Customer Reviews

Art of the Rag

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once again gunther schuller brings us the beautiful sound of orchestrated ragtime. but instead of focusing on Scott Joplin, he mixes in modern day rags. Mattapan Rag, composed by the tubist, shows how ragtime can be effective outside of the typical ABACD format established in early rags. a great suprise is the Smokehouse Blues. while not a "rag" it does use the ompah base and syncopated treble and therefore is very welcome. it also shows how southern ragtime is much dofferent from midwestern.

I first heard the New England Ragtime Ensemble on PBS many years ago, and the wonderful sounds from these talented musicians has stuck in my head ever since. The 17 tracks on this album are generally quite up-tempo, though the "slower" songs certainly wouldn't qualify as ballad (and hence would not be ragtime).

I was surprised to find any ragtime collection that does not include Joplin's "The Entertainer", but they have clearly not been wanting for good material to fill a CD -- every one is a winner. My favorites are Rob Carriker's "Matapan Rag" and a delightful (non-piano!) arrangement of "Dizzy Fingers".

Any fan of ragtime will love this album. I did.

I love ragtime, but I don't love this CD. If you like the sound of a very loud snare drum dominating many of the tracks, then you'll like it. Before you buy it, try to borrow it from your local library to make sure it's for you. I wish I had. Let the buyer beware!