Maple Leaf Rag
 

Now playing: Maple Leaf Rag
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From: Ringwald Rated R CD

You are listening to the "Maple Leaf Rag." This recording is from "Ringwald Rated R", Mountain Gold Recordings MGR-003. It is available for purchase. It was recorded on April 13, 1983 on a Bösendorfer 9 foot concert grand piano, model 275, (92 Notes starting on Low F), at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo (Los Angeles) California. "Ringwald Rated R" will soon be re-released on CD with several new selections added.

The "Maple Leaf Rag" was written ca.1897 by the legendary ragtime composer SCOTT JOPLIN. The story has it that Joplin submitted the Rag to three publishers before it was accepted. John Stark & Son published it in 1899. It subsequently sold over a million copies.

The rag was written in honor of the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri. The Maple Leaf Club was a black social club that existed briefly in Sedalia during the late 1890s.

The Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival is held each year in Sedalia. Until recently, one of the festival venues was a tent erected on the site--now a parking lot--where the Maple Leaf Club met. Musicians attending or performing at the festival were given the opportunity to play the Maple Leaf Rag on this famous spot. Bob Ringwald was given this honor in June of 1985.

"Thanks to ragtime pianist, composer, collector and scholar Trebor Tichenor of St. Louis, Missouri, for his help in obtaining factual information about the 'Maple Leaf Rag.'"

For more information on Scott Joplin:

For more information on the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival:
 
For information on the West Coast Ragtime Society: 

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