The Favorite - Japan Ragtime Club CD Vol.2 - English Note
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1. The Favorite (Scott Joplin, 1904)
2. Echo of Spring (Hammed, Williams, Smith, 1935)
3. Oh! You Angel (Ford T. Dabney, 1911)
4. Whoa! You Heiffer (Al Verges, 1904)
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* Rika Enomoto (piano)
http://www.iccsys.ne.jp/castle/
She is a pianist of "Castle Jazz Band" in Japan, and also plays in some quartet. From about 1985, she began to learn ragtime piano under the influence of his father. At 1988, she firstly played in "Castle Jazz Band". She has ever played ragtime festivals in Missouri, US, and co-played with Masanobu Ikemiya (probably Japanese most famous ragtimer) at Jazz Street in Kobe, and so on.
Here she presents beautiful four rags. First one is "The Favorite" by Scott Joplin, from which is taken as the title of this CD. The next one is "Echo of Spring", which is the most famous masterpiece of Willie the Lion Smith, and the last two is other good rags in the ragtime era but not played much in Japan.
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5. Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin, 1899) [ukulele arr. by Ken Kawai]
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* Ken Kawai (ukulele)
http://ken-lele.web.infoseek.co.jp/
He lives in Nagoya and is a multi-player of ukulele, guitar, minmin(a kind of strumstrick) etc. In some omnibus album series called "Acoustic Breath" (produced by Morihiko Yasuda), some of his originals includes. His playing is very enjoyable, which covers wide genre from his originals and old Japanese song to Mozart! His arrangement of the famous "Maple Leaf Rag" is surprising solo performance by ukulele.
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6. The Alaskan Rag (Joseph F. Lamb, 1959)
7. The Entertainer (Scott Joplin, 1902)
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* Gen Kusano (piano)
He is an amateur ragtimer lives in Gunma county, whoes playing can be also heard in Japan Ragtime Club CD Vol.1 "Maple Leaf Rag". Here he plays two masterpiece of ragtime. Firslty he plays "The Alaskan Rag" by Joseph F. Lamb which is said to be one of the best compositions by him. Second one is the famous "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, which is well known as main theme of the movie "Sting".
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8. Gladiolus Rag (Scott Joplin, 1907) [guitar arr. by Hiroshi Sato]
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* Hiroshi Sato (acoustic guitar)
He is an amateur guitarist lives in Saitama county. His guitar arrangement of "Gladiolus Rag" by Scott Joplin is well constructed to represent Romantic spirit in the original version. I'm also guitarist, so I deeply admire to this hard guitar work and nice performance as the result.
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9. Ragtime No.3 (Ken Shitara, 2005)
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* Ken Shitara (piano)
He is an amateur musician lives in Kanagawa county, who started piano from age 9, and is studying at Music Collage in Japan. Here he plays intersting his own short original, which shows nice feeling of the composer.
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10. Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin, 1899)
11. X. L. Rag (L. Edgar Settle, 1903)
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* Naoki Sugo (piano)
He is an amateur ragtimer lives in Ibaraki county, whoes "guitar" playing can be also heard in JRC CD Vol.1. After that, he practiced piano playing with teaching by Alexei Rumiantsev, Russian ragtimer living in Japan and finally he got his ability of multi-playing. Here he plays "Maple Leaf Rag" which was played by the same person by guitar in CD Vol.1! And also "X. L. Rag" is not so famous rag but very heart-warming work.
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12. American Beauty Rag (Joseph F. Lamb, 1913)
13. Maria Antonieta Pons (David Thomas Roberts, 1986-87)
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* Hiromi Nakaoka (piano)
http://elmtree.air-nifty.com/ragromenade/
She is an amateur ragtimer lives in Tokyo, whoes playing can be also heard in JRC CD Vol.1. She plays two beautiful works. "American Beauty Rag" by Joseph F. Lamb is his another well-known masterpiece written in the ragtime era. David Thomas Roberts, the composer of "Maria Antonieta Pons", is regarded as todays foremost composer of new ragtime and Terra Verde, so called Neo Romantic music. In 2006, his Japan concert tour was held successfully with a help from JRC. Her playing of "Maria..." is also very good and challenging.
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14. Evergreen Rag (James Scott, 1915)
15. Harlem Rag (Tom Turpin, 1897)
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* Reina Nakajima (piano)
She is a ragtimer lives in Tokyo, and seems to perform her live concert. "These two works gave me the first oppotunity to love piano playing", she says. One of the two is "Evergreen Rag" by James Scott, who is the great composer of ragtime. Second is "Harlem Rag" by Tom Turpin, who is the pioneer of black ragtime. Her playing is very strong and enjoyable.
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16. The First Kiss (Takashi Hamada, 2006)
17. For Teresa (David Thomas Roberts, 1974) [guitar arr. by Takashi Hamada]
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* Takashi Hamada (acoustic guitar)
http://www.geocities.jp/otarunay/english.html
I am a guitarist living in Otaru, Hokkaido, and my playing can be also heard in JRC CD Vol.1. In 2006, I held the concert tour of David Thomas Roberts with a help from JRC. My original "The First Kiss" is under the influence of Joplin and D. T. Roberts. The first passage suggests one's heartbeat. "For Teresa" by D. T. Roberts was included in his early LP "Through the Bottomlands" (1984), which affected me greatly several years ago.
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18. Roberto Clemente (David Thomas Roberts, 1979)
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* Kazutaka Muromachi (piano)
http://www.ragtime-betty.com/index.htm
He is a founder of Japan Ragtime Club and an amateur ragtimer lives in Nagoya, whoes playing can be also heard in JRC CD Vol.1. Here he gently plays "Roberto Clemente" by David Thomas Roberts, which is his probably most famous composition.
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19. Elite Syncopations (Scott Joplin, 1902)
20. Original Rags (Scott Joplin, 1899)
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* Manami Yoshimura (piano)
http://keyako.exblog.jp/
She is an amateur ragtimer lives in Tokyo, and often performs her live concert. Here she plays two Joplin classics. "Elite Syncopations" has both very effective rhythms and beautiful melodies. "Original Rags" is the first published Joplin rag and shows the early forms of ragtime era.
Co-producer：Japan Ragtime Club
http://home.att.ne.jp/star/ragtime/
Japan Ragtime Club is informal organization of ragtime fans in Japan, founded by Kazutaka Muromachi and Hidaka Aoki in 2001.
Producer：Otarunay Records (HAMADA Takasi)
http://www.geocities.jp/otarunay/
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