Solo Art CD Sampler 1

(Solo Art Records, New Orleans, LA)

Status: Available through Solo Art / Jazzology

Track listing

  1. Jimmy Stuff#2 Jimmy Yancey (SACD- , August, 1989)
  2. Mr. Jelly Lord Jelly Roll Morton (SACD-11, August, 1990)
  3. Maple Leaf Rag Max Morath (SACD-110, August, 1990)
  4. It's Been So Long The Ray Skjelbred Quartet (SACD-98, August, 1991)
  5. Topliner Rag Wally Rose: Rags-Blues-Joys (SACD-109, February, 1991)
  6. If Dreams Come True Don Ewell: Live At The 100 Club (SACD-89, April, 1992)
  7. Honeysuckle Rose Ralph Sutton (SACD-92, April, 1992)
  8. Introduction David Thomas Roberts: New Orleans Streets (SACD-115, November, 1992)
  9. Tiger Rag Butch Thompson Trio (SACD-113, April, 1993)
  10. Song of the Vagabonds Joe Turner: Stride by Stride (SACD-106, August, 1993)
  11. St Louis Blues Eddie Higgins: By Request (SACD-l04, November, 1993)
  12. I Get The Blues When It Rains David Paquette (SACD-105, February, 1994)
  13. Manhattan Martin Litton Jazz Piano (SACD-114, April, 1994)
  14. Love Me Or Leave Me Ralph Sutton (SACD-10, August, 1994)
  15. Jazzmen Special After Hours With Charlie Booty (SACD-108, November, 1994)
  16. The Entertainer's Song Max Morath: Real American Folk Songs (SACD-120, November, 1994)
  17. Seattle Hunch Knocky Parker: The Complete Works of Jelly Roll Morton (SACD-61/62, February, 1995)
  18. How Long Has This Been Going On Eddie Higgins (SACD-124, April, 1995)
  19. Snowy Morning Blues DicK Wellstood, Solo Piano (SACD-119, August, 1995)
  20. Eighty Eighter On Decatur Carl Sonny Leyland: Boogie & Blues (SACD-II7, November, 1995)

57 Diff'rent Kinds of Blues

(Pianomania Music Publishing, Roseville, CA, 1994 - CD)

Status: Out of Print

Track listing

  1. I'm Alabama Bound (The Alabama Blues) 1909, Robert Hoffman
  2. I'm A Stationary Woman (Lookin' For A Permanent Man) 1932, Andy Razaf
  3. Organ Grinder Blues 1928, Clarence Williams
  4. Birmingham Blues 1922, McCord & Matthews
  5. Yellow Dog Blues 1914, W. C. Handy
  6. Canal Street Blues c. 1922-23, Joe Oliver & Louis Armstrong
  7. Fort Worth Blues 1915, Euday Bowman
  8. Fattening Frogs For Snakes (I'm Tired Of) 1932, Carrier Edwards
  9. King Of The Zulus 1927, Richard M. Jones, played by David Thomas Roberts
  10. Aunt Hagar's Blues 1921, W. C. Handy
  11. You've Got The Right Key But The Wrong Keyhold c. 1923/24, Clarence Williams & L. Green
  12. Shave 'Em Dry 1917, Sam Wishnuff
  13. Colorado Blues 1915, Euday Bowman
  14. Down and Out Blues 1925, W. Earthman Farrell and Arthur Sizemore
  15. Mamie's Blues ca 1902/04, attributed to Mamie Desdoumes, played by David Thomas Roberts
  16. Atlanta Rag 1924, W. C. Handy
  17. Buddy Bolden's Blues c. 1900
  18. Mama's Gone, Good-bye 1923, Peter Bocage and A. J. Piron
  19. Oh! Those Blues 1916, Biese, Klickman and Murphy
  20. Corinna Corinna 1932, Mitchell Parrish, Bo Chapman & J. Mayo Williams
  21. 57 Diff'rent Kinds of Blues 1932, Sam Ehrlich and Turner Layton

A Ragtime Primer

(Pianomania Music Publishing, Roseville, CA, 1995)

Status: Out of Print

Track listing & Liner Notes (for DTR-played pieces)

    Folk Ragtime

  1. Harlem Rag (By Tom Turpin, Pianist Trebor Tichenor)
  2. Tickled To Death (By Charles Hunter, Pianist David Thomas Roberts). While Turpin was playing his urban style of ragtime in St. Louis, Charles Hunter was developing a rural counterpart in Nashville, Tennessee. In contrast to the fast, showy Turpin style (in tune with the hectic atmosphere of his St. Louis ragtime mecca, The Rosebud Bar), Hunter's "original" Nashville sound was more bucolic, with a more lyrical emphasis and a syncopated country march flavor, a truly "southern fried" ragtime concoction. Tickled To Death became a most popular early rag along with Maple Leaf and Bowery Buck, and the composer's greatest success. It was originally published in 1899 by Frank G. Fite in Nashville and later sold to the Charles K. Harris catalog in New York. Hunter worked for the Jesse French Piano Company in Nashville as a tuner, was transferred to St. Louis, fell into the thoughtless sporting life and was dead by January, 1906. This trip down the primrose path was chosen by many of the itinerant pioneers, including the most legendary of all St. Louis pianists, Louis Chauvin, "The Black Paderewski" and "King of Ragtime Players." The tune achieves a country hoe-down flavor.
  3. Dixie Queen (By Robert Hoffman, Pianist Trebor Tichenor)
  4. Texas Rag (By Callis W. Jackson, Pianist David Thomas Roberts). If the term masterpiece can be applied to folk ragtime, Texas Rag would be a prime candidate. It was composed by one Callis Welborn Jackson and published in Dallas, Texas in 1905. The original score picturing a large dark blue Texas lone star is a rarity, but the tune was apparently an early piano roll favorite. Never have the blues and folk rag elements been more movingly combined than in the D strain here. Though conceived in traditional 16 bar ragtime strains, the tune has a strong blues feeling.

    Classic Ragtime

  1. Sunflower Slow Drag (By Scott Joplin/Hayden, Pianist Scott Kirby)
  2. Hilarity Rag (By James Scott, Pianist Frank French)
  3. Cottontail Rag (By Joseph Lamb, Pianist Scott Kirby)

    Popular Ragtime

  1. At a Georgia Camp Meeting (By Kerry Mills, Pianist Richard Zimmerman)
  2. Black and White Rag (By George Botsford, Pianist John Gill)
  3. Waiting For The Robert E. Lee (By John Muir, Pianist Richard Zimmerman)
  4. The Georgia Grind (By Ford Dabney, Pianist Tex Wyndham)
  5. Sunshine Capers (By Roy Bargy, Pianist Elliot Adams)
  6. Kitten On The Keys (By Zez Confrey, Pianist Max Morath)
  7. Memphis Blues (By W. C. Handy, Pianist Richard Zimmerman)
  8. Rooster Rag (By Muriel Pollock, Pianist Max Morath)

    Eastern Ragtime

  1. Charleston Rag (By Eubie Blake, Pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen)
  2. Steeplechase Rag (By James P. Johnson, Pianist Max Morath)

    Jelly Roll Morton

  1. Perfect Rag (By Jelly Roll Morton, Pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen)
  2. King Porter Stomp (By Jelly Roll Morton, Pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen)

    New Ragtime

  1. Through The Bottomlands (By David Thomas Roberts (1980), Pianist David Thomas Roberts). Bottomlands are defined as low-lying areas near rivers containing rich alluvial soil. But for me the connotation is far richer than the definition. The word "bottomlands" evokes wetlands as well as farmland; it recalls rural isolation, tiny half-tilled farmlands bordering swamps, the poverty of families reliant upon meager vegetable outputs, dreams of the land and its human tenants existing inseparably...
  2. Polyragmic (By Max Morath, Pianist Max Morath)
  3. Belle of Louisville (By Frank French, Pianist Frank French)

Century Of Ragtime

(Vanguard Records, New York, NY, 1997)

Status: Available online

Track Listing CD 1 of 2: Ragtime Piano Solos

  1. Stars and Stripes Forever Eubie Blake
  2. Harlem Rag Trebor Tichenor
  3. Maple Leaf Rag Dick Hyman
  4. Rags to Burn Richard Zimmerman
  5. Charleston Rag Eubie Blake
  6. The Easy Winners (A Ragtime Two Step) Max Morath
  7. The Entertainer Richard Zimmerman
  8. The Ragtime Dance Joshua Rifkin
  9. Pickles and Peppers (A Rag Oddity) Max Morath
  10. April Fool Rag Mimi Blais
  11. Scott Joplin's New Rag Joshua Rifkin
  12. The Chevy Chase Rag John Arpin/Catherine Wilson
  13. 12th Street Rag Richard Zimmerman
  14. Bohemia John Arpin/Catherine Wilson
  15. Kitten on the Keys Dick Hyman
  16. Musical Massacre Mimi Blais
  17. Toad Stool Rag Morton Gunnar Larsen
  18. One For Amelia Max Morath
  19. Graceful Ghost William Bolcom
  20. Roberto Clemente David Thomas Roberts (1979). Roberto Clemente, the legendary right fielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico in 1934 and died on New Year's Eve, 1972 off the coast of his native island in a plane that never reached the Nicaraguan earthquake victims to whom it was carrying supplies. Although familiar with Clemente during his career, I was no more mindful of him than of some other outstanding ballplayers. It was the film about him shown during the 1979 World Series that transformed my image of Clemente into a myth to be recalled with affection. Incisively moved by this poetic series of glimpses of his career and the circumstances of his death, I had decided by the film's end that there must be a ragtime composition for Clemente, a piece evocative of the man as I had viewed him via the documentary.
    I have referred to Roberto Clemente as a "folk elegy" and a "country funeral." Marked "warmly and solemnly," it is a rag forthrightly typifying the plaintiveness -- the gentle anguish, even -- that I have always associated with the lyrical medium of ragtime.

Track Listing CD 2 of 2: Ragtime Orchestras

  1. Mississippi Rag St. Louis Ragtimers
  2. Echoes From the Snowball Club Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra
  3. Eli Green's Cake Walk Dawn Of The Century Ragtime Orchestra
  4. Cotton Pickers Rag and Cakewalk New Leviathan Oriental Fox Trot Orchestra
  5. St. Louis Rag Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
  6. Belle of the Philippines Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra
  7. Frog Legs Rag The New England Ragtime Ensemble
  8. Dixie Blossoms Dawn Of The Century Ragtime Orchestra
  9. Black and White Rag Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
  10. Grace and Beauty New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra
  11. Mephisto Rag New Leviathan Oriental Fox Trot Orchestra
  12. Harmony Rag Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra
  13. American Beauty Pacific Coast Ragtime Orchestra
  14. Castle House Rag The New England Ragtime Ensemble
  15. Reindeer Rag New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra
  16. Cleopatra Rag New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra
  17. The Rag Baby The University Of Wisconsin Eau Claire Symphony Band
  18. Gold Rush Rag The University Of Wisconsin Eau Claire Symphony Band

Diamond Cuts-Turning Two

(Hungry for Music, Washington DC, 1998)

Status: Available at CD Baby

Notes

The Diamond Cuts collections are inspired by a passion for baseball, music, and helping others. The proceeds from Diamond Cuts provide funding for Hungry for Music, a Washington, DC-based charity. Hungry for Music's mission is to inspire disadvantaged children (and others) by bringing positive musical and creative experiences into their lives. Programs include a musical instrument donation for underprivileged children.

Track listing

  1. Baseball Boogie Ruth Brown
  2. Knock It Out Of The Park The Nighthawks
  3. Baseball Boogie Bluebirds
  4. Let's Play Some Ball! The Swingtips
  5. Color Line Garland Jeffreys
  6. Take Me Out To The Ball Game George Winston
  7. Casey At The Bat Bob Costas
  8. Whole New Ball Game Fontaine Brown
  9. Doing His Job John McCutcheon and Tom Chapin
  10. Big Foot In The Door Bruce Piephoff
  11. Shoeless Joe Jackson Steve Key
  12. Lefty Chuck Brodsky
  13. The Babe Dan Bern
  14. Roberto Clemente David Thomas Roberts
  15. Take Me Out To The Ball Game Stan Musial
  16. Casey At The Bat Garrison Keillor
  17. Mickey Mantle Rookie Card Chip Monk
  18. Catchers Drummer Anchormen Eddie From Ohio
  19. Night Game Paul Simon
  20. Christmas Down In Cooperstown Dana Cooke

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