Chart-topping American pianist Lara Downes reflects on the music of Scott Joplin through a 21st-century lens, revealing its many layers of genre-blurring subtlety and nuance. Joplin is revered as The “King of Ragtime". He’s acknowledged as a classically-trained composer of concert music whose ambitions were denied in his own time. He was both of those things, and more - an innovator who merged traditions and histories to make music at the crossroads of the American future. His story is ready to be retold.

The album is dedicated to the music genre "Ragtime", a genre particularly pronounced at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Ragtime is characterized by a syncopated, i.e., "dragging" rhythm, which is why it got its name.

This recording combines the lyrical and rhythmic vitality of early 20th century Brazilian and American popular music with Rifkin's thoughtful and artistic realization, in much the same way as his 1970's recordings of Joplin piano works did on the Nonesuch label. As with those recordings, the sound here is good and the performances excellent. Various different interpretations of Nazareth, Scott, and Lamb exist, and some might find the slower pace of Rifkin's ragtime playing eccentric, but I believe these performances to be subtle and truly musical, as opposed to surface and expected.

Who better to initiate the rebirth of Impulse! Records than Henry Butler? After all, the first time the label was given a new life in 1986, their first recording was Flyin' Around, his debut album as a leader. Viper's Drag is a collaboration between the pianist/composer with in-demand trumpeter and arranger Steven Bernstein (Sexmob, MTO Orchestra), surrounded by an all-star cast including drummer Herlin Riley, bassist Reggie Veal, saxophonists Michael Blake, Peter Apfelbaum, and Erik Lawrence, violinist Charlie Burnham, clarinetist Doug Wieselman, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, and guitarist Matthew Munisteri. The set features readings of Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton tunes, three Butler originals, and two other classic pre-War numbers…

Randy Newman was the nephew of film composers Alfred, Emil, and Lionel Newman, which would suggest at least some familiarity with the field, even though he had only scored one minor movie (Cold Turkey). And in his songs, heard on his series of solo albums, he displayed far more knowledge of popular music styles of the early 20th century than any of his singer/songwriter peers. Listening to his records, you could always tell that he knew his way around Scott Joplin's rags. Who better, therefore, than Newman to make his debut as a big-budget film composer by scoring an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime? So must movie producer Dino DeLaurentiis have reasoned in giving Newman the assignment. And the result worked out quite well. Newman naturally re-created much of the cakewalking Tin Pan Alley style of the turn-of-the-century era depicted in the film, but he actually had a more challenging assignment than might have appeared, since the story moves from one social stratum to another and ranges in tone from the comic to the melodramatic to the tragic.

"It is never right to play Ragtime fast." Scott Joplin's famous instruction, printed at the top of most of his publications, has been overlooked by many pianists who take quick, Tin Pan Alley tempos for such favorites as Maple Leaf Rag and The Easy Winners. Listening to William Appling's four-CD set of the complete rags, waltzes, and marches, one should be convinced that the correct speed for most of Joplin's piano music seems to be a moderate walking, if not ambling, pace, and Joplin's subtle harmonies and intricate syncopations are easier to appreciate when the timing is leisurely. Appling came to Joplin by way of rediscovering a student's abandoned copy of the Collected Works edition, and playing through the rags in 2001 gave him the impetus to record not only this impressive collection, but also to work on other Joplin projects, such as a full-scale production of the opera Treemonisha.

Yet another unmissable release from Marc-André Hamelin. From the easy-going elegance of Tabby Cat Walk to the high spirits of Eubies Luckey Day (and the altogether wilder antics of Brass Knuckles), William Bolcoms lifelong and affectionate homage toand continuation ofthis archetypal American genre is a guaranteed winner.

Banjoist Elmer Snowden only led two albums in the LP era, and his OJC CD reissue is his best showcase. Snowden, who is joined by pianist Cliff Jackson, bassist Tommy Bryant, and drummer Jimmy Crawford, is the lead voice throughout the dozen standards, all of which date from the 1920s or '30s. Snowden's banjo style is a lost art, and this is his definitive recording.

Scott Joplin was "the King of Ragtime Writers," a composer who elevated "banjo piano playing," a lowly entertainment associated with saloons and brothels, into an American art form loved by millions. Scott Joplin was born near Linden, Texas on November 24, 1868. Although Joplin's music was popular and he received modest royalties during his lifetime, he did not receive recognition as a serious composer for more than fifty years after his death. Then, in 1973, his music was featured in the motion picture, The Sting, which won and Academy Award for its film score. Three years later, in 1976, Joplin's opera Treemonisha won the coveted Pulitzer Prize.

From the opening track, "Champagne Charlie," to the dazzling finale, "T.B. Blues," Leon Redbone presents an introspective collection of blues and big band melodies in timeless fashion, a rare feat because of its release date in 1978. The record was highly acclaimed and regarded as the purest of jazz and classic blues by a remarkable legend and icon in this musical form. Most of the record, like the amiable "Sweet Sue (Just You)" and memorable "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)," is filled with the best that blues and ragtime has to offer. The music itself is quite light and jolly during the more uplifting moments, with others such as "I Hate a Man Like You" very depressing and sorrowful. The band backing up Redbone is delightful, filled with jubilant horns, oboes, and trumpets. "T.B. Blues" closes out this record as a charming look back into the world of blues via pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. Two melodies written and composed by giant Jelly Roll Morton are featured here, with fresh and stunning new arrangements by Leon Redbone and company, "If Someone Would Only Love Me" and "I Hate a Man Like You".

Leon Redbone followed up his debut long-player On the Track (1975) with Double Time (1977), an equally enchanting, if not somewhat eclectic blend, of jazz, folk, blues and pop standards – all in Redbone's undeniably distinct throaty baritone. While the tunes may be familiar, these renderings are steeped in the artist's unique sensibilities. The results are uniformly ingenious and commence with a New Orleans ragtime flavored interpretation of Blind Boy Blake's dirty "Diddy Wa Diddie" blues. Augmenting Redbone's acoustic guitar is an extended cast of session stalwarts and a host of other musical notables – such as Milt Hinton (bass), Jonathan Dorn (tuba), Vic Dickenson (trombone) and Jo Jones (drums). Don McLean (banjo) sits in, supplying his criminally underutilized instrumental versatility on the endearing revamp of Jimmie Rodgers' "Mississippi Delta Blues." The decidedly demented reading of "Sheik of Araby" is nothing short of inspired insanity. Redbone incorporates a Screamin' Jay Hawkins-esque persona belting out a variety of hoots, snorts, howls and hob-gobbles set behind a hot-steppin' fret board flurry à la Django Reinhardt.