Welcome to the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s

Listening Room

Curated by Rick Benjamin

The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra conducted by Rick Benjamin, performs in 2016.

 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.

Pasadena Star News

"Benjamin and his orchestra filled the second half of the evening with lilting, humorous, and even elegant readings of ragtime numbers, a W.C. Handy blues song, and even a Sousa march…Popular music, A.D. 1900, is still going strong."
– Pasadena Star News

Kansas City Star

“This group is like a ragtime early music ensemble, striving to protect the integrity of this uniquely American musical genre.”
– Kansas City Star

Fanfare 2

“…delightfully infectious. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and its dynamic director have found a winning formula for educating the public in the most enjoyable way…”
– Fanfare magazine

LaCrosse Tribune

“The magical, musical time machine.”
– La Crosse Tribune

Washington Post 2

“Summoning both the subtle interplay and brassy vitality these pieces demand, the PRO does itself proud.”
– The Washington Post

Buffalo News

“The results were irresistible. Halfway through the opening Knock-Out Drops Rag, someone enthused audibly, ‘Gee, they’re terrific!’ She was right.”
– Buffalo News

American Heritage

“…the twelve-member Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has been touring the country in the ghostly footsteps of the thousands of ‘theater orchestras’ that once played in every hotel, vaudeville hall, and fair-sized restaurant. Few of them can have played with more bite and sparkle than the Paragon.”
– American Heritage magazine

Gramophone

“…genteel melodic lines swim like fish through pure water.”
– Gramophone magazine

BBC Music magazine

“superbly presented….prize-worthy.”
– BBC Music magazine

American Music magazine

“… a deft, crisp, and energetic group…. one of the premiere forces in the reassertion of this repertoire in our musical consciousness.”
American Music magazine

New York Times

“Best of all, the concert came off not as a dry musicological dig, but as an evening of…abidingly energetic fun.”
– The New York Times

Wall Street Journal

“…protecting an important American treasure…not just be a pleasure to hear but for many a true revelation.”
– The Wall Street Journal

Washington Post

“Vibrantly revived music.”
– The Washington Post

Classics Today

“There’s plenty of variety here to give a representative sampling of some of the era’s finest pop music, and it’s all played with polish, authenticity, and all-out enthusiasm by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra under Rick Benjamin’s inspired direction.”
– Classics Today

Fanfare magazine

“If PRO is not already labeled a national treasure it should be.”
– Fanfare magazine

Philadelphia Inquirer

“Four Stars…The music is incomparably sweet and stirring. And Rick Benjamin, who founded and conducts the PRO, is a musician of wit and sensibility.”
– The Philadelphia Inquirer

Denver Post

“To hear the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra play the compositions of Scott Joplin or Irving Berlin… is to hear the promise many Americans felt about the prospects for the U.S. a century ago.”
Denver Post

The San Francisco Chronicle

"Ragtime and opera joined hands and danced together in the most joyous fashion at Stern Grove on Sunday afternoon, with a vigorous and utterly charming performance of Scott Joplin’s 'Treemonisha'…the score, superbly led by conductor Rick Benjamin, is a resourceful marvel….For this performance Benjamin…unveiled his new arrangement of 'Treemonisha' for the 11-piece Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. That lithe, pungent blend of strings, woodwinds and brass…gave the performance a lively grace that helped fill the sunny meadow to perfection.”
The San Francisco Chronicle

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