CD Review: The Ragtime Women

The Ragtime Women is an old recording -- it's dated 1977 and was originally issued as a vinyl LP.  But it's a new acquisition for me, the third and last of the albums expanding my ragtime music collection this summer.  The theme is, obviously, female ragtime composers, and the liner notes give some interesting background on how a smattering of women (and middle-class white women, at that) contributed to a field primarily (and properly) associated with black composers.  The short answer: upright pianos in the home, access to plenty of ragtime sheet music, and the huge number of female home pianists created the conditions for some successful composers to emerge.  Resurrected from historical obscurity on this album are Julia Niebergall, Gladys Yelvington, Muriel Pollock, May Aufderheide, Mabel Tilton, Charlotte Blake, Louise V. Gustin, and Adeline Shepherd.  The liner notes include as much biographical information as was available at the time for each.

The album was assembled by pianist Max Morath (1926-), an accomplished performer as well as an author and a composer in his own right who is something of a modern legend himself as "Mr. Ragtime".  More information about his career and huge backlist of recordings may be found here and here.  His musical quintet for this album also includes Ruth Alsop (cello), Allen Hanlon (guitar, banjo, mandolin), Lynn Milano (bass), and Remo Palmier (guitar).  The sound of the album varies from pure piano-rag to more of a southern string band sound.

All the pieces except one on The Ragtime Women date from 1899 to 1917, with the exception being a modern composition by Kathy Craig, "Romantic Rag", which has some issues with danceability but an authentic feel that will fit in just fine as background music at a 1910s event.

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As is typical of ragtime music, the appropriate dance to do depends very much on the speed and style with which a piece is played, regardless of what the music is actually called.  It's possible to do one-step or two-step to any of these pieces, and all but the fastest can work as foxtrots as well.  My choices are what the music "says" to me as a dancer, but experienced dancers will make their own judgments.

A quick overview:

Two pieces make nice, relaxing, moderate-paced one-steps.  They aren't high-speed (Castle walk tempo) but they're nice for more elaborate one-step figures.  Two others work as rather brisk foxtrots (over 90 bpm), better for variations that do not involve repeated series of quick steps, but also work as slow one-steps.  Two others have tempi in the 60-70 beats per minute range, which for me works best as slow, bluesy one-steps.  Dancing double-time to the music throughout for a brisker one-step does not feel like a good fit with these pieces, though "The Thriller" works pretty well with the alternating slow and quick steps of the foxtrot.  The slow steps will be very slow, though!  "That Sentimental Rag" is also in the slow/bluesy one-step category, and has a short style break which does not really affect it as a dance piece.

The other three have issues of various sorts:

"Poker Rag" has a more significant break at which the beat actually shifts, which will trip up dancers.  It's usable before and after, but that break means I'd avoid it with beginners or a class situation.  Some careful editing might smooth out the rhythm and eliminate the problem.

"Piffle Rag" has an abrupt seventy-second slowdown which changes it from a pleasant foxtrot to a very slow one-step.  Awkward for dancing, but not impossible, though it will likely throw dancers off for a moment.  The slow part could be edited out with software.

"Romantic Rag", the modern piece, is first a slow one-step with lots of minor irregularities in the rhythm which may drive dancers crazy.  It then speeds up to a cheerful foxtrot.  I'm not sure this one can be made easily danceable by editing, but it's fun to listen to.

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My personal breakdown:

One-Steps
X-N-Tric-Two-Step (1899) - 112 bpm
Pickles and Peppers (1906) - 105 bpm

Fast foxtrots or slow one-steps
Red Rambler Rag (1912) - 97 bpm
Rooster Rag (1917) - 95 bpm

Foxtrots, but issues for dancing as described above
Poker Rag (1909) - 85 bpm, rhythm break at 2:46
Piffle Rag (1911) - 80 bpm, slows down for ~70 seconds starting at 2:00

Slow foxtrots or slow/bluesy one-steps
The Thriller (1909) - 69 bpm
Hoosier Rag (1907) - 64 bpm
That Sentimental Rag (1913) - 58 bpm, short break at 4:30

Slow foxtrot or bluesy one-step that speeds up to foxtrot AND has issues for dancing
Romantic Rag (1976) - 59 bpm, shifts to 85 bpm at 3:45; many irregularities

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The Ragtime Women is a little harder to wholeheartedly recommend than most CDs, since it's a relatively short album (the consequence of its vinyl origins) and three out of the ten songs are between mildly and extremely problematic for  dancing.  But other seven are quite usable, and are unusual pieces that are not usually played or recorded.  Is it worth the album price to get two moderate one-steps, three slow/bluesy one-steps, and two good foxtrots, plus some fun listening or editable-for-dancing pieces?  I found it so, though those who only want dance music and don't want to edit can save a smidgeon of money (forty-six cents over the MP3 album) by purchasing only the seven most usable tracks individually as rather than the full album.  It hardly seems worth the bother. 

For those who want to listen before (or instead of) buying, the entire album may be heard via a YouTube playlist here.  But remember that the best way to support musicians and to encourage the production of more recordings -- and the transfer of old vinyl to modern formats -- is to send money!

The album may be purchased from Amazon (as a full MP3 album or individual mp3 files and streaming, CD, and sometimes an actual vinyl record) via the link below.