Non-ragtime knocks on the
door alongside rags from the year 1911 and by the ‘Big Three’
Nine performers delivered a wonderfully
varied program to an audience of about 40 ragtime fans, including
an unusually high quantity of non-ragtime music – something
typically avoided, by design, by most performers at OCRS. The result
was a total of 38 selections, including nine non-ragtime – but
the day also featured 12 selections by Classic Ragtime’s “Big
Three” (Joplin, Scott and Lamb) and a total of eight selections
from the banner year of 1911.
Marilyn Martin got things rolling with a couple of non-ragtime medleys
that included “Love Me Tender” (originally derived from
the Civil War tune “Aura Lee”), “Que Sera Sera,”
“Sail Away” (by Styx), “Twisted” and W.C.
Handy’s “St. Louis Blues.” She closed her set with
Harry Jentes’ wonderful “Bantam Step” from 1916.
Stan Long offered Joplin’s “The Entertainer” and
“Pine Apple Rag” plus his original folk-style rag “Haunting
Accident.” He then brought his grandson Kaden Long up to solo
on “Maple Leaf Rag.” It’s the young man’s
first and only complete ragtime solo, and what better starting point
for any budding ragtime pianist? Kaden navigated this monumental rag,
including the finger-stretching trio, and he created a coda by repeating
the D theme’s last four measures.
MC Eric Marchese offered two more Joplins, both from 1909: The heavily
European/Romantic-influenced “Euphonic Sounds” and the
equally groundbreaking “Wall Street Rag.” Eric noted that
the emotional arc of “Wall Street,” and its New York City
theme, made him want to play the piece in honor of the recently observed
commemmoration of the September 11 attacks.
Stan and Kaden then returned to the piano for a socko, four-handed
version of the “Colonel Bogey March,” a wonderful piece
rediscovered by the public after its use in the 1957 film “Bridge
on the River Kwai.” Kaden delivered a spirited treble to grandpa
Stan’s piano roll stylings in the bass. Their arrangement, which
includes the march’s rarely heard trio, greatly enhances the
piece, and their lively, kinetic performance was a highlight of the
afternoon.
Robert Wendt, who last appeared on stage at Steamers during RagFest
2010, gave a beautiful rendition of “Solace – A Mexican
Serenade,” playing it slowly and gently (as the A theme) and
tenderly (section B). He used rubato to evoke a wide array of emotions
in the outstanding trio section, and gave the famed closing theme
an ethereal quality while making it just as tender as the rest of
his performance. He then took James Scott’s challenging, intricate
“Efficiency Rag” at a nice, modest tempo, never forced
or rushed, while adding tasteful embellishments. He closed his set
with a non-ragtime selection: “The Rose Song” from the
1860 Hungarian operetta “John the Valiant.” Like “Solace,”
the piece is tender and romantic but also a bit melancholy.
Bill Mitchell delivered a nicely varied set, starting with a terrific,
underplayed rag from 1911, “Pride of the Smoky Row” by
J.M. Wilcockson, whom Bill said was “a music dealer from Hammond,
Indiana.” The composer copyrighted the rag on February 5, 1911
and self-published it later the same year. Bill added a peppy, upbeat
quality to the piece, highlighting the 16th-note bass octaves in the
circle-of-fifths-oriented trio and the rag’s overall semi-poignant
use of the minor tonality. Next was “Bolo Rag” (1908)
by Albert Gumble, a ragtime composer famed for such ragtime songs
as “At the Mississippi Cabaret.” The rag’s opening
theme uses a contrapuntal bass, its second strain the “echo”
(call-and-response) effect while in its trio, both hands are quite
mobile and active. Like “Pride of the Smoky Row,” “Bolo
Rag” has long been a part of Bill’s repertoire; he featured
both rags on his 1972 album “Ragtime Recycled.” Bill then
wrapped his set with James Scott’s “Frog Legs Rag,”
noting that it was the first Scott rag to be published by John Stark
(in 1906) and that it was “a modest hit” for its publisher.
Ryan Wishner opened his set with L.M. Gottschalk’s “La
Scintilla” (“the spark”), noting that such pieces
were “the transition between classical music and ragtime.”
Indeed, the waltz-tempo piece offers sparkling, interesting syncopations
and has an especially active treble part. Next was Joplin’s
1907 masterpiece “Search Light Rag,” the first rag he
had published after moving to New York City (and named for the town
of Searchlight, Nevada). Ryan’s rendition is smooth and flowing,
with pleasing embellishments on the repeat of the trio and a fine
handling of the rag’s captivating closing theme. Last was Zez
Confrey’s 1922 novelty “Coaxing the Piano,” with
its wonderful melody/countermelody A theme, vibrant B theme and outstanding
trio.
Gary Rametta offered the pensive, introspective jazz piano solo “Prologue”
by jazz pianist/composer Bill Evans, who wrote the piece in 1967 to
commemorate the recent passing of his father. Next was the 1910 tango
“El Bigua” by Argentine composer Carlos Posada, with a
sweet-tempered opening theme, intricate B theme and a trio that interweaves
treble and bass. Indeed, the piece is an outstanding example of ragtime-like
music contemporaneous with the ragtime of the vintage era during one
of its peak years. Gary closed his set with Joe Lamb’s masterful
“Alaskan Rag,” completed by Lamb and published by Bob
Darch in 1959. One of Lamb’s most exquisite creations, along
the lines of “Top Liner” and “Excelsior,”
the rag opens with rests in both hands (!) before unfolding four outstanding,
carefully constructed themes rife with amazing harmonies.
Eric continued the thread of 1911 ragtime pieces that has run throughout
all of this year’s OCRS performances, playing Charles L. Johnson’s
marvelous “Cum-Bac Rag” and the terrific “That Demon
Rag” by Indianapolis ragtimer Russell Smith, a black pianist-composer
who worked in vaudeville and minstrel shows.
Andrew Barrett continued the focus on 1911 with one of the most unusual
selections yet heard at OCRS: A medley containing 10 selections from
the 1911 Broadway show “Dr. Deluxe” by Karl Hoschna, a
musician and composer from Bohemia who came to the U.S. in 1896 and
found work with Victor Herbert. The outstanding medley, featuring
the show’s Act One and Two openers, several non-ragtime and
march songs, a ragtime song, and the show’s finale, is a wonderful
mixture of Broadway/show music and popular music circa 1911, published
that year by Witmark & Sons under the title “Selection from
Dr. Deluxe” (the word “selection” – singular,
not plural – connotes a sampling of the work’s music).
Evoking a wide variety of moods, emotions and musical styles, this
compressed version of the score and its beautifully composed and often
pretty music was a real treat, and one of the highlights of the afternoon
– and of any other OCRS musicale.
During a brief intermission, several ragtime items were raffled off,
including two RagFest tee-shirts, an Evans & Rogers CD, and the
1974 LP “Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, Volume III” featuring
pianist Joshua Rifkin. Like its two predecessors, the latter recording
was partly responsible for the huge explosion of interest in ragtime
music that occurred during the early 1970s.
Following the break, Robert Wendt encored with “Pine Apple Rag,”
lending pleasing dynamics and some fine embellishments to the notable
second theme.
Ryan Wishner chose “The Glow-Worm” as his encore. The
piece, written during the ragtime era (1902) by German composer Paul
Lincke (with lyrics by Heinz Bolton-Backers) as an aria from his operetta
“Lysistrata,” became a hit in Europe. Within a few years,
it was translated into English by Lilla Cayley Robinson (under the
title “Glow Worm”). In 1920, when it was interpolated
into the score of the Broadway musical “The Girl Behind the
Counter,” it became a hit all over again – this time with
American audiences. Ryan beautifully articulated the familiar main
theme as well as the song’s more complex, semi-classical interlude
section. (As a point of interest, Johnny Mercer expanded and revised
Robinson’s lyrics for the 1952 recording made by the Mills Brothers.
His version gave the group a hit and was so popular that it was then
covered by several other pop music performers.)
Eric Marchese offered “A Sunset Idyll,” a lyrical Classic-style
rag he wrote in 1992 as a companion to his poetic 1989 rag “An
Autumn Memory.” Next, he played what he said has been a longtime
favorite: “World’s Fair Rag,” a wonderful, rollicking
piano rag composed by Harvey M. Babcock, who published the piece in
San Francisco in 1912.
For his encore, Gary Rametta chose Ford Dabney’s “Porto
Rico,” a 1910 composition that deftly mixes elements of popular
and light classical music and whose opening theme melody has the familiar
sound of a tune borrowed and re-used by later composers. Gary then
essayed “Gladiolus Rag,” one of Joplin’s greatest
rags, with themes that are poetic (A), stormy (B), grandiose (C) and
ringing (D).
In yet another highlight of the afternoon, Bill Mitchell (piano),
Jimmy Green (banjo) and Andrew Barrett (washboard) gave a spirited
performance of “Porcupine Rag,” one of Charles L. Johnson’s
best rags. The trio then gave a jazzy, Dixieland-style version of
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” Irving Berlin’s
monster hit from 1911. Next was Lamb’s “Bohemia,”
in which Jimmy created wonderful countermelodies and where the sounds
of all three instruments blended nicely. To close, this terrific off-the-cuff
trio gave a rousing performance of Jelly Roll Morton’s “Grandpa’s
Spells,” with Andrew whistling, rapping a metal music stand
and creating other improvisations for the trio’s “crash
bass” section.
Andrew Barrett wrapped up the day with an all-1911 set. First was
the ragtime song “I’ll Wait For You Till the Cows Come
Home,” by Thomas Allen, a violinist from Massachusetts. Andrew
played and provided vocals, offering comical asides between the written
lyrics and winding the piece up with a wonderfully raggy piano arrangement
of the chorus. He followed with the Ted Snyder-Bert Kalmar ragtime
song “Movin’ Man Don’t Take My Baby Grand,”
singing its syncopated lyrics (eg. “that box of joy, that music
toy”) and delivering yet another socko all-piano finale to the
piece. Andrew closed by noting that ragtime composer Al Marzian was
a piano teacher and string bass player from Louisville, KY, who came
from a musical family and who wrote all of his piano rags under the
pen name “Mark Janza” save one: the 1911 rag “Angel
Food.” Published by Forster in Chicago, the rag opens with two
lively, kinetic themes (the second section is especially rousing)
before moving into a lyrical trio, much of it voiced in broken chords,
and a terrific minor-key interlude in a vein similar to “Dance
of the Seven Veils.” The interlude leads back to the third rendition
of the C theme, but Andrew extended his performance by repeating the
interlude and C one more time, pouring on the licks and tricks for
a truly socko finale.
Eric announced that the next OCRS will be held at Steamers on Saturday,
October 15, from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and said that he may schedule an
OCRS meeting for November 19 to commemorate the Orange County Ragtime
Society’s 10th anniversary.