Features and Reviews
Mimi Blais at Old Town Music Hall, 2/14/2000
By Gary Rametta
On an evening for Valentines, ace Canadian pianist Mimi Blais breezed into El Segundo's Old Town Music Hall and whisked away the hearts of an enraptured audience, showing once again why she's been called the new "Queen of Ragtime." Putting to work her dazzling technique and natural showmanship, Ms. Blais charmed listeners with her exciting, moving and sometimes humorous renditions of classic and contemporary rags and novelty tunes.
Mimi's OTMH appearance was part of a West Coast swing during which she also performed in San Francisco and Danville. Her loyal fan base is solid, and it was apparent from those attending her El Segundo concert that she's also drawing enthusiastic support from newcomers. A gentleman seated next to me was so intrigued by what he'd heard about Mimi Blais that he drove all the way from Bakersfield to see the show. He, like everyone else in the audience, remained until the final thunderclap from the Mighty Wurlitzer faded away when Mimi closed her set with a couple of classic Joplin rags, "Maple Leaf" and "Swipesy," performed with emcee Bill Coffman (at the organ) in duet fashion.
It has been said that ragtime is by nature "player's music," that the printed score is merely a launching pad from which great pianists can take off into improvisations that showcase their musicianship and experimental ability, all the while keeping the melody, tone and development of the piece essentially intact. If that definition is true, then it's right up Mimi's alley. Hearing her make the 9-foot Bosendorfer sing was a true joy. One of the largest grand pianos in the world, the OTMH's Bosendorfer has been tickled by the crème de la crème of ragtime pianists, including the great Eubie Blake. Eubie was duly represented in Mimi's repertoire, as she performed "Eubie's Classical Rag," "Memories of You" (clearly one of her favorites as evidenced by the depth of her emotional interpretation), and "Kitchen Tom." Blake was also remembered by Mimi in her terrific performance of Galen Wilkes' sad and yearning "Last of the Ragtime Pioneers." The audience was so captivated by this piece that you could hear a pin drop.
A Valentine's Day tone was immediately established when Mimi opened her set with local pianist and composer Kathy Craig's tender and evocative "Romantic Rag." Afterwards, Mimi announced that she and Kathy—a regular featured performer at the Southern California Ragtime Festival in June—will appear together at OTMH this coming November.
Next, Mimi delved into some classic rags, beginning with Tom Turpin's "Harlem Rag" which she wrapped around "Ragtime Nightmare." She followed up in similar style with "Remember 'The Sting'": Joplin's "The Entertainer," leading into the third and fourth strains of "Solace," then back to the first theme of "The Entertainer" as a coda.
Mimi then served up some more crowd pleasers with stride pianist Charles Luckeyth Roberts' delightful "Music Box Rag" and tricky-to-finger "Pork and Beans." In that number, Ms. Blais handled the difficult trio and final strains with Liszt-like dispatch.
Mimi also played one of her own compositions, "Monkey Rag, dedicated to a family member. It has fun, circus-like rhythms, breaks and chords while at the same time recalling "Music Box Rag" with its air of naiveté.
Since the subject of love was apropos, Mimi played and sang—in both English and French—Cecil Macklin's "Tres Moutarde (Too Much Mustard)," which likens love to food.
George Gershwin got the virtuoso Mimi Blais treatment in "Rialto Ripples."
Mimi closed out the first half of her set with Frank French's "Belle of Louisville," a popular 1990 tune that's been called "The Maple Leaf Rag of the 1990's." The name comes from a historic sternwheeler steamboat that's featured in "The Great Steamboat Race," held each year in Louisville at Kentucky Derby time.
At intermission, the audience was called on to determine the second-half of Mimi's show by voting for their favorite numbers from a poster board listing thirty or so tunes from her repertoire.
Mimi picked up right where she left off, drawing cheers with her version of George Botsford's "Black and White Rag." She then gave the Bosendorfer a workout with Willie Eckstein's "Musical Massacre," a ragged reinvention of Frederic Chopin's "Fantaisie Impromptu."
Moving back into classic ragtime, Mimi played one of Arthur Marshall's best works, "The Pippin," a sentimental rag that proved ideal for the occasion. This was followed up by the Joseph Lamb classic," Ragtime Nightingale," which Mimi performed with equal parts brilliance and heartfelt emotion.
In addition to classic rags, Ms. Blais has also championed Canadian ragtime music to U.S. audiences, specifically the works of Jean-Baptiste Lafreniere. Though he's referred to as "the Canadian Strauss," Lafreniere's career and works closely paralleled that of the ragtime era; his upbeat "Taxi Rag" and crystalline "Valse Miroir" that Mimi performed reflect the spirit and vitality of the music and are worthy additions to the repertoire.
Mimi hit the homestretch of her musicale with a thoroughly enjoyable "April Fool Rag," written in 1911 by Jean Schwartz. She then closed out her solo set with Zez Confrey's "Kitten on the Keys." For good measure, she kept her fingers going and thrilled all with "Dizzy Bumblebee Fingers," which combined the Confrey novelty classic "Dizzy Fingers" with "Flight of the Bumblebee," some Mozart outtakes, the dirge from Chopin's "March Funebre" and comedic antics that could only come from Mimi Blais.
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