ragtime

The “tunes” Andres makes use of in his concerto come from American folk songs, parlor songs, blues and ragtime, and they go through colorful repetitive transformations, embellished by Diehl’s improvisations.

That joy comes via the story of jazz and the works of Jelly Roll Morton, a ragtime pianist who said he invented the genre in 1902.

Although he was Canadian, his music was steeped in Americana: in blues, country, ragtime, Cajun music, parlor songs, Appalachian ballads, gospel, circus bands, vaudeville and his Indigenous heritage.

“While his contemporaries in bluegrass were experimenting in swing in the 1940s and ’50s, Sprung was expanding the acceptable banjo repertoire to include — in addition to swing — ragtime, pop and classical styles as well.”

Lives Lived: The pianist Max Morath found his calling in a fascination with ragtime.