Welcome to the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s
Listening Room
Curated by Rick Benjamin

WELCOME!
The years spanning 1880s to the 1920s were a time of incredible creativity and growth for American music. Inspired by the boundless energy and optimism of the American people and fueled by the new technologies of the Industrial Revolution, many exciting, distinctive musical styles appeared across the United States. This period gave birth to “pop music” as we know it, and sparked the invention of the “Entertainment Industry” – musical theater, music recording, motion pictures, and more.
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra vividly recreates all of the many musical styles that rose and flourished during this extraordinary era. And since PRO has recorded more of this music than any other modern day ensemble, it is uniquely able to provide today’s listeners this complete audio guide to the music of the Ragtime Era. Start your explorations by clicking the links below. Enjoy!
RAGTIME –
Truly “America’s Original Music,” Ragtime was the electrifying marriage of ancient African and European musical traditions, both newly-tranplanted to the great American Midwest. Beginning as an underground, improvised black style in the 1880s, by the mid-1890s Ragtime exploded as the nation’s first coast-to-coast popular music “craze” and was enjoyed by people of all races. The eccentric rhythm is the “thing” – listen:
Orchestral Rags –
“Delirium Tremens Rag” (F. Henri Klickmann, 1913)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra [excerpt]. From the album More Candy.
“A Breeze From Alabama” (Scott Joplin, 1902)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra [excerpt]. From the album PRO (finally) Plays ‘The Entertainer.’
“The Smiler” (Percy Wenrich, 1907)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra [excerpt]. From the album Minding the Score.
Piano Rags –
“That Teasin’ Rag” (Joe Jordan, 1909)
Rick Benjamin, piano soloist; Paragon Ragtime Orchestra [excerpt].
From the album Barrelhouse to Broadway.
“The Smiler” (Percy Wenrich, 1907)
Rick Benjamin, piano [excerpt]. From the album Minding the Score.
Vocal Rags –
“The Wedding Glide” (Louis A. Hirsch, 1912)
Colte Juilian, baritone; Bernadette Boerckel, soprano; Paragon Ragtime Orchestra [excerpt].
From the album Midnight Frolic.
“Lovie Joe” (Joe Jordan/Will Marion Cook, 1910)
Bernadette Boerckel, comedienne; Paragon Ragtime Orchestra & Singers; [excerpt].
From the album Barrelhouse to Broadway.
Ragtime Solos for Orchestral Instruments –
“Oh You Drummer!” [a.k.a. “The Ragtime Drummer”] (J. Leubrie Hill, 1910)
Joseph Bracchitta, drum set soloist; Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.
From the album The Whistler And His Dog.
“Hallelujah Trombone” (Henry Fillmore, 1920)
Mike Boschen, trombone soloist; Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.
From the album ‘Round The Christmas Tree.
THEATER MUSIC –
Post-Civil War America gave birth to an exciting new industry: “the show business.” But since the technologies for recording or broadcasting entertainment did not yet exist, Show Biz existed only as live performances in theaters. So virtually every American town and city had at least one theater (often called an “Opera House” or “Music Hall”), creating a vast network of like venues crisscrossing the nation. Filling these tens of thousands of stages were all manner of shows – minstrelsy, variety, melodrama, vaudeville, Extravaganza, pantomime, operetta, musical comedy, and revue. And each of these theatrical genres required special music which inspired a rich tapestry of characteristic styles. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra plays them all, using Rick Benjamin’s vast collection of priceless historic scores. Begin your introduction to early American theater music with us here:
Broadway: Musical Comedy –
“The Yankee Doodle Boy” from Little Johnny Jones (1904)
(words & music by George M. Cohan)
Colin Pritchard, baritone; Paragon Ragtime Orchestra & Singers.
From the album You’re A Grand Old Rag.
Shuffle Along Overture from Shuffle Along (1921)
(Eubie Blake, arr. Will H. Vodery)
Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.
From the album Black Manhattan Vol. 2.