Classic piano jazz - ragtime jazz from Eubie Blake
November 22nd, 2008 | by Tom |Piano jazz has a story that can be traced independently from that of instrumental ensemble jazz. From time to time, through a particularly influential soloist or accompanist, such as Jelly Roll Morton or Earl Hines, the two genres intertwined, but in dating, geography, and style, there are strong arguments for considering piano jazz separately from the main currents of music’s development.
The higher class fellows who played things from the big shows looked down on this music. Nobody thought of writing it down. It was supposed to be the lower type of music, but now it is considered all right. I don’t quite get that part of it”.
Eubie Blake, quoted in Rudi Blesh, Combo USA.
Many promising pianists who went on to become celebrated jazz musicians began their careers on keyboards belonging to neighbors or friends, but ofter their blandishments cajoled proud parents into making sufficient sacrifices to buy an instrument for the family home.
A good example was Eubie Blake. Blake was a significant ragtime and early jazz composer, initially writing formal rag compositions but subsequently turning his band to popular songs. Born in 1883, just over fourteen years after Scott Joplin, Blake continued to perform into his nineties, keeping the traditions of the ragtime era alive well into the second half of the twentieth century.
Ragtime jazz - Eubie Blake: It’s right here for you
In his final years, there was a sense that he was celebrated more because of his longevity than his accomplishments. He died just a few days after his hundredth birthday. Yet his musical achievements were considerable, and he deserves to be reexamined as a significant link in the chain of events that led to the emergence of piano jazz.
At the time Blake composed “Charleston Rag”, he had not learned to write his music down. He memorized the piece, he said, by playing it night after night in cabarets.
He also memorized music written by other ragtime composers, including that of William Turk, who was the father-figure for Baltimore’s ragtime players, and also that of Jess Picket, a gambler and pimp described by Blake as a “gentleman of leisure“.
Tags: eubie blake, piano jazz, ragtime