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 Do you recall the Turk Murphy Jazz Band's special recording
of rags on the Atlantic label? That certainly was an event that
thrilled many of us. Well, deja vu...this collection of rags
played by jazzmen who love ragtime and deeply admire Turk Murphy will
bring great joy to those collectors who own Turk's Atlantic LP
and to everyone else as well! A great collection of rags
played with a lilt that will bounce into your hearts. You will
have a very good time.
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Record Label: Stomp Off Records 1316
Total Time: 69:54
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Tracks on
'Dancing the Jelly Roll'
| 1. Red Onion Rag [3:30] | | | 2. Triangle Jazz Blues [3:10] | | | 3. I'm Certainly Living A Ragtime Life [2:58] | | | 4. Winter Garden Rag [3:14] | | | 5. Lazy Luke (Red Flannel Rag) [3:23] | | | 6. The Corsey Rag [2:35] | | | 7. Hilarity Rag [3:20] | | | 8. Boogie Rag [2:58] | | | 9. Kater Street Rag [2:45] | | | 10. Sunburst Rag [3:06] | | | 11. The Dogin' Rag [3:44] |  Preview | | 12. Mississippi Rag [2:48] | | | 13. The Villain [3:35] | | | 14. Frog Legs Rag [4:25] | | | 15. Original Rags [4:26] | | | 16. At The Mississippi Cabaret [3:09] | | | 17. Georgia Sunset [3:22] | | | 18. Honeymoon Rag [3:49] | | | 19. Ragtime Oriole [3:36] | | | 20. Dancing The Jelly Roll [3:13] | Preview | | 21. Goofy Dust [2:48] | |
Reviews:
Jazz Journal, November 1998, Hugh Rainey:
Ragtime had a strong influence on the general style, approach and
repertoire of the San Francisco/West Coast school of revivalist
jazz established by Watters and Murphy, with its emphasis on
melody, structured ensemble and multi-themed tunes. It is in the
West Coast style and tradition that the DHJB perform an
interesting and varied cross section of vintage band rags, piano
rags, cakewalks and vaudeville style songs, many of them quite
obscure.
Clarinetist Frank Powers did almost all the arrangements, which
strike a sensible balance in paying full respect to melody and
structure, whilst allowing space for solo passages in freer jazz style.
West Coast revivalist jazz isn't renowned for subtlety and
lightness of touch, but the band's cheery brashness suits the
material, and the arrangements are played with skill and control,
as well as zest. The brass teamwork is particularly good on
Mississippi Rag, Original Rags and the driving Goofy Dust (a
Bennie Moten tune) which closes the album. James Scott's four
compositions included are quite outstanding in their melodic
charm and appeal, and three of them - Sunburst Rag, Frogs Leg Rag
and Ragtime Oriole - are well performed by Steve Pistorius,
with rhythm backing. The four songs are well handled within the band,
and in these good all-around performances Chris Tyle's
full-blooded cornet stands out in Triangle Jazz Blues (not a
blues at all), Boogie Rag, Georgia Sunset and Honeymoon Rag. A
well organized and most enjoyable album, in the West Coast
revivalist/ragtime idiom.
The Rag Times, March 1999, Jack Rummel:
The West Coast trad jazz revival of the 1940s, and the subsequent
West Coast style as defined by Lu Watters and his disciple Turk
Murphy, has always looked kindly upon Ragtime. Ragtime legend Wally
Rose got his start with Watters and Murphy usually included
ragtime in his sets (he even composed a few rags). In 1972, even
before "The Sting" gave ragtime a jump-start, Murphy recorded a
seminal all ragtime album featuring his pianist, Pete Clute.
Watters, Murphy and Rose are tailgating in the sky now, but their
sound lives on in the hands of Hal Smith's Down Home Jazz Band.
So it seems a natural development that this, their eighth album
for Stomp Off, should be an all-ragtime CD in the Murphy
tradition. There's been nothing like it in the intervening 26
years, so it's a welcome addition indeed. And the encyclopedic liner
notes by ragger/jazzer Marty Eggers are the icing on the cake!
Four of the selections are ragtime songs (I'm Certainly Living A
Ragtime Life, The Dogin' Rag [with music by Robert Hampton], At
The Mississippi Cabaret and Dancing The Jelly Roll) and the
vocals are delivered with verve by various band members. The rest
are instrumental rags, and it's to the DHJB's credit that none of
the intros or sections are excluded as other bands are apt to do.
Pianist Steve Pistorious is featured prominently, and when he's
not carrying the lead it is ably played by trumpeter Chris Tyles,
the band's original founder. When trombonist John Gill or
clarinetist Frank Powers take solos they are typically of the jazzy
variety but the melody is never abandoned for long.
As was the Watters/Murphy habit, some of the cuts are piano solos
with rhythm accompaniment. Pistorious cuts loose on Shelton
Brook's Cosey Rag, while giving a more traditional reading to
James Scott's Sunburst Rag and Ragtime Oriole. But my jaw
dropped a foot when I heard Scott's Frog Legs Rag played as a
slow tango! Once you get over the initial shock, however,
it works pretty well. All are unobtrusively backed by Leah
Bezin on banjo. Mike Wallbridge on the tuba and Smith on drums.
The rest of the rags are given the full band treatment with
arrangements lovingly worked out by Powers. Three rags by Abe
Olman are included (Red Onion Rag, Winter Garden Rag and
Honeymoon Rag - a never-before-recorded gem). Bandleader Bennie
Moten is credited for two of the peppier numbers, Kater Street
Rag and Goofy Dust. Both were new to me but they're winners.
Two rags standards that appeared on Murphy's 1972 album,
Mississippi Rag by W.H. Krell and Original Rag by Scott Joplin,
are freshly dressed out by the DHJB, and rounding out the package
are three seldom-recorded rags: Triangle Jazz Blues by Irwin
Leclare, Boogie Rag by Wilbur Sweatman and Georgia Sunset by
Albert Brown.
This is a project that was long overdue and I can't think of a
more suitable group to do it than the Down Home Jazz Band. When
this idiom is treated with respect by a traditional jazz band it
becomes a pleasure to hear. These folks show their ragtime, so if
you think fondly of the Turk Murphy sound, if you like trad
jazz, or if you've got a hankering for some great ragtime with a
fuller sound than from a solo piano, this CD will be a happy
addition to your music library. Recommended.
IAJRC Journal, Winter 1999, Russ Chase:
A program of irresistible ragtime music is the core of the Down
Home Jazz Band's CD and while you may not be able to readily sing
most of these selections, you will certianly have a hard time
sitting while listening to them. As did Bob Schulz on the
above disc, Chris Tyle plays a superlative lead cornet
throughout. One would think that Chris had to work a mite
harder, however, as these tunes are not exactly familiar and
they are not easy to play in the first place. John Gill,
whose banjo playing was an integral part of the Schulz disc,
here steps to the front with his trombone and is again an
integral part. Steve Pistorius is also excellent again and besides his
work on the band numbers, gets four opportunities to play alone
wit the great rhythm trio of Leah Bezin, Mike Walbridge and Hal
Smith. "Cosey Rag," "Sunburst Rag," "Ragtime Oriole" and "Frog
Legs Rag" are left in his good hands.
Frank Powers holds his own in a band boasting sonic stalwarts
such as Tyle and Gill by skillfully playing where they don't, not
that he invented that practice, of course. While his playing is a
high mark of the disc, he earns the gratitude of earnest
ragophiles for writing the arrangements of this music so that it
could be recorded. Much of it has not been readily available.
Hal Smith not ony drummed and led the band, but produced the
session as well. The package is completed by a set of excellent
notes written by Marty Eggers giving background on the tunes. All
in all, a wonderful ear opener for most jazz collectors and
particularly recommended to those who may not be too familiar
with ragtime music. Here it is the way it is supposed to be. It
is terrific!
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