Don't NOT Jazz Me!

In 1921, John Stark published a rag by James Scott called “Don’t Jazz Me Rag (I’m Music).” Stark probably titled the rag himself, betraying a bit of his own animus towards ragtime’s boisterous younger brother. And yet, for decades, ragtime and jazz coexisted and cross-pollinated; sometimes musicians took existing rags and “jazzed” them up, other times they wrote and performed new genre-bending works that don’t fit neatly into either category. 

    With apologies to Mr. Stark, you’ll hear plenty of both in this exciting program featuring some of today’s best early jazz musicians whose only instruction this time around is to do what they do best — and don’t NOT jazz it!

M.C.: Bryan Wright 

Performers: Paul Asaro, Chicago Cellar Boys, Neville Dickie, Miss Juibilee, Ethan Leinwand, Andrew Oliver’s Morton Trio, Hal Smith’s San Francisco Jazz All-Stars, Tadao Tomokiyo

Total program length: Approx. 2 hours 15 minutes, including 15-minute intermission.