COMPACT DISC REVIEW

By

Jack Rummel

Eagles and Ivories 22

Ragtime Weekend, Muscatine, IA

(No label, no number)

 

Isaac Smith:  Bethena / She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain;  Brian Holland: King Chanticleer / Spanish Autumn / Scram;  Brian Holland & Jeff Barnhart:  Boogie in C / Ragtime Nightingale / Steeplechase Rag;  Jeff Barnhart:  Evergreen Rag;  Ivory&Gold®:  Red Rose Rag / Careless Love / After You’ve Gone;  Benjamin Loeb:  Mississippi Rag / Reflection Rag / Ragtime Dance / Desecration.

 

     While the Eagles and Ivories Ragtime Weekend has been going on for 22 seasons now, this is only the second souvenir recording that I am aware of.  Because Jeff Barnhart is the Musical Director, the music quality, as expected, is great, and as a bonus, the production quality has improved.

     New faces this year were Isaac Smith, a junior winner in the 2013 Old Time Piano Playing Contest, and Benjamin Loeb, executive director of the Quad City (Iowa) Symphony Orchestra.  Smith opened with a lovely version of Bethena, complete with tempo changes and a full dynamic range.  He returned later with a “theme and variations” approach to a familiar folk song, She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain, complete with nods to some classical works such as William Tell Overture and the like.

     Loeb began with Mississippi Rag, well played, as originally intended, as a Patrol.  He followed that with two familiar Joplin rags, Reflection Rag and Ragtime Dance, then later returned with Felix Arndt’s Desecration, a clever pastiche of classical music themes.  Brian Holland’s first selection was the up-tempo warhorse, King Chanticleer.  He followed that with two of his own compositions, the introspective Spanish Autumn and the lightning-fast Scram.

     Barnhart soloed with a snappy Evergreen Rag, then reappeared with his wife, Anne, to become the trademarked duo, Ivory&Gold® for three numbers with vocals.  Jeff sang on the tongue-twisting Red Rose Rag and the jazz staple, After You’ve Gone (with a double-timed ending), while Anne gave a groovy rendition of the blues standard, Careless Love.  Jeff also teamed up with Holland as they ad libbed on Boogie in C, got serious with Ragtime Nightingale and then galloped over the bars to close the CD with Steeplechase Rag

     Live performances can be dicey because they leave little or no room for errors, but these acts all hit the mark.  The sound quality is adequate, although the three songs could have benefitted from a dedicated vocal microphone.  Unlike last year’s disc, which chopped off the end of each track with sudden finality, this recording utilized some faded endings.  However, after the first 10 tracks, the hatchet returned to cut off the rest.

     If you attended Ragtime Weekend 22, this recording will be an enjoyable souvenir.  For non-attenders, there’s top-flight performances by festival favorites Brian Holland and the Barnharts, and great introductions to two newbies that we’ll hope to hear from again in the future.

     Available for $15.00 postpaid from <www.muscatineartscoucil.org>.