Customer Reviews

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I just got done listening to this CD and loved each and every song!

Barely 20 minutes for a full priced CD seems thin. Some of the selections are very good, and some average to below."Tiger Rag" accompanied by a tuba sounds more like a lap cat than a tiger.

With a running time of 26:12, this album may not be as long as most CDs, but I'd rather have quality over quantity, and Jo Ann Castle's talent is unquestionable. When I played this for my father, he thought the music had been sped up -- because Jo Ann Castle's fingers can move almost inhumanly fast. The music is upbeat and puts me in a good mood almost instantly. I've heard others say that instead of playing the piano, Jo Ann attacks it! It's obvious that she loves to play, and I can't imagine anyone being immune to her infectious joy on the piano.

I love this CD. I have watched Jo Anne on the Lawrence Welk show for many years. My granddaughters love her music. They like to dance to it. They will listen to the CD in my car as we drive. They like it better than a video.

There are only two piano players who I find exciting. One is Jerry Lee Lewis; the other is Jo Ann Castle. Jo Ann practically attacks the piano with such gusto and energy that you are afraid the piano will explode into a zillion pieces before she has finished a song. You have to wonder how many pianos she has broken with her frantic, enthusiastic style. This is raucous, jazzy, rag-time piano and no one does it better than Castle. Seeing her play is a real treat, but the excitement is still here in the sound recording. If you like slow, restful, soft piano pieces, this is NOT for you. This is loud, brash, bouncy music that just flies out of Castle's piano. There is a frenzy and an excitement here that just keeps going throughout the album. I knocked off one star in my rating due to how short the album is. Maybe it is a good idea to keep it short because your heart will be pounding and the adrenaline will be freely flowing. Tiger Rag was a little disappointing, but most all the other songs were top notch.

First two confessions. One a little embarrassing, the other not so much so. You can decide which is which.

First, as a young boy on the verge of becoming a teenager and getting VERY curious about girls, I often watched the Lawrence Welk Show in the 70's just for the many pretty women that were on the program. Needless to say, I had more than one or two male friends the same age, as well as a couple of adults, who thought I had gone over the rainbow. Second, I genuinely liked the music. At least most of it. And one of the highlights was watching, and hearing, Jo Ann pound away on her ragtime piano. Many of her classics are here, but some like 'Humoresque' are mysteriously absent. A personal favorite of mine, 'Maple Leaf Rag' by Joplin, will immediately be familiar with younger folks as a tune featured in the Paul Newman/Robert Shaw film, "The Sting". For a better value (more music for the money), check out Castle's "22 Ragtime Classics" volumes 1 and 2.