A short mp3 illustration of Fabrice EULRY's ragtime music has been added; 'Dauphine Rag'
is one of his first composition in the genre.
Please note that Fabrice EULRY will be the protagonist of an important event:
the release of his new Ragtime piano solo CD in a few weeks. The last French record of Ragtime music released back was towards 2001, and it wasn't an original recording,
but a re-issue of an older recording.
All informations are available on the
artist's site.
09/21/2008
The BONUS page has been updated with 3 public domain Ragtime piano solos and 2 piano roll transcriptions:
YANKEE LAND (Max HOFFMAN, 1904)
STEEPLECHASE RAG (James P. JOHNSON, 1917)
WIG WAG RAG (Harry C. THOMPSON, 1911)
I'VE GOT THE BLUE RIDGE BLUES Imperial piano roll recorded by Clarence JONES
THE CAMEL WALK QRS piano roll recorded by Pete WENDLING.
07/07/2008
Two tracks from an old 78rpm was available recently;
Clément DOUCET also recorded several piano rolls at the end of the 1920's for PLEYELA, a French player-piano manufacturer.
Two French specialists of mechanical music,
Vincent THEBAULT and Douglas HEFFER had searched their respective piano roll collections for DOUCET's piano
rolls for a CD recording that has never been realized. But the result is here, and a rollography,
completed and revised by Andrew EVANS is available.
We propose 3 mp3 files recorded by Vincent THEBAULT on his
Pleyela baby grand:
The well-known ARC (Ragtime Compendium) list is annually updated,
with the addition of all new elements and informations found every year. It's a collective work of census of Ragtime works,
and several Ragtime specialist all over the world are contibuting to this huge and oustanding project.
Freely available for consultation on its dedicated site, it's during a search for the ARC that a Dutch
researcher found two French Ragtime composers that were even not quoted on "le Ragtime français". It's done now, and
Emile MARTRON and J. M. SCHOUTEN have their own columns in the CLASSICAL page. Both composers were
published by H. B. SMIT, and one complete composition is available in PDF.
A new mp3 file is available for
Clément DOUCET's "La Vache dans La Cave" ["the Cow in the Basement": humorous opposition of "the beef on the roof"] which was composed and recorded by himself for Columbia. Soon, we'll add some infos for his well-known friend and
piano partner Jean WIENER, who also had a keen interest in every aspects of "syncopated piano".
And last but not least, if you've no knowledge in French language,
it's time to regret it, because Alexandre Leroi CORTOT still maintains his wonderful
and incredible music blog which could be considered as one of the most interesting, perfectly documented site
concerning Novelty, Ragtime and Jazz-related music, (mostly european) actually availabe over the Internet
[RAGTIME, NOVELTY & SYNCOPATED PIANO 1920-1930]
04/16/2008
The April month brings a special feature:
we propose the two faces of a Columbia 78rpm disc of a rare February 1928 recording by DOUCET and WIENER.
Recorded in Paris, PICCADILLY STRUT and BLUE RIVER (as well SOMETIMES I'M HAPPY and HALLELUJAH) were edited by the
Columbia company and released both for the French and English market.
Click on the links to hear the original, unedited tracks of the Columbia #4859 78rpm:
The BONUS page isn't neglected, and new solo piano scores have been added.
03/04/2008
The BONUS page has been updated with four new sheet music!
Novelty Ragtime isn't really considered in Europe, and especially here in France.
There's no book, nor article speaking about this important Ragtime development, and many of its main figures,
like Roy BARGY, Frank BANTA, Paul WHITEMAN or Bix BEIDERBECKE are simply overlooked.
A first step is already took with the creation of a new musical blog, dedicated to the Novelty Ragtime
culture, history and artists. The "Novelty français" has its own specialist, the erudite and energetic Alexandre Leroi CORTOT, and
we strongly recommend to every French-speaking visitors to visit it:
01/29/2008
While the 1900 Paris World Fair was underway, attracting visitors from all
over the world and promoting Art Nouveau, a primitive form of ragtime called the cake-walk dance was all the rage in the
Parisian salons.
We have added to the HISTORICAL page a curious bit of piano sheet music, reproduced in the January 10, 1903,
edition of the French newspaper L'Illustration for an article concerning this popular style of music.
The sheet music is entitled simply "Cake-Walk," and the accompanying blurb -- which should have won a prize for silliness --
called it "la vraie musique" [the genuine music] of this "nouvelle danse" [new dance form]. In point of fact, it
was the sheet music for Kerry MILLS's "At A Georgia Camp-Meeting," hardly a candidate for "la vraie musique,"
considering that MILLS, a popular songwriter and music publisher, was a white New Yorker with no ties to the American Midwest,
where ragtime was born. If MILLS could legitimately claim to have been among the first to compose and publish cake-walks
in the early 1890's, he was merely acting as a businessman pursuing a new and popular fashion for profit.
We certainly don't intend to underestimate MILLS's position in ragtime history, but it's important to place his
contibutions in the proper historical context.
Many typos and incorrect informations have been corrected in the BONUS page.
New piano roll transcriptions are available, including some blues piano rolls by the legendary Blues pianist
Lemuel FOWLER. Q.R.S. marketed some "played by Lem Fowler" piano rolls in the late 20's, but it's more likely
J. Lawrence COOK, the famous pianist/editor/arranger that created these rolls by following FOWLER's manuscripts.
The other transcriptions included are 3, new or revised versions of KITTEN ON THE KEYS, one by the composer, one by R. ERLEBACH and the other by H. CLAIR.
01/03/2008
The "Ragtime français" wish to all a Happy New Year,
especially to his French and European visitors. To begin with, we have extended the BONUS page with several scores, firstly
by posting a new edition of sheet music that were already available:
NEARER MY GOD, TO THEE
MY PET (Zez CONFREY)
HUMPTY DUMPTY RAG (Charley STRAIGHT)
THE DOWN HOME BLUES (James P. JOHNSON)
HAVANA RAG
...Secondly by proposing new Public Domain Ragtime sheet music
(12TH STREET RAG, OCTOPUS RAG, NIAGARA RAG etc.) and piano roll transcriptions - including the outstanding version of the classic JOPLIN hit
MAPLE LEAF RAG by Jean Lawrence COOK and the incredibly rare THE CANNONBALL RAG
piano roll recording by Ed PIRSELL (one of the oldest in the Ragtime genre, ca.1912). This piece was also a hit often used
in cutting contests by pianists in the Golden Era of Ragtime.
12/27/2007
Just an addition to the previous update, with the inclusion of two audio clips for
French and French-speaking visitors of two rare Seger ELLIS recordings. ELLIS was a White American pianist of the 20's, and is
another incredible testimony of Black-influenced Blues Barrelhouse Ragtime Piano.
Three new transcriptions are available in the BONUS section
and a clean and easily readable edition of a previous piano transcription is also available for THE CLOVER CLUB fox trot.
12/13/2007
The December update focuses on the CLASSICAL page, with the addition of 4 audio clips
and sheet music illustrating Henri CHRISTINE and Julien PORRET's compositions. A true rare gem has been also included with the sheet music of
"Le Vrai Cake-Walk", a beautiful and one of the first-recorded French cake-walk.
Thanks to Ate Van Delden (NL) for providing this incredible rare score.
We didn't forget the BONUS section - one of the most visited pages on the site - with 4 new piano roll
transcriptions.
And last but not least, you'll find at the bottom of this page for people interested in being informed when this site
is updated. We also propose to access from time to time to rare sheet music
and piano roll transcription that are NOT in the bonus section! So don't hesitate to inscribe your e-mail in the mailing list.
You can even write you name/pseudo location/country after the email, as we enjoy to see from where our visitors come from!
11/22/2007
Added to the BONUS section; the sheet music for:
THE TURKEY TROT (Ribé DANMARK, 1912)
CHICKEN REEL (Joseph M. DALY, 1910)
RAGTIME JIM (A. F. PHILLIPS, 1912)
MY FAVORITE RAG (James WHITE, 1915)
LOW DOWN PAPA (Clarence JOHNSON)
BUTCHER SHOP BLUES (James BLYTHE, 1926)
HURRY AND BRING IT HOME BLUES (Cow Cow DAVENPORT, 1926)
BREAD AND BUTTER RAG (Ted EASTWOOD, 1918)
NEARER MY GOD, TO THEE (MASON)
11/11/2007
Four new illutrations in MP3 format have been added to the CLASSICAL section.
By Julien PORRET:
Luck by Luck (1918), Plucky (1921) and A Jopling Story (1924). By SATIE, his very beautiful composition La Diva de l'Empire.
10/28/2007
The column in the CLASSICAL page concerning Clément DOUCET is almost complete. We added
two other piano solo scores in PDF of his WAGNERESKE and CHOPINATA. This "hard" version is interesting to see, as it isn't a close note-for-note
sheet music of what Clément DOUCET did on his 78rpm recordings as understated on the sheet music cover.
Two audio clips, and one piano solo score in PDF are added for Julien PORRET, too.
10/18/2007
Six new piano solo sheet music are online today; four public-domain rags
(MONKEY BLUES, THE CAT ON THE KEYBOARD, THE TIERNEY RAG, THE TURKEY TROT)
and two piano roll transcriptions (JELLY'S BLUES, CRAZY BLUES).
NB Broken links are now fixed.
Some audio clips by Benjamin INTARTAGLIA (including some Ragtime music) can be heard on the French page
EXTRAITS AUDIO. In the same time, the page devoted to contemporary French Ragtime composers
have been extended woth the addition of new references.
09/25/2007
An important update has been made to the CLASSICAL and HISTORY page with the addition
of Julien PORRET. Because of his music works, and of his incredible american journey in 1915, he should be considered as one of
the most important French Ragtime figure.
Three audio clips (which will be followed in the next coming months
by more audio clips and sheet music by PORRET) are now included in the CLASSICAL page.
06/21/2007
The one and only update of the www.ragtime-france.net site for the summer's period includes:
- New sheet music in PDF format for 3 of Clément DOUCET's compositions;
- 3 public-domain rags added in the BONUS section.
06/08/2007
The young and brilliant Contemporary French Ragtime composer Gilles MONFORT
is among our first references since the beginning of the www.ragtime-france.net site. He is also included in the famous international
ragtime site created by Oleg MEZJUEV since 2000. The June 2007 update adds some MP3 extracts of Gilles MONFORT's works, as well a
renewed biographical note.
Four new piano roll transcriptions have been added to the BONUS section.
We also learned the sad news of John FARRELL's death these last days.
Well-known in the piano trad jazz fans communauty, John made an outstanding work in piano roll arrangement and production for a long time.
It is a great loss.
Ragtime scholar or just music lover? Please don't hesitate to write
any COMMENTS,
remarks or questions about this site or French Ragtime in particular.
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Site created on 08/26/2000
Last update on 11/03/2008
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