Liner notes - "During the last century an obscure group of musicians, mainly black piano players, began a revolution that would forever change not only music but the world. All through the Mississippi River Valley - from Nashville to St. Louis to Sedalia (where there was a gathering place called the Maple Leaf Club with a young Entertainer at the piano named Scott Joplin) to Kansas City, from New Orleans to Chicago — contemporary notions governing musical performance were literally being bent out of shape. Basic accents were moved from 1 and 3 to 2 and 4, and then many more unwritten"feel" accents were added in all sorts of places (listeners began to move a little!). Non-stop syncopation from start to finish created a constant and stirring excitement (it's mad!, folks said). It was called "ragged time" — tearing time apart. Bass lines walked all over the place, and improvisation - spontaneous, on-the-spot, spur-of-the-moment creativity — was the rule. Nothing ever came out the same way twice. It was called "raggin" ("to rag" is to tease with surprise). The excitation being too great, listeners began to don their high-fashion "glad rags" and exuberantly strut around (the best strutters "taking the cake"). It was Ragtime! — the beginning of Jazz.
Although efforts have always been made to "legitimize" Ragtime by writing arrangements and then insisting that they be played as written, true Ragtime (as originally intended, and as Jazz) is an ever-changing, improvisational art form.
One of the greatest Ragtimers, who was raggin' in the early days (born in 1883), and was still raggin' in 1983 (the year he died), said (in 1976), "Ragtime is syncopation and improvisation and accents. We all played our own style. If you could have heard those old fellas play, you would have heard lots of ad-libbing, —and oh those accents!" When asked how to perform a rag, he said, "Play it YOUR way." This recording is offered in that spirit, and is dedicated to the memory of that great Ragtimer — Eubie Blake.
So, put on your "glad rags", free up your hands and feet, and prepare to strut around for the cake! A Ragtimer, "The Entertainer", has just addressed the old upright piano, and is about to sit down and play!
By the way — My name is Lynn Wright, and I'm a Ragtimer!