Around this time last century ragtime was a predecessor to the jazz movement. Part of Scott Joplin's legacy is that his spirit lives on in his music and his character is considered as a legendary ragtime artist. The time has come to reflect on the centennial of his life's work and achievements. This Saturday, April 1st is a very special event at the Scott Joplin House that is organized by the Friends Of Scott Joplin. There is more about that in the next paragraph. Another great resource on this topic is from St. Louis Magazine where they had previously published an excellent article on the best St. Louis ragtime artists of all time.
Like the Friends Of Scott Joplin on facebook for updates on more ragtime events. Saturday, April 1st from 3-5 pm is the centennial event featuring music by the renown composer and ragtime artist John Reed-Torres (LA) on piano, members of the Confluence Chamber Orchestra, plus vocalists from the University Of Missouri St. Louis. There will also be speakers from the University Of Missouri St. Louis Department Of History. For more info. visit the official Facebook event page HERE. Watch an "Impromptu of Scott Joplin's - 'Fig Leaf Rag' performed by John Reed-Torres" where he plays on his piano that was made in the late 1800's :
https://youtube.com/watch?v=6_VWpUbYPzw
Like John Reed-Torres on Facebook HERE.
Also, on Sunday, April 2nd the friends of Scott Joplin host their monthly gathering called "Ragtime Rendezvous". It is like an open-mic for ragtime artists from around the area. That takes place from 2-5 pm and is also at the Scott Joplin House. This repeats monthly on the first Sunday of every month. They also put on an event every six months, one timed right after the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, MO. The festival takes place on May 31st and starts at noon that day then lasts through June 3rd until 10 pm. Visit HERE for the official event page on Facebook for that info.
Life is cyclical and there are certain things that can be seen as similar such as the social climate from the time period where ragtime was still popular. However, a lot has changed since then. Musically, it is hard to judge and place ragtime in a main genre, so when building the 13 genre playlists on Spotify it seemed best to place it with jazz. Jazz purists would argue it doesn't belong together possibly. There are also classical elements to ragtime in which elements of blues can be heard. It would seem fans of folk even seem to enjoy ragtime also. There is a rich ragtime history in this town and it is well represented in the playlist below. Here is the #STL #MUSIC : #Jazz #Ragtime playlist on Spotify if you have not seen it yet:
https://open.spotify.com/user/stlmusiciansunite/playlist/6lxgevfZ57CivsmOFB5NGA
On a side note, Jerry Rabushka is an original music artist from St. Louis. He plays piano and trumpet and enjoys playing various genres, but his album "A Mustache With No Wax" really does showcase his talent in ragtime too. He is pictured above playing at Urban Eats in Dutchtown. His next solo gig is there again for brunch on April 16th from 11am to 2pm. Visit HERE for the info. on that event. Give his music a listen also and like his page on Facebook HERE.
https://www.reverbnation.com/jerryrabushka
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