Dear Frank,
thanks so much for these fantastic pieces of Harry Jentes and Ed Claypoole!!!
I had some of them, but there I find also several titles that are unknown to me, and they look great!!!
Is this "Echoes Unique Rag" the same that was recorded on piano roll by Ted Eastwood? I'm looking at the sheet music and it seems to be the same.
Today I'm sending the recordings of
Arthur Marshall and
Chauff Williams from the
1959 concert hosted by
Bob Darch.
These recordings were taped by
Trebor Tichenor.
Both Marshall and Williams were friends of Scott Joplin and they're both great examples of folk ragtime piano.
I have already posted another great example of folk ragtime piano with the three recordings of Euday Bowman.
The two recordings played by Arthur Marshall are the trio of the then unknown "
Little Jack's Rag" (I also post the score of this rag, first published in Terry Waldo's "This Is Ragtime", a precious book!) and another Marshall rag, never published, entitled "
The Pea Picker Rag": this unknown rag is my very favorite Marshall composition!
And Marshall, in spite of the stroke, was still able to provide two exciting performances and was still very bouncing and raggy in his ragtime piano playing.
Then there are other two zip files, each including a recording played by Claude "Chauf" Williams and the introduction to the pieces. I numbered the Williams MP3s because they're part of the same interview with Bob Darch and should be listened in that order.
Williams was born in 1886 in Sedalia and is another great folk ragtime pianist of the origins. Fortunately he was still very strong at that age and, apart from his great piano playing, he was also able to entertain the public with his reminiscences. Let's listen to the intro to the song "
Mame", which he played and sang, and the story of the song, used to court girls. It's very humorous
Then, listen to the great "
Williams' Rag" (maybe the neatest recording in this set), a romping folk rag played in Chicago, and pay attention to the next-to-last strain, in which he plays the melody with octave runs in the left hand: that strain is Williams' version of a strain also used by
Les Copeland as the second strain in "
French Pastry Rag" (see my transcription of the Copeland piano roll).
I understand that folk ragtime is not for all tastes, but I think it's very important to listen to these recordings, as well as Euday Bowman's, as an example of how ragtime sounded in the beginnings.
If you think to rags like "X.L. Rag", "Robardina Rag", "Rags To Burn", "Maple Leaf Rag", "Texas Rag", etc...listening to these pianists like Marshall, Williams, Brun Campbell or Euday Bowman can give you an idea of how such pieces sounded when they were originally played in the early 1900s.
We all must be very grateful to Trebor Tichenor, the great folk ragtime composer, pianist and scholar, for having recorded this invaluable ragtime document!!!
Enjoy the music!
Best
RAGards
Luigi
P.S.
Oh, I'm also attaching a rare song written in 1948 by Arthur Marshall!
P.P.S.
I don't have a copy of the Darch performance of "Swipesy" from this concert, but I do have the version he played right in that period for his wondeful "Ragtime Piano" LP. If there's enough interest, I'd be happy to post the recording. Darch was a fantastic revival ragtime pianist!!!
