Customer Reviews

They All Played Ragtime - The True Story Of An American Music

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's difficult to understand how a publisher cannot get the authors' names correct. The authors are Rudi (not "Ridi") Blesh AND Harriet Janis; Blesh was always insistent that Janis receive equal credit.
The book, itself, is of major importance to our understanding of ragtime history. It was published in 1950 and its story has, in many respects, been supplanted by more recent research and writings. But it was an inspiration for ragtime fans from 1950 on, and remains an irreplaceable source for information about many of the original ragtimers interviewed by Blesh and Janis. Our knowledge of ragtime, its culture, and the history of that time, would be greatly lessened without this book.
Ragtime: A Musical and Cultural History
King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era

This title, along w/Father of the Blues: An Autobiography of W.C. Handy(William Christopher Handy); Treat It Gentle: An Autobiography of Sidney Bechet (Sidney Bechet); Mister Jelly Roll: The Fortunes of Jelly Roll Morton et al (Ferdinand Lamonthe and Alan Lomax); Music is My Mistress: The Autobiography of Duke Ellington (Edward Kennedy Ellington); Satchmo: The Autobiography of Louis Armstrong (Louis Armstrong); Eubie Blake (James Hubert Blake and Alan Rose); and Danny Barker's writings are essential towards the understanding of American music...and history.

Fabulous book! Couldn't put it down. A must for any lover of ragtime music and wants to know the history.