New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra Grace & Beauty CD

Some people claim that ragtime, not Dixieland, was the first form of jazz, but most jazz experts disagree -- and rightly so. If you believe that improvisation is a fundamental part of the genre, you can't call ragtime jazz because it isn't improvisatory. Nonetheless, serious jazz historians should hear authentic ragtime because it influenced early Dixieland (as did the blues, marching bands, classical, Latin, and Caribbean music), and Swedish pianist Lars Edegran's New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra (NORO) was among the more authentic ragtime bands of the 1960s and 1970s. This reissue, which contains 18 recordings from 1967-1970, demonstrates that NORO was quite faithful to the spirit of 1900s and 1910s. Several Scott Joplin classics from that era are performed (including "Elite Syncopations," "Scott Joplin's New Rag," "Pleasant Moments," and "The Chrysanthemum"), along with numbers by such greats as Joseph Lamb ("Reindeer Rag," "Ethiopia Rag") and James Scott ("Sunburst Rag"). Grace and Beauty is easily recommended to ragtime enthusiasts, and even though it isn't jazz, the CD is also recommended to jazz fans who would like to hear some of the instrumental music that influenced early Dixieland. ~ Alex Henderson

NORO was organized in 1967 by pianist Lars Edegran, who became interested in playing ragtime music after finding a great number of orchestrated turn-of-the-century rags in the John Robichaux Collection at Tulane University's Archive of New Orleans Jazz.

New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra: Lars Edegran (leader, piano); Andrew Anderson, Lionel Ferbos (trumpet); Paul Crawford (trombone); Allan Jaffe (tuba); Orange Kellin (clarinet); William Russell (violin); Clement Tervalon, James Prevost (bass).

Recorded in New Orleans, Louisiana in September 1967 and May & June 1970.

Includes liner notes by Bob Koester and Lars Edegran.

Contains 18 tracks.

Personnel: William Russell (violin); Orange Kellin (clarinet); Lionel Ferbos, Andrew Anderson, Andy Anderson (trumpet); Paul Crawford (trombone); Allan Jaffe (tuba); Lars Edegran (piano); Clement Tervalone, James Prevost (acoustic bass); Cle Frazier, Josiah Cie Frazier (drums).

Liner Note Authors: Lars Edegran; Robert G. Koester; Bob Koester.

Recording information: Betty Rankin's Home (09/1967-06/1970); McAllister Auditorium, Tulane University (09/1967-06/1970); Paul Crawford's Home (09/1967-06/1970).

Arrangers: Hilding Anderson; Ribe Danmark; Lars Edegran.