The weather gods smiled on this year’s Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival on June 1-4 in Sedalia, Missouri. After a cold front dumped 2.9 inches of rain on Sedalia, enough to be the most anywhere in the US that day, just before the event opened, the skies cleared and ushered in three days of delightful temperatures and low humidity. Well, almost; there was a brief light shower during the last set in the Stark tent on Saturday afternoon. And by then the humidity was creeping up, perhaps to remind us that the weather we had enjoyed the past few days was not the norm in Missouri in June.
This was the first in-person festival since 2019, and the feeling of joy was as evident among the musicians as among the audience. I attended that event, as well as the 2016 and 2007 editions. But for the distance, I would attend more often. An exemplary roster of performers were on the card, several of whom were new to me. These included pianists Peter Bergin, Dick Moulding, Jonathan Levin, and Virginia Eskin. Virginia, I learned, has an extensive pedigree not only in ragtime but also in the classical field. She has performed at several past Joplin festivals. The others were making their Joplin premieres. There were four non-pianists on the agenda: violinist David Reffkin, a well-known figure in the ragtime genre who has been there many times; vocalist Joyce Richardson, a retired music teacher from New Jersey, plus a regular, drummer Danny Coots, and a newcomer (but not to me), multi-instrumentalist T.J. Muller from St. Louis.
