Real Ragtime: Disc Recordings from Its Heyday

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Archeophone Records
• ASIN: B000BKP5K4
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,586 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #24 in Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime > Ragtime
  • #44 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Theatrical, Incidental & Program Music > Marches

Track Listings

1. Florida Rag (Vess L. Ossman)

2. When Uncle Joe Plays a Rag on His Old Banjo (Arthur Collins)

3. Booster Fox Trot (Victor Military Band)

4. Berkeley March (Cullen and Collins)

5. Hu-la Hu-la Cake Walk (Sousa’s Band)

6. Dill Pickles Rag (Chris Chapman)

7. Cakewalk (John J. Kimmel)

8. Everybody Rag with Me (American Quartet)

9. Creole Belles (Columbia Orchestra)

10. By the Sycamore Tree Medley (Ossman and Hunter)

11. The International Rag (Collins and Harlan)

12. Silver Heels (Fred Van Eps)

13. Canhanibalmo Rag (Arthur Pryor’s Band)

14. A Coon Band Contest (Vess L. Ossman)

15. You’re Talking Rag-Time (Arthur Collins)

16. Sugar Plum (Samuel Siegel and Roy Butin)

17. Whipped Cream (Fred Van Eps)

18. Deiro Rag (Guido Deiro)

19. Old Folks Rag (Van Eps Trio)

20. Ragged William (Metropolitan Orchestra)

See all 29 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

From the introduction: This CD is the second edition of Archeophone’s very first release, which established our mission of providing detailed, scholarly, and unabashed reissues of the early recording industry’s product in attractive and generous packages. With this newly remastered, freshly annotated edition, we are bringing our first and favorite release to the standards that you expect from the leader in acoustic-era reissues. To some music fans, the title of Real Ragtime sounded like a battle cry of authenticity, but the aim of the collection was and remains a simple one, grounded in the history of record buying a century ago: to show that the ragtime consumers were likely to find on records for more than 20 years was not the kind of ragtime we think of today. They were more likely to find banjos and brass bands playing ragtime than pianos, and their collections of disc recordings almost certainly had numerous examples of watered-down ragtime—the Tin Pan Alley knock-offs that really had no ragtime but called themselves “rags” just for the added marketability such a designation would bring. Ragtime was as much about a musical mood, a general feeling in the air, as it was about what scholars would identify as real ragtime. It was a trope that defined the early recording industry and pervaded the entire culture for a generation. These are the recordings people listened to, whether they were really ragtime or not—and they were thought of, no doubt, as the genuine item.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Archeophone's "Real Ragtime" Second Edition, October 8, 2005

By 

John L Frigo "Music Man" (Shaker Heights, OH, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real Ragtime: Disc Recordings from Its Heyday (Audio CD)

This is the second edition of this CD to be released by Archeophone Records. It contains one additional tune and one substitution. The selections have been remastered, and the sound which was good the first time, has even been improved this time. Some of these recordings are over one hundred years old, and have no right to sound this good! This disc offers a good cross section of the music that was popular between 1898 and 1918. The booklet is done with a real attention to detail, and a lot of information is included along with photographs and first class graphics. This disc, along with the others from this company (I have them all), can stand tall alongside any other reissues by anyone!

Titles I especially enjoy are "Booster Fox Trot" by the Victor Military Band; "Dill Pickles Rag" by Chris Chapman; "The International Rag" by Collins and Harlan; "Cohen's Rag Babe" by Arthur Collins; and "Ragtime Temple Bells" by Billy Murray.

By the way, the substitution mentioned is a different version of "Dill Pickles Rag". The original version by Chris Chapman (1908), is included here, while the version by William H. Reitz (1922), was featured in the first edition of this CD. The additional tune is "Sugar Plum" by Samuel Siegel and Roy Butin.

For those who enjoy original recordings of the first quarter of the twentieth century, this disc is a good place to begin. Archeophone Records is the premier company reissuing this material, and I can recommend their CDs highly. They have released discs featuring Bert Williams, Billy Murray, Art Hickman, and The Benson Orchestra of Chicago; along with over twenty more titles, all of the highest quality sound that modern remastering will allow.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Ragtime Collection, December 31, 2009

By 

J. P. Roy (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Real Ragtime: Disc Recordings from Its Heyday (Audio CD)

When I buy a collection of old music like this, I do so hoping to find perhaps three or four tunes that are worth ripping to my computer and listening to over and over again. With this CD, I ripped at least 90% of the cuts, they're that good. Of course, the TYPE of music helps. Just like there is no really BAD baroque music, there is no really BAD ragtime. But when you find a CD of old music that is at least 90% first-rate, you have a winner.

Another great feature of this collection is that it offers plenty of ragtime banjos, accordions, and xylophones, but no piano solos and no Scott Joplin. Pianos are fine and Joplin is terrific, but as this CD demonstrates, ragtime in the early years was not exclusively piano music, and Joplin was not the only superb ragtime composer out there.