Features and Reviews
Dick Zimmerman & Tracy Doyle at Old Town Music Hall
By Bill Mitchell
Sunday evening, September 26, 1999, Dick Zimmerman was featured at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo in a comprehensive concert of piano ragtime, enhanced by a few ragtime songs delivered by Tracy Doyle.
Dick chose Charles Hunter's folk rag of 1899, "Tickled to Death," for his opener. This number was published in the same year that Joplin's famous "Maple Leaf Rag" came out.
Illustrating another aspect of early ragtime development, Dick played what he called "Zimmerman's Grand Ethiopian Success Medley #1," comprised of some early "coon songs," such as "Mr. Johnson, Turn Me Loose," and "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown."
Turning to what we know as classic ragtime, Dick performed Lamb's stately "Topliner Rag," Scott's "Quality Rag," Woods' "Sleepy Hollow Rag." and Chas. L. Johnson's "Crazy Bone Rag," which perhaps fits better into "popular" rather than "classic" ragtime. Whatever, as they say these days.
That there was a Texas school of ragtime was illustrated by the inclusion of Euday Bowman's "Tipperary Blues," Susie Wells' "The Rattler," and Clarence Woods' "Graveyard blues," which was first interpreted as the composer might have played it, then as an embellished nickelodeon version might have sounded.
Botsford's "Hyacinth Rag" was given an appropriately flowery version.
Concluding the first half of the program, Dick played two rousers: "Cotton Time," by Charles Daniels, and "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee," a popular song from 1912 by Muir and Gilbert.
The music resumed with a Charles L. Johnson piece, "Under the Southern Moon," which borrowed ideas from "Humoresque," "Red Wing," and "Grizzly Bear Rag," as Mr. Z. pointed out.
A real rarity was "Sweet and Sour Blues," by Henry Lodge. This was never published, but was arranged by Dick from a lead sheet found in the Library of Congress.
"Smiles and Chuckles," by F. Henri Klickman, was a Tin Pan Alley rag, jolly and catchy.
Tracy Doyle, colorfully attired in the costume of a ragtime chanteuse, sang "I'm Certainly Living a Ragtime Life, accompanied, of course, by Dick on the Bosendorfer. She followed up with a 1915 novelty, "China, We Owe a Lot to You," and a couple of WWI songs, "If You Don't Like Your Uncle Sammy," and "Don't Bite the Hand That's Feeding You."
Dick then soloed on Lucky Roberts' "Junk Man Rag," an example of East Coast ragtime, which developed into what we know as "stride piano."
Performed next was a composition Zimmerman wrote a few years back, "Lost and Found Rag," a romantic and soulful piece.
Over the years one of his favorite rags has been Ford Dabney's "Anoma," which was his concluding solo of the evening, but not the end of the program, because Bill Coffman cranked up the Mighty Wurlitzer and joined him in a duet on "Dill Pickles," by Charles L. Johnson.
The grand finale was a trio version (with Tracy on a second piano) of "Maple Leaf Rag."
The evening was delightfully entertaining. Zimmerman is an impressive pianist who provides amusing and informative commentary between numbers. Doyle's vocals, delivered with music hall pizzazz, are fun, and add variety.
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