Within the space of three years, ragtime pianist-composer Max Morath released four vinyl LPs on the prestigious Vanguard label: The Best of Scott Joplin (double album, 1972); The World of Scott Joplin, Volume 1 (1973); and The World of Scott Joplin, Volume 2 (1975).
In the opinion of this author, these represent an unprecedented achievement in the recording industry. The above were non-commercial recordings which instead of presenting Scott Joplin’s world of music in a commercial light, presented it realistically and tastefully. And the first mentioned was a huge commercial success, regardless. The intention of this article is to look into the story behind these ground-breaking albums.
Max, can you tell me a little about how these albums came about?
Vanguard initially wanted me to do a “complete works of Scott Joplin,” but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to capture the Tin Pan Alley and publishing world in which Scott Joplin found great resistance. Joplin was a leader, but there were other great composers like Joe Lamb and James Scott. I wanted to use the word “world” because Joplin was the leader of that element in popular music.
In those days [late 1960s, early 1970s], I did a couple of albums for Columbia on their Epic label, but I was fortunate to be able to sign with Vanguard. The originators of Vanguard were Maynard and Seymour Solomon. They were just a couple
