Ragtime and Trad. Jazz

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Hey, everyone. I'm very fond of ragtime and traditional jazz music, and I wondered if there were any WP members out there with similar tastes. As my avatar suggests, I'm a great fan of Jelly Roll Morton in particular...

Would anybody else care to mention some favourite artists, compositions or recordings in the genres of ragtime and early jazz?

I used to listen to Elite Syncopations Radio on Live365.

Mimi Blais has done a lot of ragtime recordings I like. It's been a while, so I can't remember any of the less-than-obvious names of composers.

St. James Infirmary Blues stuck with me.

There's more from Pre-1940 that I like: do you listen to any Billy Murray, Charles Trenet, Zarah Leander?

Yes, I think that Mimi Blais is a pleasure to listen to. I admire her skill as a pianist and as an interpreter of classic rags. Not overly familiar with her work, though - or with that of contemporary ragtime performers in general.

I'm fond of the music of Charles Trenet and Zarah Leander, but my taste in pre-war popular music tends to be rather US-centric. Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday are right up there for me where American pre-war jazz vocalists are concerned. Also, Al Bowlly is one of my favourites among British pre-war jazz vocalists - are you a fan?

Generally, my taste in ragtime/trad. jazz bands, instrumentalists and composers is fairly mainstream: the 'Big Three' of classic ragtime are long-established favourites, along with Jelly Roll (especially his Red Hot Peppers-era recordings), King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and Sidney Bechet. The recordings of Freddie Keppard are also fascinating to me.

This is one of the genres I've been working on for finger style classical guitar. Would it be too obvious to mention Scott Joplin, he is the main composer that comes to mind when I think of ragtime music? Chet Atkins plays quite a few ragtime songs... though maybe with more of 1950s country twist to them.

I am also a fan of dixieland (New Orleans) jazz which is definitely pre-1940. I like the Benko Dixieland Band's music when it comes to this style of jazz. Though they are still around, their recordings are mostly from the 90s, but they play lots of standards.

this qualifies as deep southern rag in my opinion.

it is a stunning performance.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsrpUJicKNY&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqEstYRxe3o&feature=related[/youtube]

which is the better version? the one i posted before or this one? i think this one is more savant like and i identify with it much more (i am not implying that i am that way).