This 2009 compact disc has a lot of exceptional music and performances on it. However, the potential listener has to be aware of a couple of things.
First of all, some “ragtime enthusiasts” usually think of pieces like Zez Confrey’s “Kitten on the Keys,” or Roy Bargy’s “Pianoflage” when confronted with the phrases, “novelty pianists,” or “novelty ragtime.” But what this album (expertly curated by the inimitable modern-day expert on this style, Alex Hassan) displays is that, in fact, most of what the “novelty pianists” of the 1930s played was largely virtuosic arrangements of popular songs of the day. While this, in itself, is neither here nor there (apocryphally, Louis Armstrong once said, “there are two types of music: good and bad”), this may cause confusion to some listeners.
The other thing of which to be aware is the astronomical rarity of these recordings, many of which are almost 100 years old, and are purportedly a little “worse for wear.”
So keeping these two things in mind, in my opinion, this is a really exceptional album, with some of the greatest and most virtuosic popular piano recordings ever rendered. All the “rarer-than-rare” recordings come from personal collection of Alex Hassan, and are expertly transcribed and renovated by multi-talented Executive Producer Bryan Wright (who is an excellent pianist himself, as well as a co
