Eubie BLAKE/Will H. Vodery
Suffle Along Overture (1921)

Bert A. WILLIAMS
Nobody (1905)

Wilbur C. SWEATMAN
That's Got' Em-Rag

Al JOHNS
Haney Lamb (Ballade, 1914)

Will H. DIXON
Brazilian Dreams (tango-intermezzo, 1914)

Chris Smith
Down in Honky Tonky Town (one-steo, 1916)

Will Marion Cook (1869-1944)
Returned, A Negro Ballad (1902)

Frederick M. BRYAN
The Bell Hop Rag (1914)

Will ACCOOE
Black Patti Waltzes (1896)

James Reese Europe (1881-1919)
Goodnight Angeline (1919)

James Reese EUROPE/Ford T. DABNEY
The Castle Walk (one-step, 1914)

W.C. Handy (1873-1958)
Aunt Hagar's Children Blues (1921)

J. Tim BRYMN
Valse Angelique (1913)

J. Leubrie HILL
At the Ball, That's All (1913)

James J. VAUGHAN
When the Moon Shines (1904)

Ford T. DABNEY
Oh! You Devil (rag, 1909)

Will H. DIXON
Breath of Autumn (valse de concert, 1913)

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
Pine Apple Rag Song (1910)

Eubie BLAKE
Fizz Water (one-step, 1914)

Anita Johnson, soprano
Robert Mack, ténor
Edward Pleasant, baryton
Linda Thompson Williams, contralto
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
Rick Benjamin, piano et direction

Deuxième volume de la série initiée par le Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, cet enregistrement rend un vibrant hommage aux tous premiers compositeurs afro-américains de la fin du XIXe et du début du XXe siècle. Il puise son inspiration dans « Black Manhattan », récit puissant et fascinant de l’écrivain et activiste de la cause noire-américaine James Weldon Johnson, qui y décrit les évolutions de la scène culturelle noire dans le New York des années 1890 à 1920. Si le premier opus se concentrait sur les compositions du légendaire Clef Club d’Harlem, ce second volume nous permet de découvrir la grande richesse du style musical de cette période. Musiques de théâtre ou de bal, récitals, toutes les compositions sont ici réalisées à partir des orchestrations originales sur des instruments anciens et n’ont pour une large majorité jamais été enregistrées. Très pointue, la sélection mêle habilement grands noms de l’époque comme Scott Joplin et compositeurs moins connus, offrant à l'auditeur une bonne lecture de leur influence sur le développement de la musique américaine.

This is the second volume of the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s series of recordings paying tribute to the pioneering African-American composers of late nineteenth and early twentieth century New York City. The initial inspiration behind this effort was James Weldon Johnson’s fascinating 1930 history book Black Manhattan, which described the evolution of New York’s black music and theater communities from the 1890s through the 1920s. Through its pages, Johnson (1871–1938) brought to life an amazing group of achievers—musicians, writers, stage performers, and businessmen—whose work profoundly transformed the cultural life of this nation. Black Manhattan Vol. 1 centered on music composed by members of the legendary Clef Club. The present volume ranges a bit more widely, offering music from the theater, ballroom, and recital stage. All of the selections heard here are performed from original orchestrations using antique instruments; most have never before been recorded. To twenty-first century eyes the list of composers may seem curious, with a few recognizable names mingled with the seemingly unknown. But early twentieth- century readers would have had an almost completely opposite reaction: for example, many would have never heard of Joplin, but were avid consumers of Dixon or Johns songs. Now, with the perspective of a century of hindsight, we have the opportunity to be aware of all of them, perhaps gaining a better understanding of their influence, both on each other and on the development of American music.