From Cake-Walk To Ragtime 1898-1916

Adapter: Tony Baldwin.
Personnel: Herbert Cove, Jack Charman, Walter Miller , Robert Carr, Byron Harlan (vocals); Fred Van Eps, Olly Oakley, Vess L. Ossman (banjo); Roy Butin (harp); Audley Dudley (mandolin); Frank E. Rechike (violin, alto saxophone); Theodore Levy (violin, cornet); Tracy Cooper, Ernest Lawrence, Walter Scott, George "Harmonica" Smith, Charles d'Almaine, Jean Lensen, Walter Biedermann, Jean Bobbe (violin); Pietro Nifosi, Charles Ford (cello); Darius Lyons, Stenosse, Marshall P. Lufsky, Georges Jacquemont, Clement Barone, Boisne (flute, piccolo); W.E. Gordon Walker, Gilbert Barton, John S. Cox (piccolo); Pélissier, A. Levy, A.P. Strengler, Frank Hughes, Guillaume Dufay , Paradis, Edgar Campbell, Louis H. Christie, Rob Mackenzie (clarinet); Arthur Foreman, Arthur Trempte (oboe); Edwin Hinchcliffe (bassoon); Lelièvre, François Combelle (saxophone); Tom Brown (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Guy Shrigley (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Sonny Clap (tenor saxophone); James White (C-melody saxophone); Harry Cook (baritone saxophone); Harry Finkelstein (bass saxophone); J. Fuchs (cornet, alto horn); Herbert L. Clarke, Bohumir Kryl, W.W. Donovan, Vincent Buono, Henry Higgins, Lachanaud, Rouss Millhouse, Walter B. Rogers, Herman Bellstedt, Henry Godard, Walter Pryor, Emil Keneke, Frank Kettlewell, Charles Edward Smith (cornet); Leo Zimmerman, O. Edward Wardwell, Edward Williams, Frank Schrader, Jesse Stamp, Atherley, Arthur Pryor , Mark Lyon (trombone); Simone Mantia (euphonium); H. Reitzel, Otto Winkler (alto horn, tenor horn); Herman Conrad (sousaphone); Ford Dabney, Theodore Morse, Landon Ronald, Leonard Smith, Felix Arndt (piano); Billy Whitlock , William Ditcham (xylophone); William H. Reitz, Eddie King , E.W. Rushforth, S.O. Pryor, Edward Rubsam, Howard Kopp, Buddy Gilmore (drums).
Liner Note Author: Olivier Brard.
Recording information: Camden, NJ (1898-1916); Georgia Camp Meeting-Happy Days In Dixie (1898-1916); London, England (1898-1916); New York, NY (1898-1916); Paris, France (1898-1916); Philadelphia, PA (1898-1916).
Directors: Charles Adams Prince; Gabriel Parès; Ellis Hudson; Archibald Joyce; Julian Jones.
Illustrator: Steven Walker .
During its heyday, roughly from the end of the 19th century to World War I, ragtime was a broadly popular musical style that was broadly defined as popular music having a syncopated rhythm. The revivals of ragtime -- especially the renewed interest in the early 1970s occasioned by the use of Scott Joplin's music in the 1973 film The Sting -- suggested that ragtime was to be defined strictly as an instrumental piano style. However, this French compilation of U.S., British, and French recordings made during the ragtime era seems specifically designed to dispel that impression. Here, rags are played by bands and small groups, on banjos and xylophones, and sung by duos, trios, and choral groups. Big hits of the period, such as banjo player Vess L. Ossman's "A Bunch of Rags" and Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan's version of Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" are included, along with more obscure tracks. Purists might decry such inclusions, maintaining, for example, that "Alexander's Ragtime Band" is not a rag at all. But this collection gives a good sense of what ragtime could sound like in a variety of different settings at the time it was popular. By making available recordings by such significant recording artists of the period as James Reese Europe's Society Orchestra, John Philip Sousa's Band, Charles A. Prince's Orchestra, and Conway's Band, it does a great service. ~ William Ruhlmann