Features and Reviews
Mimi and John Wow Audience at Old Town Music Hall
By Fred Hoeptner
Mimi Blais, classically trained pianist and entertainer from Montreal, Quebec, appeared in concert at the Old Town Music Hall on February 13. Mimi is unexcelled at combining the spirit of ragtime with enhancements such as dynamics and rubato from her classical background and in connecting with her audience. She surprised the sizeable crowd by disclosing that not only would John Petley be performing with her but also that they were romantically involved. Originally from the U.K. and now residing in Maryland, Petley has performed for several years running at the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia and in 2003 at the West Coast Ragtime Festival.
Observing that this was the tenth anniversary of her ragtime life, Mimi devoted the first segment of her concert to a retrospective on those years. She explained that she had first discovered that ragtime was more than Joplin during a 1994 trip to the Sedalia festival. She opened with some of her early favorites: Eubie Blake's "Eubie's Classical Rag," followed by Kathy Craig's "Romantic Rag, "Gresko's "Floyd" (a tribute to the late country pianist Floyd Cramer), Bowman's "Eleventh Street Rag," and two Joseph Lamb compositions; his first, "Walper House Rag," and his classic "Ragtime Nightingale," played with great sensitivity.
She continued with "Musical Massacre," a ragtime collage based on Chopin's "Fantasie-Impromptu," and a blues composed for San Francisco Bay area concert promoter Pat Clemens, replete with cat squalls. Washboard Kitty Wilson abruptly appeared from the rear of the auditorium and joined Mimi in her arrangement of Botsford's "Black and White Rag." Mimi followed with an entrancing arrangement of Eubie Blake's "I'll Never Stop Loving You."
Mimi then introduced John Petley, specialist in folk ragtime, who performed compositions by Brun Campbell, Tom Shea ("Storyville Sport") and Charles Hunter ("Just Ask Me!"). Kitty joined him for Lampe's "Creole Belles." The set closed with Mimi and John, four hands on one piano, serving up "Mixed Pickles," a melding of Johnson's "Dill Pickles" and "Crazy Bone Rag" played simultaneously.
Mimi opened the second half with a medley of Tom Turpin's "Buffalo Rag" and "Harlem Rag" (Mimi's own arrangement), both from the turn of the century, and two contemporary rags, Wilkes' "Last of the Ragtime Pioneers," and French's "Belle of Louisville." An airy theme then prevailed with selections from her fifth CD, "In the Sky": Lafreniere's "Aeroplane Waltz," Glugau's "Airplane Rag," and Janza's "Aviation Rag." John Petley returned for a rhythmic "Agitation Rag" (Hampton) followed by an expressive reading of Max Morath's innovative "One for Norma" from the 1970s. John and Kitty then teamed up for Tom Shea's folk rag opus "Rosebud Rag" named after Tom Turpin's infamous saloon. Mimi reappeared for Nan Bostick's beautiful elegy completed just last year, "That Missing You Rag," dedicated to the memory of Bill Coffman, Ragtime Bob Darch, Phil McCoy (not a performer, but a strong supporter of ragtime and trad jazz musicians) and Jan Hamilton Douglas. Her unique arrangement of Aufderheide's "Blue Ribbon Rag," replete with splendorous dynamics, followed.
By request, Mimi performed her elaborate musical collage, Confrey's "Dizzy Fingers" embellished with themes from rags and the classics, including "Flight of the Bumble Bee," and the swatting of a wayward bee. John joined Mimi (four hands) for the concert topper, which she described as "Last Temptation of Bach" from "The Well-Tempted Clavier," in reality a classicized rendition of Lodge's "Temptation Rag," to standing applause to climax an entertaining evening.
More Mimi Blais at OTMH Reviews:
