The Traditional Jazz Ragtime Collection
£5.41
- Harlem Rag - Colyer, Ken & His Jazzmen
- Cole Smoak - West Jesmond Rhythm Kings
- Gladiolus Rag - Bilk, Acker
- Climax Rag - Black Eagle
- Perfect Rag - Weatherburn, Ron
- Maple Leaf Rag - Langham, Spats
- Down Home Rag - Lightfoot, Terry & His Jazzmen
- Liberia Rag - Foxley, Ray
- Merrydown Rag - Barber, Chris & His Jazz Band
- That Teasin Rag - Mason, Phil New Orleans All-Stars
- Eccentric Rag - Beechey, Allen Bright Stars Of Jazz
- Kinklets - Savannah Jazzband
- Froggie Moore Rag - Laurie, Cy
- Pleasant Moments - Temperance Seven
- Hiawatha Rag - Morris, Sonny & The Delta Jazz Band
- Panama Rag - Lyttelton, Humphrey
- Dusty Rag - Wooley, Brian And His Jazzmen
- Black & White Rag - Bell, Graeme & His Australian Jazz Band
- Chrysanthemum Rag - Bennett, Richard New Orleans Jazzband
- Tiger Rag - Silk, Eric & His Southern Jazz Band
Irregular Ragtime - Ragtime is a Negro innovation pre-dating jazz. In the nineteenth century it emerged from brass bands distorting the basic beat of their tunes, from the syncopated music of minstrel shows, and from banjo dominated dance music leading to the cake-walk. Ragtime was taken over by piano players, the most famous being Scott Joplin (pianist in a brothel) with 4 of his compositions amongst the 20 tracks of this Lake Records sampler CD - `The Traditional Jazz Ragtime Collection . Though ragtime was largely piano music the collection demonstrates how wide is the variety of ways it may be performed. Joplin was one of the first musicians to write down his compositions and he was strict about how ragtime should be delivered on piano - even indicating when the pianist should stamp on the floor. His notation is ignored by Spats Langham leading with banjo on `Maple Leaf Rag which was Joplin s first `hit , but Spats remains faithful to the structure of ragtime. For this CD there are only 3 piano numbers - `Black & White Rag , `Liberia Rag and `Perfect Rag .The CD is introduced by Ken Colyer s Jazzmen presenting an excellent band based version of `Harlem Rag in the ragtime genre, and it ends (Amazon listing is jumbled) with Sonny Morris & The Delta Band pushing boundaries with an extended `Hiawatha Rag played as traditional jazz. In between there are classic rags as `Gladiolus Rag , `Chrysanthemum Rag and `Cole Smoak but there are attempts at everything else. An example is `Pleasant Moments that is neither fully committed to ragtime, nor can it get away from the unique but misplaced sound of The Temperance Seven. Also - however familiar and loved it may be - `Tiger Rag is not ragtime. The CD collection relies on jazz musicians whose names read like a roll of honour - including Terry Lightfoot, Acker Bilk, Humphrey Lyttelton and Phil Mason. All perform enjoyable jazz, yet more appropriate tunes could have been selected. Chris Barber plays his own delightful composition `Merrydown Rag but a superior CD collection would have resulted if alternatives (perhaps `The Entertainer ) had been incorporated from Barber s Lake Records `Elite Syncopations . It a very good and an easy listening CD, but it has lost its way somewhat, and the title is misleading.