Vince Guaraldi Blindfold Test – Radio Show [transcript]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:11:11 Vince Guaraldi: Hello. Hello?

00:00:11:14 - 00:00:18:15 Unknown Speaker: Vince. Squirrely.

00:00:18:17 - 00:00:33:05 Vince Guaraldi: I think it’s junior man with the breath. Breath? I could be mighty badly if it is junior man.

00:00:33:08 - 00:00:36:14 Vince Guaraldi: You want me to give you an opinion on the side, right?

00:00:36:16 - 00:00:37:11 Leonard Feather: Yeah.

00:00:37:13 - 00:00:39:24 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah. It’s a big swing. Yeah.

00:00:39:26 - 00:00:41:25 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah. You want to talk about?

00:00:41:27 - 00:00:46:29 Vince Guaraldi: I think it’s a good. I think it’s a good record.

00:00:47:01 - 00:00:56:02 Vince Guaraldi: It’s very professional, very sweet.

00:00:56:04 - 00:01:12:19 Vince Guaraldi: That’s about all I can really say about it. I can’t say I can’t say anything for it for, Any kind of. But it’s a swinging blues chart with a big band background. That’s a good one. That’s my opinion on that one.

00:01:12:21 - 00:01:13:28 Leonard Feather: I mean, just,

00:01:14:00 - 00:01:27:05 Vince Guaraldi: Pretentious. It is. It’s honest. It’s honest. So that bass player is good. Drums is good. Everybody’s playing well. Piano player plays good with conviction. yeah. That’s an honest record.

00:01:27:07 - 00:01:30:28 Leonard Feather: Oh, great.

00:01:31:00 - 00:01:35:07 Vince Guaraldi: I’ll give it three star. Okay.

00:01:35:09 - 00:01:51:27 Vince Guaraldi: Or John Lewis. it’s his composition. I don’t know the name of it. it’s. Anything he does is excellent in my. In my opinion.

00:01:52:00 - 00:01:58:15 Vince Guaraldi: I like the way he plays. I like the way he writes. I like his ideas about music.

00:01:58:17 - 00:02:00:18 Vince Guaraldi: it’s.

00:02:00:21 - 00:02:26:25 Vince Guaraldi: The group itself. I think it’s a very fine group. 15 traffic jams, I think. Yeah. In their own way, you know, live with the classical type of thing. They’ve done more for classical music. You know, bring bringing it together and then move back to what he was trying to do. I think, you know, making a lot of those records with the European strings that, you know, symphony bands like that.

00:02:26:27 - 00:02:38:01 Vince Guaraldi: And then it’s really jazzy because they got Milt Jackson and there’s no doubt where he is. You know. Yeah. But David was a different type of thing. well, for starters.

00:02:38:01 - 00:02:38:11 Leonard Feather: It’s.

00:02:38:13 - 00:02:45:08 Vince Guaraldi: Fun. No it’s not. I don’t know if that was talking about John. Yeah, yeah. His whole thing with the music, you.

00:02:45:11 - 00:02:47:03 Unknown Speaker: Know.

00:02:47:05 - 00:02:50:14 Vince Guaraldi: What? Five stars before. Whatever you get.

00:02:50:15 - 00:02:51:27 Leonard Feather: Well, five is the maximum.

00:02:51:29 - 00:03:29:09 Vince Guaraldi: Well, he’s a maximum in his field for that. Okay. The, I like, I like the trumpet player. the composition is nebulous, but it sounds like, a few, a few, standard ballads. And that kind of takes a left, melodically speaking. piano plays. Good. after, A certain few. Let me put it this way.

00:03:29:09 - 00:03:42:17 Vince Guaraldi: The piano plays. All right. The whole record really leaves me cold. It’s, Yeah, a two star forever. Because they were trying to tell me I like the trumpet player. Saxophone player?

00:03:42:20 - 00:03:51:11 Vince Guaraldi: Didn’t didn’t gas me that much. Didn’t seem to fit with the piano and the trumpet, and I don’t like it. I don’t know who it was, and I don’t know what the composition.

00:03:51:14 - 00:03:55:22 Leonard Feather: Well, maybe you can figure out what was wrong with it or what. I have a message for you.

00:03:55:24 - 00:04:19:25 Vince Guaraldi: yeah, I who am I to say whether it’s right or wrong? You know, with judging. I would say just in terms of performance. it’s a, it’s trying to create a certain type of mood, and it sounded strained. Strained to me. Yeah. But yet in jazz, I feel there’s a certain amount of honesty in everybody’s endeavors.

00:04:19:26 - 00:04:42:16 Vince Guaraldi: What, do they come off or not? I think I’ve found very few, jive cats that really can play, you know? so these type of things are only what, you know, there’s so much music. I was trying to listen to what the. You know, for lack of a better expression. Honesty. I guess you can’t. But you can fall way short and still try to be as honest as you can.

00:04:42:19 - 00:05:05:10 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah, yeah. Two stars. Two stars. All right. Who was it? Oh, I don’t like this record. I don’t like I mean, I don’t like the interpretation of the, the material. I don’t know what that guy’s playing, and it sounds like an accordion with a vibrato in it. Corcovado. It’s. It’s kind of a funny. It’s a kind of close to me.

00:05:05:10 - 00:05:33:03 Vince Guaraldi: It’s one of the first songs ever heard, Alberto doing on his Capitol record. And it really gets me. The first time I heard this, the arrangement, the way it was done, the whole thing it created. So when I hear people do, The arrangement and the whole thing in kind of an offhanded manner, this is, to me is a it’s a kind of a a flight into commercial music.

00:05:33:06 - 00:05:50:18 Vince Guaraldi: They don’t even know what the hell they’re doing to in my, in my and, I made a record, a Corcovado, because I like the song. And I try to get as close to what you’re being did. I don’t know if I did, but this. The guitar player isn’t even into it. You know, you can play the cop, but never get into.

00:05:50:20 - 00:05:53:29 Vince Guaraldi: no stars. This. Yeah.

00:05:54:02 - 00:05:59:07 Vince Guaraldi: Oh.

00:05:59:09 - 00:06:03:13 Vince Guaraldi: this is,

00:06:03:15 - 00:06:36:25 Vince Guaraldi: This is a nice record. And, Nice means doe. And, musically speaking. And I, this is Celtic, and I’ve heard it play. A lot of music to this tune is, most of these most of this material is Brazilian material. Now is is getting to be done to the bone. To me. Yeah. the the advent of the organ.

00:06:36:26 - 00:06:50:23 Vince Guaraldi: I’ve only had one guy play the organ. bossa nova from Brazil. A guy named Walter. Wanda Lee, who’s fantastic. the organ don’t make.

00:06:50:26 - 00:06:53:07 Vince Guaraldi: I gave it two stars for effort.

00:06:53:09 - 00:06:55:01 Leonard Feather: As I’ve said about the organ.

00:06:55:03 - 00:07:24:15 Vince Guaraldi: I don’t like it. Oh. The organ, the organ doesn’t make it doesn’t make it. and after hearing what they do in Brazil with the organ and hearing this, does it make it? Yeah. I was fortunate to hear some records from him. just because you play the claw, you don’t mean. And it’s bossa nova. It’s got it’s it isn’t two stars in.

00:07:24:17 - 00:07:52:24 Vince Guaraldi: I don’t know who this is. I think he’s playing on a bass clarinet. well, the record leads me cold as a blues. You know, for a blues, at least. Meeko, piano plays. All right. I mean, he’s all right in respect of these, he’s aware musically with what’s going on. and what has been going on in the last couple of years in jazz piano.

00:07:52:26 - 00:08:13:19 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah. I don’t know who he is. This this side is not what I would call a relaxed side. from beginning to end, if I play an even got to play it. He’s,

00:08:13:21 - 00:08:39:24 Vince Guaraldi: The kind of the way the guy is handling the instrument. I don’t I don’t approve myself, I think, Oh, darn. Yeah. for the, for the simple reason that I think if you’re going to play an instrument, if you’re going to bring an instrument into jazz that’s not been into jazz before, I think it’s best to get a solid toehold with the foundation, you know, bring it from where it’s from and play it that way.

00:08:39:24 - 00:08:49:01 Vince Guaraldi: Then go from there. One star, I get this, give it one star for showing up.

00:08:49:03 - 00:08:57:11 Vince Guaraldi: Okay, good.

00:08:57:13 - 00:09:02:29 Vince Guaraldi: Point. You got time for. Oh, yeah, I got all that. Okay.

00:09:03:01 - 00:09:24:19 Vince Guaraldi: Who’s that? Who he started. What he was. You know what he was leading up to by the time he got there? Okay. I don’t know who this is. I don’t I don’t like this record. it’s it’s it’s why I have to be. Man can really create a cacophony. I it’s it doesn’t it doesn’t mean a thing to me.

00:09:24:19 - 00:09:33:20 Vince Guaraldi: The drums, the bass to be against each other.

00:09:33:22 - 00:09:57:21 Vince Guaraldi: I given those stories, and it was best they didn’t show. And this one. I don’t know who they are. I may be called the Moldy fig for not condoning this type of jazz music. I’ve heard this type done. I’ve heard this done better by other people. whoever this is, I don’t know. It may be somebody you know.

00:09:57:23 - 00:10:12:14 Vince Guaraldi: It may be someone with, with a name saying, let’s say. But I don’t know who it is. I don’t like it. Doesn’t do a thing for me. As you said, listening to music at a jazz. Listening.

00:10:12:16 - 00:10:26:23 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah. Okay.

00:10:26:25 - 00:10:51:16 Vince Guaraldi: I love it. I love this one. this is a good example of, two individuals, Duke Ellington and Bob Dylan. the composition is a folk song. quite popular and very, And Duke Ellington treated, like everything he touches in his own way. it’s kind of a midas touch.

00:10:51:19 - 00:10:54:09 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah.

00:10:54:11 - 00:10:58:02 Vince Guaraldi: I love it. Give it the maximum.

00:10:58:05 - 00:11:01:01 Leonard Feather: An individual comments.

00:11:01:03 - 00:11:12:04 Vince Guaraldi: Johnny hot. It is beautiful. That’s a you would listen to the men play when you when, when when you hear that,

00:11:12:07 - 00:11:15:17 Leonard Feather: You mean the real men as opposed to the boys?

00:11:15:19 - 00:11:25:12 Vince Guaraldi: yeah, I mean, this there’s no you know, there’s no doubt in your mind when you hear Duke Ellington’s band play. Yeah. The man is the man. Yeah. Right.

00:11:25:14 - 00:11:29:29 Leonard Feather: Good. Yeah.

00:11:30:02 - 00:11:31:20 Vince Guaraldi: It’s Woody Herman.

00:11:31:23 - 00:11:32:15 Leonard Feather: Up. And so tell.

00:11:32:15 - 00:11:51:18 Vince Guaraldi: Him I thought it was, but, I think the reason I said is I saw the band many times that, when they were in Frisco. And I remember the arrangement, the the sound, I think it’s sound playing. And then I remember the other kid. what do you have? I he’s always had great bands, you know. yeah.

00:11:51:21 - 00:11:55:13 Vince Guaraldi: He’s been,

00:11:55:16 - 00:12:05:22 Vince Guaraldi: An inspiration to me in many ways. One thing I like about this, I don’t think he has this band now, but he said he’s bringing the Italian saxophone players back.

00:12:05:24 - 00:12:09:01 Vince Guaraldi: And,

00:12:09:03 - 00:12:30:03 Vince Guaraldi: And, he’s, he’s kept his band together to. And then. I’ve worked with him a little bit and, I learned an awful lot. I learned more with him than I did when I went to school. in fact, I went to school when I went to work with him and, the maximum he makes with the great.

00:12:30:03 - 00:12:36:23 Vince Guaraldi: I mean, he is the great ranks. He is the great. You know.

00:12:36:26 - 00:12:38:26 Leonard Feather: You like the rhythm section and. Oh.

00:12:38:29 - 00:12:57:25 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah. Well, Jake Hanna, I think it’s Jake Hanna doing a very good job. That’s the kind of rehearses the band and keeps it in shape. He’s done a wonderful job at the bass player. he’s a good bass player. Yeah.

00:12:57:28 - 00:13:16:18 Vince Guaraldi: Good trumpet section. Bill, I think Bill Chase will chase the lead. Good. Very good. Hot saxophone player. Well, Woody’s always had hot saxophone player, but these guys really can. The notes bubble out in.

00:13:16:20 - 00:13:28:13 Vince Guaraldi: You know, do. You.

00:13:28:15 - 00:14:07:15 Vince Guaraldi: Know. Boom boom boom boom.

00:14:07:17 - 00:14:13:05 Unknown And I don’t know.

00:14:13:07 - 00:14:20:10 Vince Guaraldi: Yeah. Oh. What do you do?

00:14:20:13 - 00:14:23:20 Vince Guaraldi: Oh.

00:14:23:23 - 00:14:40:00 Unknown Oh. Come over. And. And then. Bang bang.

00:14:40:02 - 00:14:41:00 Vince Guaraldi: Bang.

00:14:41:02 - 00:14:45:19 Unknown Bang.

00:14:45:22 - 00:14:59:01 Unknown 000000000.

00:14:59:03 - 00:15:11:18 Unknown 0000 yeah. Oh oh.

00:15:11:20 - 00:15:21:15 Unknown 00000.

00:15:21:18 - 00:15:48:01 Leonard Feather: Johnny Hodges. Come in. I’ve been expecting you. All right, John, I’ll call you tomorrow. goodbye. Every bar in Australia. You know, we’ve got good men in all Schweppes outposts. Johnny Martin in Paris and Derek Brighton in Spain, and wife here in America. Now, let me tell you why you should insist on Schweppes for an authentic tonic drink.

00:15:48:08 - 00:16:14:19 Leonard Feather: Here’s one reason sessions imported from Schweppes in London. This unique essence is the secret blend of orange distillate, a trace of quinine and other exotic ingredients to give Schweppes that thirst quenching, bitter sweet flavor on its own. No one has ever succeeded in imitating the flavor of Schweppes tonic. The trouble? This little bubbles would last your whole room through small wonder, the tropics has been world famous.

00:16:14:19 - 00:16:29:12 Leonard Feather: In 1794. Curiously refreshing. Now how about something tall problem with Schweppes. Right now the air softens your guests. 1030 tomorrow night on CT TV channel 11.

00:16:29:15 - 00:17:01:22 Leonard Feather: This is coriander, a spice used in seasoning sauces. The finest is grown in Morocco. And that’s the kind Oscar Meyer uses. Because quality is a tradition. With the Oscar Meyer finally just taste the difference. Oscar Meyer cold cuts are made of fine meat, lean beef, tender being juicy for the finest, spicy blended to break out the delicious flavor.

00:17:01:24 - 00:17:26:12 Leonard Feather: Our cold cuts are made according to our own recipes, some that have been in our family for three generations. Add to make sure you enjoy their flavor at its freshest. We see what I mean. So right Oscar Meyer. Cold cuts are the fastest way to get the handiest meat. Oscar Mayer makes over 20 different varieties. From our family to yours, Oscar Meyer specializes in sausage and smoked meats.

00:17:26:12 - 00:17:32:28 Leonard Feather: For 77 years now, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like very much to have you meet our piano player. Oh.

00:17:33:00 - 00:17:53:14 Vince Guaraldi: Welcome.

00:17:53:17 - 00:18:12:24 Unknown Back.

00:18:12:27 - 00:18:37:25 Unknown Oh.

00:18:37:28 - 00:18:49:19 Unknown Oh. Oh.

00:18:49:22 - 00:19:02:02 Unknown Oh.

00:19:02:04 - 00:19:11:19 Unknown No.

00:19:11:21 - 00:19:18:28 Unknown Oh.

00:19:19:00 - 00:19:27:21 Unknown Well.

00:19:27:23 - 00:19:39:22 Vince Guaraldi: Oh, you probably have been.

00:19:39:25 - 00:19:48:24 Vince Guaraldi: Never.

00:19:48:26 - 00:19:51:25 Unknown Oh.

00:19:51:28 - 00:20:10:20 Unknown I have.

00:20:10:22 - 00:20:18:24 Unknown Oh.

00:20:18:26 - 00:20:23:07 Unknown Oh!

00:20:23:09 - 00:20:25:05 Unknown Oh.

00:20:25:07 - 00:20:31:03 Vince Guaraldi: I have met many people.

00:20:31:06 - 00:20:46:25 Unknown Many. Oh. Oh.

00:20:46:28 - 00:21:03:22 Unknown Oh!

00:21:03:24 - 00:21:08:29 Unknown Oh.

00:21:09:01 - 00:21:14:17 Unknown We have many.

00:21:14:19 - 00:21:24:15 Unknown I have over. Oh!

00:21:24:17 - 00:21:26:26 Vince Guaraldi: 000.

00:21:26:28 - 00:21:37:25 Unknown 000000.

00:21:37:27 - 00:21:45:25 Unknown 01000000.

00:21:45:28 - 00:21:54:04 Unknown 00000.

00:21:54:06 - 00:22:15:25 Unknown 0000I.

00:22:15:27 - 00:22:28:23 Unknown 000000.

00:22:28:26 - 00:22:37:05 Unknown 00000.

00:22:37:08 - 00:22:42:23 Unknown Oh, no.

00:22:42:26 - 00:23:01:27 Unknown 000000000.

00:23:01:29 - 00:23:08:14 Vince Guaraldi: Oh, everybody.

00:23:08:16 - 00:23:14:24 Unknown Oh. And he.

00:23:14:26 - 00:23:17:20 Unknown 0000.

00:23:17:22 - 00:23:22:02 Leonard Feather: 77 Sunset Strip. That’s the Hollywood address of Ephraim Zimbalist Jr.

00:23:22:02 - 00:24:39:17 Unknown Roger Smith and John.

00:24:39:20 - 00:25:05:06 Unknown Speaker: The name of that piece is Weeping Willow. It was written at the turn of the century by an American composer named Scott Joplin. It’s ragtime. Classic ragtime. By 1900, and 15, ragtime compositions of high quality were already known by the word classic. In the proper dictionary definition of the term that which sets the standard the work of the highest class and acknowledged excellence in its field.

00:25:05:08 - 00:25:36:03 Unknown Speaker: Now the handful of men who wrote ragtime of highest quality, three names now stand out Joplin, Joseph Lamb, and James Scott. This program is devoted and dedicated to these three men and their music. The music called ragtime and music made strictly in America during the years neighboring the turn of the century. No musical analysis of ragtime coming up, no inspections, no dissections, not even much biographical material on Joplin, Lamb and Scott.

00:25:36:06 - 00:25:47:17 Unknown Speaker: We just want you to know their names, see their faces and hear their music. Also, from time to time, the judgments and predictions by critics and commentators of the period will be pronounced.

00:25:47:19 - 00:25:58:27 Unknown Speaker: Ragtime days are numbered. We are sorry to think that anyone should have imagined that ragtime was of the least importance. Ragtime was a popular move in the wrong direction.

00:25:58:29 - 00:28:56:23 Unknown Speaker: So said an article in metronome magazine, 1901. Apparently Scott Joplin didn’t read it. He was too busy with his music. Easily the most serious of the ragtime composers, Joplin was a schooled musician. In 1899, he wrote the best known of all rags, the celebrated Maple Leaf. A big seller for years, Maple Leaf Rag is still performed a lot today, but Joplin went on to develop his distinctive melodic style, as exemplified in a 1907 composition, The Graceful Gladiolus Rag.

00:28:56:26 - 00:29:23:15 Unknown Speaker: Ragtime has carried the complexities of the rhythmic subdivision of the measure to a point never before reached. In the history of music. It has established subtle, conflicting rhythms, never before attempted in popular or folk music, and rarely enough in art music. It has gone far beyond most popular music and the freedom of inner voices. Yes, I mean polyphony and of harmonic modulation.

00:29:23:17 - 00:29:55:10 Unknown Speaker: Critic HK Motor World, a friend of ragtime speaking out in 1915. Joseph Lamb was busy with ragtime by then, but the critics and writers hadn’t heard of him. Never did. Joseph Lamb was about 20 years younger than Scott Joplin greatly admired the older man. Matter of fact, Joplin’s Gladiolus is supposed to have been Lamb’s favorite rag. Joseph Lamb was never a professional musician by that, I mean he didn’t earn his living playing the piano and shows, theaters, cabarets.

00:29:55:12 - 00:32:57:09 Unknown Speaker: He had less musical training, but Joplin, what he did have was a great gift of melody and a love for syncopation. This is Joseph Lamb’s ragtime Nightingale.

00:32:57:12 - 00:33:17:05 Unknown Speaker: Most of the better rags were published by the firm of John Stark and Son, Saint Louis, Missouri. Stark deserves a salute. He loved classic ragtime. Loved it so much that he published a lot of rags that he knew wouldn’t sell. I guess I really ought to explain that. Clear it up. These rags that you’re hearing were not widely popular at the turn of the century.

00:33:17:07 - 00:33:43:22 Unknown Speaker: To many people, even some of the critics we’ve been quoting, ragtime was just the popular songs in the dances, things like the Turkey Trot, and even some of the better rags made their way into the world by other saloons the Augie Tonks, the sporting houses. So ragtime just naturally couldn’t get respectable. Those few men who thought that it would and could went their quiet way, writing their music, believing in it.

00:33:43:25 - 00:33:50:17 Unknown Speaker: Publisher John Stark summed it up in 1916, in the magazine Ragtime Revue.

00:33:50:20 - 00:34:15:25 Unknown Speaker: Well, in the first place, the name ragtime was no doubt a handicap. Then there were quite a number of fairly good players who couldn’t play it, and these, of course, were against it. And then there were quite a number of good souls who really believed that there was something evil lurking somehow in ragtime.

00:34:15:28 - 00:34:27:10 Unknown Speaker: But.

00:34:27:12 - 00:36:08:07 Unknown Speaker: With.

00:36:08:09 - 00:36:31:12 Unknown Speaker: That was the Ragtime oriole by James Scott. So now you’ve met the big three. James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Scott Joplin. There were others. But as the years have passed, these three have emerged as the best, the most productive. We had two reasons for including a program about classic ragtime in this series on life in America at the turn of the century.

00:36:31:15 - 00:36:53:22 Unknown Speaker: But one thing, ragtime in all its forms, was so much a part of that life that listening to it today is like thumbing through old copies of the Ladies Home Journal or viewing stereoscope pictures. Ragtime was as much a part of that America as William Jennings Bryan, the Gibson girl, the trolley car, the whalebone corset. These are gone.

00:36:53:25 - 00:37:16:25 Unknown Speaker: So is ragtime. And by the way, I, for one, wouldn’t want to see it revived. By that I mean made a falsely pseudo contemporary music again. To revisit ragtime on its own terms, I think is the way to enjoy it, to savor it, and thus savor the years, the America out of which it came. Ragtime didn’t stand still, though.

00:37:16:27 - 00:37:51:15 Unknown Speaker: It had vigor, vitality. Like any good musical idea. It evolved, it developed. It moved ahead. In spite of dilution and commercialization. Viewed from the 1960s, classic, ragtime is clearly a sturdy ancestor of modern jazz. The most exciting music of the century. Now that’s that’s hindsight on my part. I’m on safe ground. Here’s some remarkable foresight from 1920 by the distinguished playwright Rupert Hughes and early ragtime Partizan, who also found time to compile the Music Lovers Encyclopedia.

00:37:51:17 - 00:38:10:25 Unknown Speaker: It has been my contention for years that in ragtime, the American will find his most distinctive rhythms, his most characteristic music. Behind it. There is the germ of something very wonderful, which the composer with ears made in America, will build into the master music of tomorrow.

00:38:10:28 - 00:38:36:26 Unknown Speaker: So our other reason for including this program is simply to pay tribute to three men who, by 1920, had already done their share to make that prediction come true. Men not commonly thought of as jazz pioneers, men who deserve recognition too late, as is so often the case, Joseph Lamb lived in modest seclusion in Brooklyn until his death in 1960.

00:38:36:27 - 00:41:25:01 Unknown Speaker: His biographer, Russ Cassidy of Saint Louis said that Joe Lamb, composed simply for the satisfaction of his creative urge, his rags were an end unto themselves. He called this one top liner.

00:41:25:03 - 00:41:56:21 Unknown Speaker: In 1900, and four Americans were wide eyed by the Saint Louis World’s Fair. It was the hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Just a scant century since the vast American heartland had been a wilderness. And now look a thriving, industrious, continent wide nation. And here was this handsome exhibition in the parent city of ragtime, Saint Louis, Missouri, home of the John Stark Publishing Company and home base for thousands of brilliant, nameless ragtime piano players.

00:41:56:24 - 00:45:18:28 Unknown Speaker: Wandering minstrels of America the turn of the century. Scott Joplin reacting like any creative musician in any age in any country, commemorated the event and the only way he knew in music he composed his impressions of the lavish fountains at the fair. This is the Cascades by Scott Joplin.

00:45:19:01 - 00:45:40:03 Unknown Speaker: Ragtime is the perfect expression of the American city. With its restless bustle and motion. Its technical resourcefulness continually surprises me. Its melodies at their best, delight me. I am sure that many a native composer could save his soul if he would open his ears to this folk music of the American city.

00:45:40:05 - 00:46:03:16 Unknown Speaker: Motor. Well, again, 1915. Pure ragtime is folk music, you know that a few men had enough brains to write it down and publish it at the time doesn’t alter the fact ragtime is a folk music of the city. That bothered some of the critics at the time they demanded it. Since all European folk music had come from rural types, ours ought to do that too.

00:46:03:19 - 00:46:29:17 Unknown Speaker: Of course, we had that kind of folk music. Trouble was, except for the Negro spirituals and work songs, it sounded European, English, German, Welsh, Irish, ragtime. Didn’t. It was new. It was ours. Ironically, in 1917, the year that Scott Joplin died a pauper, his mind gone. A very smart American by the name of Carl Van Vechten said this.

00:46:29:19 - 00:46:34:04 Unknown Speaker: Americans are inclined to look everywhere but under their noses for art.

00:46:34:07 - 00:49:29:16 Unknown Speaker: Another James Scott rag for you. Scott spent much of his life in Kansas City, taught piano there. He didn’t spend too much time playing the saloons and the honky tonks, but he wrote a lot of ragtime, bright, sturdy ragtime. This is the climax rag.

00:49:29:19 - 00:49:35:04 Unknown Speaker: That.

00:49:35:06 - 00:49:51:07 Unknown Speaker: You can buy a copy of Climax Rag in a reprint book. You know it’s not. I’d passed that along to you. Not very many of the classic rags were reprinted. For the rest, I just have to dig. Sounds like I’m selling you on ragtime, doesn’t it? And I guess I am, in a way. I know a lot of you play the piano.

00:49:51:10 - 00:50:13:06 Unknown Speaker: Oh, you used to play the piano. Maybe studied hard for a while, grew up, got married, went to work, turned around and looked one day and realized you hadn’t played piano for years. I’m suggesting play ragtime. It’s a wonderful way to bring the piano back into your life. You read ragtime. You know. Of course you can be. It was improvised, too, as a style.

00:50:13:11 - 00:50:36:28 Unknown Speaker: But these things I’ve been playing are memorized from the sheet music. I know a surgeon in Seattle, the chemist in Denver, interior decorator in Toronto. They’re playing ragtime. I’ve met college students and businessmen who have just taken to playing Joplin, and Scott and Lamb and the others tickled to death every time they tacked together a tough rag. After hours of practice, they’d go by like minutes.

00:50:37:01 - 00:50:58:18 Unknown Speaker: You’ll get hooked. You’ll dig in attics and cellars for dog eared, crumbling sheet music. And when you stumble on an elegant old edition of a forgotten rag, you’ll feel like you discovered the Lost Dutchman gold mine. It’s an infection. I know people that can’t play a note collecting ragtime sheet music and piano rolls. They’d rather talk ragtime. The neat.

00:50:58:20 - 00:51:25:28 Unknown Speaker: Once you’re hooked, you’ll want to find out more about ragtime and its men. So you’ll start looking in books and magazines, and you’ll discover that this delightful, friendly music had few literary champions. But then you will find one charming, thoroughgoing book called They All Played Ragtime by Rudy Blanche and Harriet James. And once you read that, if you weren’t hooked before, you’ll be addicted to ragtime for life.

00:51:26:00 - 00:51:52:12 Unknown Speaker: Well, if I’ve neglected some of you, then program for the potential ragtime piano players. I’m sorry. You’ll have your chance. The record collectors, the old car fans, the philatelist, the antique fanciers. There’s something for everyone at the turn of the century. But this. This was one for ragtime. And when you play it yourself, it’s the most fun. After all, that’s what ragtime was and is fun.

00:51:52:14 - 00:52:49:01 Unknown Speaker: Pure enjoyment. Happy, husky piano music. It will take you whenever you want to go back to the simpler America at the turn of the century. I’ll say goodbye with Scott Joplin and Elite Syncopations.