FROM BARRELHOUSE TO BROADWAY: JOE JORDAN
(New World Records 80669-2):
Performed by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Rick Benjamin conductor & piano;
featuring Trevor Smith, tenor, Bernadette Boerckel, soprano, and Paragon’s “Pekin Theatre Band.”
Joe Jordan (1882-1971) was the most famous and economically successful black composer/songwriter of the early 1900s. From a public acclaim standpoint, Jordan was “the man who Scott Joplin wanted to be.” Yet ironically, over time Jordan and his music faded completely from public memory, while his obscure friend Joplin rose to surprising posthumous super-stardom during the 1970s. This fine new digital recording, produced by Grammy winner Judith Sherman, sets the historical record straight by reintroducing Joe Jordan’s marvelous music to 21st century listeners. It is the first-ever recorded survey of his vast output of songs, rags, marches, and waltzes. Tracing Jordan’s career as an 1890s ragtime pioneer to his breakthrough as a leading figure of the black musical theater of the 1900s, ’10s, and ’20s, Barrelhouse to Broadway is the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s stirring tribute to one of America’s most accomplished musicians.
You can listen to Paragon’s conductor, Rick Benjamin, discuss Joe Jordan and this recording in an NPR radio interview with Erika Funke:
“Double Fudge” (ragtime two step, 1902).
“Nappy Lee” (slow drag, 1903).
“Lovie Joe” (from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1910) (words by Will Marion Cook).
“The Darkey Todalo: A Raggedy Rag” (1910).
“Take Your Time” (comic song, 1905/1907).
“The J.J.J. Rag” (1905).
“I Am Waiting For You, Honey Dear” (ballad, 1914).
“The Whippoorwill Dance” (piano solo, c.1921). Rick Benjamin, piano.
“Dat’s Ma Honey Sho’s Yo’ Born” (comic song, 1912).
“That Teasin’ Rag” (1909).
“Bouclaire Waltzes” (1904).
“The Morocco Blues” (piano solo, 1922/1926). Rick Benjamin, piano.
“Sweetie Dear Fox Trot” (1914).
“Sweetie Dear: An Afro-American Serenade” (1906) (words by Will Marion Cook).
“Happiness” (song, 1918).
“The Century March” (1902).
“Tango Two Step” (1912).
Appendix A: Joe Jordan 1962 interview on Chicago’s Pekin Theatre.
Appendix B: Joe Jordan 1962 interview on his 1910s European vaudeville tours.
“…The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s performances sound as authentic as you could wish…They are bouncy, joyous, and full of vaudevillian touches…Benjamin’s detailed, scholarly notes are alone worth the price of the disc… All in all, an enjoyable and distinguished production.” – FANFARE magazine
"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