Performed by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Rick Benjamin conductor & piano soloist;
featuring Rebecca Ciabattari, trombone; Corey Schutzer, double bass; Leslie Cullen, piccolo.
From Rick Benjamin, curator and conductor:
“It recently dawned on me that the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and I have now been performing and preserving the music of the Ragtime Era for longer than the duration of the actual era itself. Yet clearly the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America inspired such a vast reservoir of beautiful, important music that our work, happily, is nowhere near done. Thus continuing onward, we are proud to present this, PRO’s nineteenth album. In planning, I did not have a particular theme or composer in mind, as has been the case with all of our recordings since 2003. However, when musing about that with our producer, Judith Sherman, she said, “Well actually your theme is FUN.” And so it is.
More precisely, what we have here is a collection of some of our favorite pieces from the last twenty years of concerts. However, as there are several hundred of these and album space for only about twenty-five, I suppose Deuces Wild could be considered the first installment in a new “PRO Favorites” series. Many of these are dance related – rags, two-steps, blues, trots, one-steps, and a pair of waltzes. Others are concert pieces – novelties and a “Morceau Characteristic.” We also have very choice assortment of period theater music, ranging from the familiar to the recently discovered. The vital connection between all of it is of course, syncopation.”
Produced by Judith Sherman,
2022 Grammy Award winning “Producer of the Year – Classical”
1. “Deuces Wild Rag” (1922), Hubert T. Bauersachs.
2. “At the Mississippi Cabaret” (one-step, 1914), Albert Gumble.
3. “Beale Street” (1917), W.C. Handy.
4. “Bone-Head Blues: Jazz Fox-Trot” (1917), George L. Cobb.
5. “Kitten on the Keys” (novelty, 1921/22), Zez Confrey.
6. “Ragging the Waves” (fox-trot, 1917), Joe Rosey.
7. “Lady of the Lake” (waltz-intermezzo, 1912), George L. Cobb.
8. “The Yellow Dog Rag” (Blues, 1914), W.C. Handy.
9. “The Ragtime Bassplayer” (characteristic novelty, 1913), Adolf Lotter.
10. “Alabama Jubilee” (one-step, 1915), George L. Cobb.
11. “Look for the Silver Lining & Whip-Poor-Will” (from Sally, 1920), Jerome Kern.
12. “Panamericana: Morceau Characteristique” (1901), Victor Herbert.
13. “Peaches and Cream: A Delectable Rag” (1906), Percy Wenrich.
14. “Paderewski Rag: Travesty on Paderewski’s ‘Minuet’” (1920), F. Henri Klickmann.
15. “Step With Pep” (one-step, 1916), Mel. B. Kaufman.
16. “The Siren’s Song” (from Leave It to Jane, 1917), Jerome Kern.
17. “Slim Trombone” (one-step, 1918), Henry Fillmore.
18. “Echoes from the Snowball Club: Original Rag Time Waltz” (1898), Harry P. Guy.
21. “The Victor Talking Machine March” (1904), Arthur W. Pryor.
22. “Syncopation” (c.1920/1926), Fritz Kreisler.
23. “The Cascades” (descriptive rag, 1904), Scott Joplin.
24. “Georgia Sunset: A Southern Tone-Poem” (1906), Albert W. Brown.
25. “Overture to La-La Lucille!” (1919), George Gershwin.
“Through more than three decades of recordings, we’ve come to expect excellence from Rick Benjamin’s Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. Even with that history in mind, this new CD is breathtaking.” – Edward A. Berlin, author of King of Ragtime: Scott Joplin and His Era
"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
