KC music good fun good music

It has been nearly ten years since the TurpinTyme Ragsters released their first CD (Trouble – RMS1000CD) and this new release is well worth waiting for. This predominantly brass group from the Kansas City area has retained much the same personnel but has expanded from a sextet to a septet with the wise addition of a pianist, Nora Hulse. (Erratum: the liner notes also list Walter Bryant as a pianist, but I suspect he may be their unlisted drummer instead. It certainly isn’t clear.) From their inception, the Ragsters have favored rags by Missouri composers and this new album is no exception, although they do stray out of the Show-Me State, most notably by including Joseph Lamb (Rapid Transit), James Reese Europe (Castle House Rag) and J. Bodewald Lampe (Creole Belles). Their approach is upbeat and happy and the playlist, for the most part, is filled with familiar chestnuts. Probably the biggest difference between their two discs is the inclusion of extended piano solos on the latter. Hulse is the only member to be granted this privilege, the rest of the instrumentalists being limited to shorter solos. (The single exception is Buell Withrow’s Trombonium, where Dan Strom’s slip-horn is featured throughout.) The end result is a lighter sound (unending brass can become heavy) and some welcome variety. The arrangements often feature accompanying fugue-like melodies against the main themes – an extremely effective and pleasing effect. The recorded sound is well balanced – not easy to do when four brasses and a sax suddenly give way to a solo piano – and the graphics are colorful. My only gripe is with the liner notes, where I learned a few paltry facts about the personnel, the engineer and the producer and nothing of substance about the rags or their composers. Ah, well…the music is great and that’s what counts the most. The TurpinTyme Ragsters in their current configuration have a good thing going and only the Grinch wouldn’t wind up tapping his feet throughout. Recommended.