Variety is the hallmark
of the first-ever OCRS to be held in October
With RagFest’s move from its traditional
October slot to springtime, an OCRS performance was held in October
for the first time ever, with Steamers as host. A sizable roster of
12 performers – 10 pianists, 2 string players – delivered
some 40 selections. Original and contemporary compositions were prominent
as well as rare or rarely heard ragtime pieces, including a continuing
focus on pieces published in 1911, with eight in all. Overall, the
afternoon was a study in variety, with a goodly helping of folk, popular,
classic, advanced, stride and novelty rags as well as many fine pieces
written from the 1950s on.
Having worked his way down to the Ws of the alphabet, Doug Haise offered
three wonderful rags rarely heard or performed: Lawrence Mitchel’s
“Weaving Around,” Thomas Broady’s “Whittling
Remus” and H.A. Fischler’s “Weeping Willow Rag.”
A lively ragtime march, “Weaving Around” was issued in
1913 by Sam Fox of Cleveland, OH, who would later publish the hit
novelette “Nola.” “Remus” is one of the greatest
early rags in print. “Weeping Willow” (not to be confused
with Joplin’s 1903 opus) came out 100 years ago this year, issued
by Vandersloot of Williamsport, PA. It features a minor-key opening
theme, lyrical second theme and a somewhat busy trio. Doug’s
visits to Fullerton are too rare; his touch is deft and firm and his
readings clean and crisp. What’s more, his performances shed
light on ragtime pieces often neglected by most of us.
John Reed-Torres had two Joplins and one original up his sleeve. “The
Entertainer” and “Gladiolus Rag” are the classic
rags; “Spring Street Rag” is John’s composition.
John gave the classic rags a gentle treatment, with single-note variants
of the first two themes of “The Entertainer” and pleasing
embellishments in both. Originally titled “Carrot Cake Walk,”
“Spring Street,” subtitled “A Los Angeles Rag &
Two-Step,” uses a familiar vintage rag rhythmic pattern in its
opening theme, a folksy, stomping second subject and, for the trio,
a tango rhythm underneath a pretty yet grand melody. The lively piece
rides its way out with a fine, stomping finale, and we certainly hope
John plans to publish the score to this piano solo.
Noting the significance of certain key composers in every musical
genre, Gary Rametta opened a Halloween-themed set with Liszt’s
“Nuages Gris” (“Gray Clouds”). Noting the
piece is somewhat “spooky sounding,” Gary’s performance
emphasized its minimalism and atonality, all of which add up to an
indeed eerie-sounding piano solo. Next up was William Bolcom’s
contemporary classic from 1971, “Graceful Ghost.” The
first part of what would become Bolcom’s “3 Ghost Rags,”
the now-famed rag is given a “beneficent spirit” interpretation
by Gary, who notes that Bolcom composed it soon after his father’s
passing. Its Chauvin-esque harmonies are striking, and Bolcom is undeniably
in the forefront of modern American music of the last 40 to 50 years.
Gary’s solo set ended with Jelly Roll Morton’s notable
“Dead Man Blues,” a great Morton-style blues number that
quotes the traditional New Orleans funeral hymn “Flee as a Bird
to the Mountain” at the opening, closing, and in the midst of
Morton’s singular musical vision.
Phil Cannon joined Gary for a guitar-piano duet of Joplin’s
immortal “Rose Leaf Rag.” Bill Mitchell then took Gary’s
place at the piano so he and Phil could duet on Wenrich’s “The
Smiler” and Charles L. Johnson’s “Porcupine Rag.”
Bill noted that both pieces have a “folksy, Midwestern flavor”
and that “Phil said to play them kind of slow and jazzy”
– so that’s what he and Phil did while creating an improvisatory,
back-and-forth feel between piano and guitar.
Vincent Johnson had two rare novelties: Lothar Perl’s “Zebra
Stripes” from 1932 and Confrey’s 1938 essay “Della
Robbia” (no doubt named for the famed Renaissance artist). Creating
a whimsical feel, “Zebra Stripes” is a lively novelty
with a lyrical trio, while the Confrey piece is, as Vincent noted,
slower and more expressive than the composer’s better-known
’20s novelties. He closed with an original he intended not only
as “a tribute to 1930s-era novelties and love songs, but also
as an original “with the longest title” of any: “Eighty-Eight
Reasons to Love You and Ten Reasons You Can Love Me Too.” Noting
that fellow ragtimer Max Keenlyside sees the piece as “Rube
Bloom meets Billy Mayerl,” Vincent then proved all of the above
points with the piece’s whimsical opening theme and an eccentric
second subject in a piano solo that would be an obvious challenge
for any pianist beside the composer.
Ryan Wishner essayed Gottschalk’s “Ojos Criollos”
(“Creole Eyes”), a mid-19th-century piece issued as a
solo only after gaining popularity as a two-piano piece. Next was
Joplin’s non-ragtime waltz “Harmony Club Waltzes.”
From 1896, it was among the first handful of Joplin pieces, all non-ragtime,
to be published, along with several others from 1895 and ’96.
Ryan nicely embellishes several of the piece’s many sections,
even handling the tricky G theme with ease. Last up was Confrey’s
“After Theater Tango,” part of the composer’s 1932
New York Suite. The piece nicely alternates major and minor tonalities,
and overall, Ryan’s keyboard work exhibits a fine balance between
interpreting the written score and injecting his own ideas.
Bob Pinsker tried to stump us with a 1911 piano solo taken from an
orchestration he found at the Chicago Public Library. Your reporter
detected a jazz/blues flavor in the opening section and an obvious
blues, arranged as a riff, for the second section, leading him to
guess that this was a blues song. Indeed, as several audience members
guessed and Bob revealed, the piece was indeed a blues – Chris
Smith’s “The Monkey Rag,” aka “Honky-Tonky
Monkey” – unusual for its time. Next was Max Morath’s
“Old Mortality,” a 1985 entry in his series of Cripple
Creek rags (named for various mines in Cripple Creek, CO) and dedicated
to Rudy Blesh upon the latter’s death. Indeed, the piece has
the same folksy yet haunting sound as several other Morath rags. Last
up was Elmer Olsen’s fine but rarely heard “Town Talk.”
From 1917, it’s a busy, lively piece with considerably advanced
writing that foreshadows the works of Zez Confrey and other later
novelty composers. Bob’s forceful playing brought out the best
in all three selections.
Ron Ross offered “the latest version” of his 2011 piece
“What’s Next?,” which has a more contemporary sound
than some of his other piano pieces, and “Rose Leaf Combination
Tango,” also written earlier this year. He was then joined by
Phil Cannon for a guitar-piano version of his earlier composition
“Sunday Serendipity,” which Ron referred to as “kind
of an oddball piece.”
During the last few OCRS gatherings, Eric Marchese has been revisiting
the many pieces from 1911. He continued that theme with two of George
Botsford’s three piano rags from that year, “Hyacinth
Rag” and “Royal Flush – A Rag.” Eric noted
that these pieces and several others have a family resemblance to
Botsford’s most famous hit, “Black and White Rag,”
as well as to each other. All are in the keys of G and C major, all
lean heavily on the three-over-four pattern, all feature catchy melodies
and infectious rhythms, and all conclude with the second or B theme
transposed up a fourth. “Hyacinth,” Eric added, has an
unusual 16-bar introduction, mostly in the minor, before lapsing into
the safe-and-sane three-over-four. Eric also noted that in writing
“The Tierney Rag” in 1913, Harry Austin Tierney essentially
rewrote the trio of “Hyacinth” nearly note for note. “Royal
Flush,” Eric noted, is even more inventive and creative than
“Hyacinth” despite being more obscure. Eric is working
up “Honeysuckle,” the third Botsford rag from 1911, promising
it for the next OCRS.
Bill Mitchell, Jimmy Green and Andrew Barrett took the stage to offer
piano, banjo and washboard arrangements of “Original Rags,”
“Some Of These Days” and “Grandpa’s Spells.”
Completely unrehearsed and improvised, the set had a loose, swingy
feel and genuine Dixieland flavor, even offering customary, Dixie-style
solos.
Andrew Barrett then soloed an all-1911 set comprised of “By
the Saskatchewan,” “Ragtime Oriole” and “The
Great Name Waltzes.” The lyrical, lightly syncopated opening
number, a hit song from the 1911 operetta “The Pink Lady,”
was composed by Belgian Felix Tilkin under the name Ivan Caryll. Amazingly,
Scott’s 1911 opus “Ragtime Oriole,” one of the first
“birdcall”-style rags, has not previously been performed
at OCRS; its highlights are its long, flowing melodies, melodic trio,
and Andrew’s nicely embellished repeat of the fourth theme.
A soft, light semi-classical piece with a broad A and busy B theme,
“The Great Name Waltzes” is by Theodore Bendix, issued
by Leo Feist in 1911.
Ryan Wishner encored with “The Flash,” a “March/Galop”
from 1869 by Carlo Mora. Ryan said the piece was “a fad hit
for a few years,” while Perfessor Bill Edwards categorizes it
as “pre-ragtime music that contributed to ragtime-era music.”
Indeed, the heavily syncopated piece marries the liveliness of ragtime
with the sound and feel of the classics.
John Reed-Torres chose James Scott’s “New Era Rag”
as his encore, yet another great late entry to the Scott catalog,
with a wonderful trio given extensive embellishment by John on its
repeat. The piece, notes Jasen & Tichenor, is apparently Scott’s
answer to Joplin’s “The Cascades” – 15 years
later. Just see how the “New Era” B and C themes matches
up with the corresponding sections of “Cascades.”
Vincent Johnson encored with Billy Mayerl’s “Jasmine”
from 1929. Never before played at OCRS, it boasts an ethereal opening
theme, a dramatic second section and a lyrical trio that leads back
to the delicate A strain. At times, the feel and mood of the piece
resembles those of Lothar Perl.
Bill Mitchell encored with yet another always-welcome James Scott
selection, “Grace and Beauty,” the composer’s 1909
ragtime essay that’s often considered his best rag.
Gary Rametta encored with David Thomas Roberts’ “Through
the Bottomlands,” a haunting elegy to the land and to peoples’
often primal relationship to it and, as Gary noted, a natural tie-in
to his first set’s autumn and Halloween flavor.
Bob Pinsker delivered two encores, both contemporary: William Bolcom’s
“Last Rag” and Neil Blaze and Eric Marchese’s “The
Northern Lights.” The former, Bob said, came out in 1968 when
its composer, concerned that he might continue to eschew other musical
forms in favor of ragtime, decided to make this piano piece his final
contribution to ragtime. It’s a wistful, poignant piece whose
haunting second theme is also the rag’s conclusion. Noting that
many a ragtimer will relish discussing and debating which composer
contributed which strains of any given collaboration, Bob then delivered
the Blaze-Marchese piece (from 2005) before asking the composer present
(yours truly) to step up to the mike and reveal which sections are
Blaze, which Marchese. (For the record, Blaze emailed the completed
A theme to Marchese, who wrote the second theme; weeks later, while
visiting the Midwest and Blaze’s home in Wisconsin, Blaze suggested
that the trio move the piece from G major to E-flat major. Marchese
said the suggestion kick-started his writing of the trio, whose motifs
echo Blaze’s A theme. Blaze wrote the final theme and Marchese
the piece’s introduction.)
Andrew Barrett closed the fine afternoon of entertainment with Jay
Roberts’ rarely heard “Joy Rag.” This wonderful,
upbeat rag from 1911 (published by Forster of Chicago) is quite inventive,
and certainly heard much less frequently than Roberts’ “The
Entertainer’s Rag.”
Eric announced that the last OCRS of the year will be held at Steamers
on Saturday, November 19 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. in celebration of the
Orange County Ragtime Society’s 10th anniversary. We’re
planning to serve ragtime cake and to revisit some of the highlights
of the last decade – so please join in on the festivities!