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They All Played Ragtime
''They All Played Ragtime'' is a non-fiction book by journalist Rudi Blesh and author Harriet Janis, originally published by Grove Press in 1950. It was subsequently reissued in 1959, 1966, and 1971 by Oak Publications, and in 2007 by Nelson Press. According to the Preface to the Fourth Edition, by Rudi Blesh, the book was conceived and researched largely by Harriet Janis, who died in 1963. It is generally recognized as the pioneering and first serious book to document the history and major composers of ragtime in America, and has been referred to as ''The Bible of Ragtime''. Summary The book is divided into a prelude and thirteen chapters. It is the first book to document what is now regarded as the early ragtime triumvirate: Scott Joplin, James Scott, and Joseph Lamb. In a recorded discussion between Rudi Blesh and pianist Milton Kaye, Blesh revealed that for a long time the authors were not able to find out any information about Joseph Lamb, and that some believed the na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudi Blesh
Rudolph Pickett Blesh (January 21, 1899 – August 25, 1985) was an American jazz critic and enthusiast. Biography Blesh studied at Dartmouth College and held jobs writing jazz reviews for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and the ''New York Herald Tribune'' in the 1940s. He was a prolific promoter of jazz concerts, particularly New Orleans jazz, and hosted a jazz radio program, ''This Is Jazz'', in 1947. (These shows have been reissued by Jazzology Records.) Blesh in collaboration with Harriet Janis (mother of actor and jazz band leader Conrad Janis) wrote '' They All Played Ragtime'' which was published in 1950 by Alfred A. Knopf. A promotional record consisting of "Maple Leaf Rag" recorded to piano roll by Jelly Roll Morton in 1907 and an interview with the co-authors was sent to radio stations. ''They All Played Ragtime'' proved to be a popular book and is credited as the cause for a renewed public interest in ragtime music. Blesh founded Circle Records in 1946, which r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott Joplin, James Scott (composer), James Scott, and Joseph Lamb (composer), Joseph Lamb. Ragtime pieces (often called "rags") are typically composed for and performed on piano, though the genre has been adapted for a variety of instruments and styles. Ragtime music originated within African Americans, African American communities in the late 19th century and became a distinctly American form of popular music. It is closely related to American march music, marches. Ragtime pieces usually contain several distinct themes, often arranged in patterns of repeats and reprises. Scott Joplin, known as the "King of Ragtime", gained fame through compositions like "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer (rag), The Entertainer". Ragtime influ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became the genre's first and most influential hit, later being recognized as the quintessential rag. Joplin considered ragtime to be a form of classical music meant to be played in concert halls and largely disdained the performance of ragtime as honky tonk music most common in saloons. Joplin grew up in a musical family of railway laborers in Texarkana, Texas. During the late 1880s, he traveled the American South as a musician. He went to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1893, which helped make ragtime a national craze by 1897. Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894 and worked as a piano teacher. He began publishing music in 1895, and his "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899 brought him fame and a steady income. In 1901, Jopl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Scott (composer)
James Sylvester Scott (February 12, 1885 – August 30, 1938) was an American ragtime composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the "Big Three" composers of Classic rag, classical ragtime along with Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb (composer), Joseph Lamb.Jasen David A. and Trebor Jay Tichenor (1978) ''Rags and Ragtime'', Dover. Early life and education Scott was born in Neosho, Missouri, to James Scott Sr. and Molly Thomas Scott, both former slaves. In 1901, his family moved to Carthage, Missouri, where he attended Lincoln High School. He was given a piano after taking music lessons. In 1902, he began working at the music store of Charles L. Dumars, first washing windows, then demonstrating music at the piano as a song plugger, including his own pieces. Demand for his music convinced Dumars to print the first of Scott's published compositions, "A Summer Breeze - March and Two Step", in 1903. By 1904, two more compositions by Scott, "Fascinator March" and "On the Pike March" wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Lamb (composer)
Joseph Francis Lamb (December 6, 1887 – September 3, 1960) was an American composer of ragtime music. Lamb, of Irish American, Irish descent, was the only non-African American of the "Big Three" composers of classical ragtime, the other two being Scott Joplin and James Scott (composer), James Scott. The ragtime of Joseph Lamb ranges from standard popular fare to complex and highly engaging. His use of long phrases was influenced by classical works he had learned from his sister and others while growing up, but his sense of structure was potentially derived from his study of Joplin's piano rags. By the time he added some polish to his later works in the 1950s, Lamb had mastered the classic rag genre in a way that almost no other composer was able to approach at that time, and continued to play it passably as well, as evidenced by at least two separate recordings done in his home, as well as a few recorded interviews. Early life and education Lamb was born in Montclair, New Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelve original counties established under English rule in 1683 in what was then the Province of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population stood at 2,736,074, making it the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City, and the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the state.Table 2: Population, Land Area, and Population Density by County, New York State - 2020 New York State Department of Health. Accessed January 2, 2024. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Ashwander
Donald Ashwander (1929–1994) was an American composer in the contemporary ragtime movement. Much of his printed music was not available to the general public until 1996, two years after his death. Ashwander was best known to the general public as the musical director for the ''Paper Bag Players,'' a New York children's theater group (founded by Judith Martin in 1958) from 1966 to Ashwander's death in 1994. Early life and education Ashwander was born in 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama, but grew up on a farm near Hanceville. He took piano lessons in high school, followed by more serious study at Sacred Heart College in Cullman, Alabama, and Birmingham Southern College. From 1948 to 1951, he studied at the Manhattan School of Music. In the undergraduate program curriculum, his major field of study was piano. Other courses included psychology, English, history, theory, ensemble, chorus, sight singing, keyboard harmony, and dictation. He studied piano with Darrell Peter, dictation with Ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Morath
Max Edward Morath (October 1, 1926 – June 19, 2023) was an American ragtime pianist, composer, actor, and author. He was best known for his piano playing and is referred to as "Mr. Ragtime". He was a touring performer as well as being variously a composer, recording artist, actor, playwright, and radio and television presenter. Rudi Blesh billed Morath as a "one-man ragtime army". Early life and education Max Edward Morath was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He studied piano and harmony as a child and was exposed to the rudiments of ragtime piano by his mother, a schooled pianist who had spent several years playing for silent films. He received a bachelor's degree in English from Colorado College in 1948, before embarking on a career that included jobs in radio and television, jazz, and theater. In the midst of this, Morath earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1996 in American studies. Career Early years His appearances as pianist and musical director ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
