his mission to achieve success as an African-American composer of serious music. Were he alive today, Joplin would be astounded to learn that, a century after his work was first printed, he is the most successful African-American composer of serious music that ever lived - by far. Some of his works have been recorded hundreds of times and arranged for practically every conceivable instrumental combination, played by everything from symphony orchestras to ice cream trucks. For a couple of generations of Americans who have even never heard of Stephen Foster, the music of Scott Joplin represents the old, traditional order of all things American. ~ David N. Lewis, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Marian McPartland has become famous for hosting her Piano Jazz radio program since 1978, but she was a well-respected pianist decades before. She played in a four-piano vaudeville act in England and performed on the European continent for the troops during World War II. In Belgium in 1944, she met cornetist Jimmy McPartland and they soon... [+] Read More

Marian McPartland has become famous for hosting her Piano Jazz radio program since 1978, but she was a well-respected pianist decades before. She played in a four-piano vaudeville act in England and performed on the European continent for the troops during World War II. In Belgium in 1944, she met cornetist Jimmy McPartland and they soon married. Marian moved with her husband to the United States in 1946, where she sometimes played with him even though her style was more modern than his Dixieland-oriented groups. McPartland eventually had her own trio at the Embers (1950) and the Hickory House (1952-1960), which until 1957 included drummer Joe Morello. She recorded regularly for Savoy and Capitol during the 1950s and also made sessions for Argo (1958), Time (1960 and 1963), Sesac, and Dot. Although eventually divorced from Jimmy, they remained close friends, sometimes played together, and even remarried just weeks before his death. She formed her own Halycon label and recorded several fine albums between 1969-1977. McPartland also made three albums for Tony Bennett's Improv label during 1976-1977 before signing with Concord, where she has been since 1978. The Jazz Alliance label has made available over 30 CD's worth of material from Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz show, some of which are quite fascinating and significant. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Eubie Blake had a rather unique career. Although his main importance was as a songwriter for Broadway shows in the 1920s, late in life he became known as the last living link to ragtime. Blake always had a colorful life. He wrote his first rag, "The Charleston Rag," in 1899, spent years playing with medicine shows and in sporting houses, and by... [+] Read More

Eubie Blake had a rather unique career. Although his main importance was as a songwriter for Broadway shows in the 1920s, late in life he became known as the last living link to ragtime. Blake always had a colorful life. He wrote his first rag, "The Charleston Rag," in 1899, spent years playing with medicine shows and in sporting houses, and by 1915 was teaming up with singer Noble Sissle in vaudeville. Sissle and Blake wrote for the 1921 hit show Shuffle Along (the first all-black musical) and it was followed by Revue Negre, Plantation Review, Rhapsody in Black, and Bamville Review. The team of Sissle and Blake, in addition to making recordings, were filmed for some early experimental sound shorts. Among Blake's hit songs of the 1920s were "I'm Just Crazy About Harry," "You're Lucky to Me," and "Memories of You."

Although he made some recordings in 1931, Eubie Blake generally had a lower profile for the next three decades. He worked with Sissle now and then and earned a degree from New York University, but was largely forgotten until 1969. That year he recorded a double LP for Columbia (The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake) that amazed listeners who had never heard of him. During his remaining 14 years, Eubie Blake was a very popular performer, playing and singing ragtime-era pieces, charming audiences, making new records, appearing on Broadway in the 1978 show Eubie (he was 95 at the time), and running his own label, Eubie Blake Music. He continued performing until he was 98, and Eubie Blake made it to his 100th birthday with five days to spare. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Max Morath has never forsaken his intense study and presentation of early 1900s ragtime piano. Throughout the years, he single handedly kept the essence of that era in the public eye with his numerous plays, television programs, writing and recordings. He has earned the moniker, Mr. Ragtime, by being its most ardent devotee.

Max... [+] Read More

Max Morath has never forsaken his intense study and presentation of early 1900s ragtime piano. Throughout the years, he single handedly kept the essence of that era in the public eye with his numerous plays, television programs, writing and recordings. He has earned the moniker, Mr. Ragtime, by being its most ardent devotee.

Max Morath was born in Colorado Springs on October 1, 1926. An early interest in playing piano was nurtured and developed by his mother, who was a professional ragtime pianist. After obtaining a degree in English from Colorado College, he began his eclectic career dabbling in writing, acting, sales, television, and primarily piano. His initial theatrical performances found him in a variety of plays in the west. It was here that Morath began his intense research of ragtime and the Americana that surrounded it. His heroes were equal parts Thomas Edison, George and Ira Gershwin, Teddy Roosevelt, Irving Berlin, Bert Williams; and the kings of ragtime: Eubie Blake and Scott Joplin. His passion for the music and culture of early Americana was an integral part of the ragtime revival of the early '70s. In 1969, he premiered his critically acclaimed one-man play, Turn of the Century, off Broadway. Morath matched that success with the equally triumphant Living a Ragtime Life and The Ragtime Years. In the early '60s, Morath began a relationship with PBS that continues today. His informative and entertaining programs focusing on the ragtime era are considered classics in that genre. His other endeavors examining the music and culture of the early 1900s have spilled into contributions to radio programs for NPR and his written essays have appeared in numerous publications. In 1996, he finished work on a master's degree at Columbia University in American Studies. His master's thesis investigates the writer Carrie Jacobs-Bond who wrote "I Love You Truly" and hundreds of other classic early 20th century songs. Morath remained busy at the beginning of the 21st century, traveling all over the world with his one-man show, Max Morath the Ragtime Man. Morath's discs have continuously remained in print throughout the years and are available on several labels, including Vanguard, Epic, and RCA Red Seal. ~ Al Campbell, All Music Guide [-] Hide

When Scott Joplin wrote his ragtime compositions between 1899 and 1917, they often turned up on player pianos. The player piano roll not only served to entertain audiences crazed for syncopation, but also to preserve the music for the next generation. Unfortunately, a number of Joplin's creations were either never recorded on piano rolls during... [+] Read More

When Scott Joplin wrote his ragtime compositions between 1899 and 1917, they often turned up on player pianos. The player piano roll not only served to entertain audiences crazed for syncopation, but also to preserve the music for the next generation. Unfortunately, a number of Joplin's creations were either never recorded on piano rolls during his lifetime or can no longer be found. That's where Elite Syncopations comes in. Many of these recordings were taken from the collection of Hal Boulware. In the 1960s, Boulware filled the gaps of missing Joplin pieces by faithfully re-creating piano rolls out of printed scores. While certain pieces -- like "Maple Leaf Rag" -- are familiar, there's a subtle difference. On "Maple Leaf Rag," "Ole Miss Rag," and "Magnetic Rag," the piano rolls have been scored from Joplin's own solo work. The King of the Ragtime Writers was reportedly a good pianist, though no more than six of his solos survive. "Ole Miss Rag" -- the one piece by W.C. Handy -- comes from a rare piano roll (the only known copy), while "Silver Swan Rag" was only unearthed in 1970. Rare or not, these recordings have the same fresh vibrancy as other Joplin compositions. Elite Syncopations will entice Joplin fans while also serving as a fine introduction to his work. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford Jr., All Music Guide [-] Hide

A link to 19th-century ragtime who was still at the keys 75 years after the composition of his "Charleston Rag" (1899), Eubie Blake lived on yet longer thanks to his piano-roll recordings, including the 15 heard here. Most date from the 1910s -- though they've often been replayed for subsequently updated masterings -- and reflect one of the most... [+] Read More

A link to 19th-century ragtime who was still at the keys 75 years after the composition of his "Charleston Rag" (1899), Eubie Blake lived on yet longer thanks to his piano-roll recordings, including the 15 heard here. Most date from the 1910s -- though they've often been replayed for subsequently updated masterings -- and reflect one of the most buoyant piano styles of any in recorded jazz. Opening with "The Charleston Rag," Memories of You consists mostly of blues, though there's an ebullience and character in effect here that has little to do with the variety of blues heard during the late '20s, whether from acoustic Delta guitarists or Tin Pan Alley pianists. Blake's rendition of W.C. Handy's "The Memphis Blues" has a rollicking, syncopated charm, while "Boll Weevil Blues" is perhaps his best recording. One of the chestnuts, "I'm Just Wild About Harry," was actually recorded by Blake in 1973, more than 50 years after its first brush with popularity. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Of the many subjects who Marian McPartland has welcomed to her Piano Jazz radio series, Eubie Blake (easily the oldest at 96) was among the most delightful. In addition to performing his standbys "You're Lucky to Me," an excerpt from "Charleston Rag" and part of "Stars and Stripes Forever" (in duet with McPartland), Blake plays a few very... [+] Read More

Of the many subjects who Marian McPartland has welcomed to her Piano Jazz radio series, Eubie Blake (easily the oldest at 96) was among the most delightful. In addition to performing his standbys "You're Lucky to Me," an excerpt from "Charleston Rag" and part of "Stars and Stripes Forever" (in duet with McPartland), Blake plays a few very obscure pieces ("Betty Washboard Rag," "Valse Marion," "Dream Rag" and "Falling in Love with Someone"). McPartland performs Blake's "greatest hit" "I'm Just Wild About Harry" solo and together they duet on "Kiss Me Again," "St. Louis Blues" and "Little Gypsy Sweetheart." The conversation between the two contains some fresh stories and Blake, even at his advanced age, was still quite a lovable character. Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

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