Performed by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Rick Benjamin conductor;
featuring Rebecca Ciabattari, trombone; Arthur Moeller, violin; and John Leister, drums and sound effects
From Rick Benjamin, album curator and conductor:
“‘Cake-Walk In The Sky’ is the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s twentieth album and another selection of favorites from among the many pieces that we have performed in concert over the last twenty years. The music here covers a wider time period than any of our previous albums – from the early 1860s to the late 1920s. This extraordinary sixty year span gave rise to the largest number of new musical styles in American history: from our theaters came distinctive musical traditions for minstrelsy, melodrama, variety, vaudeville, operetta, musical comedy, and revue; the ballroom brought us dozens of novel dance musics, and springing from everywhere came popular song, ragtime, the Blues, and jazz. This album, perhaps more than any of our previous, reflects all of this sonic feast. There is also a wide range of musical intent here, from the silly (“Slidus Trombonus” for example) to the serious (“Ballade Moderne”). But what is continually striking is the amazing artistic energy of the “Eleven & Pno.” small orchestra itself: The number of different sounds, effects, and moods that it can successfully express has always been a source of admiration and inspiration.”
“Stop It! (“Some Jazz,” 1919), George L. Cobb.
“Pasquinade” (caprice, c.1863), Louis Moreau Gottschalk.
“Slidus Trombonus: A Trombone Comedy” (1915), M.L. Lake.
“The Richmond Rag” (1909), May Aufderheide.
“The Enchanted Dale” (waltz, 1912), George L. Cobb.
“The Blue Law Blues: Dry Humor… esque” (1921), M.L. Lake.
“Black and White Rag” (two-step, 1909), George Botsford.
“Almah: Egyptian Sketch” (1914), Carlton L. Colby.
“The Gladiolus Rag” (1907), Scott Joplin.
“A Bunch of Blues” (fox-trot, 1915), H. Alf Kelley & J. Paul Wyer.
“Ballade Moderne” (1922), Robert Russell Bennett. – WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
“Rag-Time Dance: A Stop-Time Two Step” (1906), Scott Joplin.
“How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm” (one-step, 1918), Walter Donaldson.
“The Cake-Walk In the Sky: Ethiopian Two-Step” (1899), Ben Harney.
“Jamaica Jinjer: A Hot Rag” (1912), Egbert Van Alstyne.
“Any Kind of Man” (dance from Sometime, 1918), Rudolf Friml.
“The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise” (Special Fox Trot Arrangement, 1922), Ernest Seitz.
“Step On It” (one-step, 1927), Mel B. Kaufman.
“Turkish Trophies: An Oriental Rag” (1907), Sarah B. Egan.
“The Thunder Cloud” (march, 1911), Harry L. Alford.
“Till We Meet Again” (waltz, 1918), Richard A. Whiting.
“Gems of Stephen Foster: American Fantasia” (1894), Theodore Moses-Tobani.
“Listening to the first track — Geoge L. Cobb’s ‘Stop It!’ (1919) — I was thrilled by the orchestra’s precision and its ability to bring out unexpected details and subtleties. As with previous recordings of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, this is a superb and fascinating CD.” – The Syncopated Times
"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
