That's Ragtime

Eubie Blake | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 12, 2005)
• Original Release Date: August 10, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Aei
• ASIN: B00004WF3H
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #484,115 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Tricky Fingers

2. Dictors on Seventh Avenue

3. The Lily Rag

4. Funeral March and Rag

5. Meet Me in St. Louis

6. Blue Thoughts

7. The Teasin' Rag

8. Waiting for the Robert E. Lee [From Follies of 1912]

9. Judge Fogarty

10. Memories of You [From Blackbirds of 1930]

11. Alexander's Ragtime Band

12. Charleston Rag

13. Spanish Venus

14. You're Gonna Be My Baby

15. I'm Just Wild About Harry [Original Tempo]

16. I'm Just Wild About Harry [From Shuffle Along]

17. When the Pale Moon Shines [From Abyssinia]

18. The Stars and Stripes Forever

19. Dream Rag

20. Lovely Joe [From Follies of 1910]

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is ragtime!, October 13, 2001

By 

B. D. Tutt (London, UK.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: That's Ragtime (Audio CD)

Baltimore born Eubie Blake (1883 - 1983) was a formidable ragtime pianist whose dynamic style influenced many of the later generation of stride players. He was also the writer of a number of hit songs with lyricist Andy Razaf.

This CD, the re-issue of two LPs released in 1985, is the best compilation currently available of Blake's talents.

Tracks 1 - 12 date from the sessions he recorded with fellow ragtime veterans Charlie Thompson and Joe Jordan for Bob Darch in 1960, and feature solo, duet and trio renditions of a mixture of Blake originals and ragtime standards. Blake solos are "Tricky Fingers" (actually "Troublesome Ivories"), "Dicties on 7th Avenue", the lyrical "Blue Thoughts" (a track which hints at his influence on Willie the lion Smith) and "Memories of You" (in Blake's frequently recorded concert version). The duets / trios are often delightful. Listen particularly to the trio of "Judge Fogarty" (better known as Jelly Roll Morton's "Buddy Bolden's Blues"), where Jordan, Thompson and Blake each take a chorus in their respective styles.

Tracks 12 - 23 are undated but sound to be from the 1960s. All are solos, and mix broadway tunes with some of Blake's ragtime showpieces. Highlights are "Troublesome Ivories" (actually "Tricky Fingers!) and the graceful "Classical Rag", Joe Jordan's "Lovie Joe" and two versions of "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The recording quality is not perfect but does not detract from the performances.

This is a welcome re-issue: Blake recorded extensively in the later 1960s - early 1970s but very little has so far appeared on CD. This CD goes some way to filling that gap. Recommended!