This is a stub article on which I wrote a book with at least 20 times the information and copious illustrations, going through the history of the first ragtime revival of the 1950s. This version will give you the basic information on each of these artists, but I encourage you to add the greatly expanded 260 page book to your library if you enjoy books on ragtime and both music and recording history. It was encouraged and informed by many of my supporters and ppers, including ragtime angel and original organizer of the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, Larry Melton, and one of the figures profiled within, my late friend Max Morath. Other contributors of knowledge along the way have included Terry Waldo, Bob Milne the late Michael Montgomery, the late David Alan Jasen, and my late friend Trebor Tichenor. Starting at the end of the ragtime era of the late 1910s, this chronicles the near-death and new life for ragtime music over the next three decades, and the beginning of the traditional jazz and ragtime movement of the 1940s. There is a great amount of detail on the technological convergence of the late 1940s and the AFM union strike that disallowed union musicians from recording at that same time, strangely contributing to a market for nostalgic music of the 1910s and 1920s. There is also an expanded look at Ragtime-adjacent intrumental ensembles of the 1950s and 1960s, from ragtime and traditional jazz to Dixieland, and a brief look into the 1960s, where the next expected volume will pick up. Articles on individual performers are also expanded, with many more contextual mentions throughout. This is currently only available via Amazon.com (click on the cover image) and other international iterations of Amazon, but hopefully will make its way to other markets in the near-future. Bring it to a festival or appearance of mine, and I will personally put some ink on it, spoiling it for future generations. Thank you for your support and consideration.

Wally Rose: [Click for complete bio]

Born: Walter Rose, October 2, 1913 - January 12, 1997
Labels: Jazz Man, Good Time Jazz, Columbia Records, Blackbird, Stomp Off, Solo Art
Information: Wally Rose was not only born in the San Francisco Bay area, but made his reputation there and was a lifelong resident. He is, perhaps, most influential for his role in helping to rediscover and record ragtime piano at a time when it had long been considered dead, and for having spurred the ragtime revival of the 1950s and even 1960s. Rose was tapped for Lu Watter's Yerba Buena Jazz Band in 1940, a group put together for the purpose of resurrecting and recording works from the great traditional jazz bands of the late 1910s and 1920s. Watters also supported Wally in his desire to record piano ragtime as well, often featuring him with a simple rhythm ensemble during their sessions in 1941 and 1942. Rose then left for three years of Navy service, reassembling with the rest of the band for more recordings and performances at the Dawn Club from 1946 through the end of the decade. When Watters retired, Rose went along with trombonist Turk Murphy who formed a band using some YBJB members. In 1953 he recorded a solo effort for Good Time Jazz, as well as one on Columbia later in the year. These collective tracks represent some of the best of authentic ragtime in a time of wild honky-tonk playing, and hold up well today. His Jelly Roll Morton records with Murphy, on which he was equally billed, also show his propensity for the unique Morton genre. Rose formed his own band in 1956, and played successfully for many years both live and on the radio. There were a few more recording dates in the 1970s and 1980s. Wally was a mentor both actively and by proxy for many of the pianists who followed him. While he was never as flashy as many of the 1950s stylists, he imbued the spirit of authentic ragtime in all of his performances. Much of his estate was left to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and he was greatly honored as well by The Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, as well as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for his often-underestimated legacy.

Lou Busch: [Click for complete bio]

Born: Louis Ferdinand Busch, July 18, 1910 - September 19, 1979
Pseudonym: (Joe "Fingers" Carr)
Labels: Capitol Records, Warner Brothers, DOT
Information: Busch was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and spent some of his early adult years playing piano for the traveling orchestra of Hal Kemp. After serving during World War II, he was made the A&R man at Johnny Mercer's Capitol Records in the late 1940s during the time when public interest in ragtime and honky tonk became evident. After the un4xpected success of the 1948 "Pee Wee" Hunt recording of 12th Street Rag, Busch was asked to both produce more material in the same vein, and he soon contributed to the first album titled for the genre, Honky-Tonk Piano. Lou continued to ride a wave of success throughout the 1950s releasing several albums of genuine ragtime and honky-tonk style music into the mid-1960s. He recorded mostly under the pseudonym of Joe "Fingers" Carr, although he used his own name on at least one pop album, and as the musical director for Alan Sherman's albums on Warner Brothers. Most honky-tonk artists of the 1950s rode the wave that he started, although the surge was inevitable for at least some of them listed here. Lou's legacy is that he was the most consistent of the 1950s honky-tonk and ragtime performers. He believed in format in the form of a set track matrix for his albums, keeping a consistent style and repertoire. While performing, and sometimes creating popular hits, he did not compromise his passion for the music, introducing or reintroducing lots of great ragtime into the public mainstream. In spite of this, it is notable that he only performed one public concert as Joe "Fingers" Carr in St. Louis in 1976, yet still remained a major influence for at least two generations of ragtime pianists, many have been quoted as saying "I play ragtime because of Lou Busch," including this author.

Frankie Carle: [Click for partial bio]

Born: Francis Nunzio Carlone, March 25, 1903 - March 7, 2001
Labels: Columbia, Decca, RCA Victor
Information: Frankie started playing the piano at a very young age and clearly had a natural musical gift. However, when offered his first professional gig at age eleven, he quickly became intimidated by the audience and demurred. By thirteen he made another attempt, and ended up working in the band of his uncle, Nichola Colangelo. Despite his aspirations to enter boxing as a profession, Frankie ultimately eschewed pugilism. Once he entered the professional world of music, Carle spent some time in the 1920s with the popular Edwin J. McEnelly orchestra. There, he applied his musical training and created arrangements for the group. Following a stint with the Mal Hallett organization, Carle briefly formed his own orchestra in 1935. However, he would hook up with the orchestra of Horace Heidt in 1939 where he would spend much of World War II, and soon became a partner. In the mid-1940s Carle formed his own orchestra. His repertoire was full of great hits, pianistic and otherwise, culed from music of the ragtime era through the 1920s. After World War II he shifted directions a little bit, both composing and performing more current popular hits. However, his upbrining and early experiences paid off in the early 1950s. Carle's first two Honky Tonk Piano albums for RCA Victor were singularly original, not completely imitative in style, and when combined into one LP the collection sold well for more than a decade. Many of his trio recordings feature fabulous arrangements of novelty pieces. Carle was recognized as a revered national treasure by radio commentator Paul Harvey on his 95th birthday. His honky-tonk albums, though limited in their scope, were hardly Carle's only contribution to ragtime era nostalgia. Throughout his career he managed to throw interesting pieces in with the mainstream repertoire. Be it Nola, Doll Dance, Dardanella or popular 1910s songs, plus his own Sunrise Serenade, Carle never forgot those musical roots. His prominence and popularity helped to contribute to the 1950s ragtime revival, despite the limited number of tracks he intentionally cut in the honky-tonk piano style.

Johnny Maddox:

Born: John Maddox, August 24, 1927 - November 27, 2018
Labels: Dot, Hamilton, Paragon
Information: Johnny Maddox, a native of Gallatin, Tennessee, where he spent most of his life, was the embodiment of somebody who lived and breathed ragtime in the most positive sense. It was his great aunt Zula Cothron who really cultivated Johnny's interest in the genre. A vaudeville pianist who had also performed with an all-girl's orchestra at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 in Saint Louis, Missouri, she remained an inspiration while Johnny diligently studied classical music with a number of notable teachers. By the mid-1940s, too young to have participated in World War II, Maddox was working in the right place at the right time, given that Randy Wood, the owner of the record store in which he was employed, was looking for artists for his new label, Dot Records. His goal was to present good alternatives to some of the popular music being pushed out in the early 1950s. His initial recording of Crazy Bone Rag, released in mid-1950 about the same time as Capitol Records was working to distribute similar products, was a relatively solid local hit around Nashville and beyond. Maddox eventually signed in with MOA (Music Operators of America) around 1952, and commenced on tours around the country. Johnny spent a great deal of his life not only entertaining but enlightening his listeners about the various aspects of ragtime music, but had successfully tried to present it from a variety of angles. This included applying ragtime styles to non-ragtime music, and presenting a lot of authentic ragtime at a time when honky-tonk artists were working with standard tunes. He insisted to this author that there was "no such thing as honky-tonk piano," and that it was just ragtime played on less than savory instrument. Maddox possessed one of the finest collections of ragtime-era (and beyond) sheet music and 78-rpm records in the world, and his passion kept him recording and performing into his mid-eighties. He also helped to mentor many fine players over time, including the late Dick Kroeckel and brilliant young pianist Adam Swanson, who helped to keep Johnny connected up until the time of his death in 2018. The author had the honor of playing in his spot on a few occasions during vacations when he was based in Alexandria, VA in the 1980s to 1990s.

Richard "Dick" Hyman: [Click for Wiki bio]

Born: Richard Roven Hyman, March 8, 1927
Pseudonyms: Willie "THE ROCK" Knox, Puddin' Head Smith, Slugger Ryan, "Rip" Chord, "Knuckles" O'Toole
Labels: Relax, Waldorf Music Hall, Grand Award, Command, RCA Victor, Columbia
Information: Hyman was a New York City native born to Joseph C. Hyman and Lee Roven in the suburb of Mount Vernon, New York. While he was trained classically by his uncle, pianist Anton Rovinsky, a champion of composer Charles Ives, his love was for jazz music, which was partly cultivated by his older brother Arthur. Hyman remembered being encouraged to embellish on the works of composers like Frederic Chopin, who himself was an improviser of his own works, and manged to equate those exercises as contributing to his jazz piano skills. Joining the United States Army at the end of World War II, he ended up in the Navy at the band department, and was instantly induced to raise his level of playing surrounded by disciplined accomplished musicians, becoming one of the best of them. Around 1950 he started in his recording career with a couple of tracks released on Relax Records. Back when the LP was a growing commodity, and Enoch Light was trying to build his Grand Award and Command labels, his go-to guy was Dick Hyman. Dick remembers many days in which he would record or perform in three or more genres of music, having to switch stylistic gears almost immediately between sessions. His adaptability and flexibility in this regard helped him grow personally as a performer/arranger, but also created some great works on both labels. Hyman's crowning ragtime achievement during his association with Light was the 15 Greatest Ragtime Hits album which he performed as "Knuckles" O'Toole. During this period Hyman worked with many top bands and singers of the 1950s and 1960s for a variety of labels, working as an independent studio musician and arranger. In the decades since, Dick has been associated with comedian and writer/director Woody Allen, scoring many of his movies, and has recorded brilliant studies of ragtime, novelty and stride piano, as well as jazz. For classic ragtime works in the 1970s, he recorded the complete piano works of Joplin for RCA, and scored and performed for the TV biopic of Scott Joplin in 1977. There were also fine albums released of works by Zez Confrey and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, among others. Hyman regularly participated in what were known as Stride Piano summits into the 21st century. Dick, now in his nineties, continues his musical pursuits well into the 2020s.

Billy Rowland: [Click for New York Times obituary]

Born: Henry William Rowland, August 6, 1913 - May 30, 1985
Pseudonyms: "Knuckles" O'Toole, Keyboard Kingston, Puddin' Head Smith
Labels: Waldorf Music Hall, Grand Award, Command, DOT, RCA Victor
Information: Born in Tunbridge Wells, England, Rowland (not related to jazz artist Jimmy Rowland) migrated to Huntington, New York around 1928 at age fifteen with his parents, Henry and Rosetta Rowland, and younger sister Violet. The 1930 Federal census showed him working as an office boy at an aircraft manufacturing plant. After schooling, Billy, used for his professional stage name, secured work as a pianist with a variety of big bands from the mid-1930s through the 1940s, including those of Les Brown and Raymond Scott, the former listed as his employer on his 1940 draft registration. His longest direct association with a single artist was with singer Perry Como, and his steadiest gig was with the Mitchell Ayres orchestra for nearly two decades from 1946 to the mid-1960s. Rowland spent some time at Enoch Light's Waldorf Music Hall/Grand Award record company, being the first to record tracks under the name "Knuckles" O'Toole, a.k.a. Keyboard Kingston as issued on 78-rpm dics. His adaptability of style translated well to two albums of Mexican/Latin and French tunes, done in a honky-tonk piano style. Rowland also recorded some boogie woogie, jazz and similar styles in the 1950s and 1960s. His contribution to honky-tonk was equal to the later "Knuckles" O'Toole, Dick Hyman, in the manner that they approached a piece. The point was to keep it familiar throughout, not straying too far from the melodic content, but still making it interesting. Hyman successfully followed the standard set by Rowland (likely under the direction of Light) for the O'Toole records of the late 1950s. From the mid-1970s until nearly his death, he was a regular attraction at the Swan Club in Glenwood Landing on Long Island, New York.

Jo Ann Castle: [Click for partial Wiki bio]

Born: Jo Anne Zering, September 3, 1939
Labels: Roulette, Dot, Ranwood, Forum, Pickwick
Information: Jo Ann, born in Bakersfield, California, to William G. Zering and his young bride Dorothy Easterly, is a great example of originality, determination, and resilience. She took her stage name from the Italian Castle brand of accordion that she often played. Her national debut on the Lawrence Welk show (as an accordion player), and acceptance a year later as a regular member of the show (on her 20th birthday no less) is an example of the American success story as a result of both talent and effort. She also represented the symbiotic relationship between passion for your work and quality of life, having gone through a decade plus malaise after leaving the Welk show in 1970 to raise a daughter with cerebral palsy, most of that time as a single mother. With only scant work, in part because of the demands on her life, it seemed that some of the spirit was gone. However, she came back in the late 1980s, determined more than ever to utilize her natural talents to entertain people. Having first watched her as a youth, since the Welk show was often on in our home, and later having worked with Jo Ann on one occasion in the early 1990s, the author found her to be a vital performer with great drive, and able to instantly engage an audience. All of her recordings, be they analog from the 1960s or digital from the 2000s, feature some very original approaches to ragtime and honky-tonk, calling on a vast repertoire of pieces that other performers might overlook or have trouble adapting into the style. Her playing is also a positive affirmation of her life.

Winifred Atwell: [Click for complete bio]

Born: Una Winifred Atwell, April 27, 1909? - February 28, 1983
Labels: Decca Records, Pye, CBS, Philips, RCA
Information: While a traditional birth date of February 27, 1914, is ascribed to Winifred, data from an immigration form suggests it was April 27, and the plaque on her grave, showing her as 73, suggests a 1910 birth. So, both are called into question, with April 27 likely, and 1910 the best possible assumption. Atwell was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad, to a pharmacist family, a discipline she was also trained in as she grew up. However, she also spent some of her formative years learning classical and popular piano. Having performed for American servicemen in her home country while growing up, her passion and skills at the piano were quite clear. This helped her gain entry into the Royal Academy of Music in Great Britain, hoping to become a serious concert pianist. It was through trying to support her school and living costs by playing in popular venues that she gained acknowledgement and reputation. Given the climate in the U.S. up through the 1950s, it is sadly unlikely that Winfred would have achieved the level of fame she eventually did, being both female and black, that she would build up in the U.K. It is fortunate that Decca Records in London (a.k.a. London Records) did recognize the talent, and her 1951 recording of Black and White Rag assured her place as a honky-tonk performer and good record sales. For the next decade she performed for concerts and TV in both the UK and Australia. Winifred also created some outstanding recordings. Both the concerts and the records included classical pieces on the grand, often focusing on the works of George Gershwin, as well as selections played from "her other piano," a honky-tonk upright. But the sales were best outside of the U.S., and she never completely clicked in states, partly due to the competition from Joe "Fingers" Carr, Del Wood, Johnny Maddox, and others in a field that she literally "owned" in England. Among her other pursuits in the UK was a hair salon that she opened in London in 1957 to cater to the cosmetic and hair care issues of dark-skinned women. It was open for at least four years. After record sales lagged in the 1960s, Winifred and her husband, former comedian Reginald Edward George Levisohn, immigrated to Australia where she lived out her life. She did have one successful appearance in New York's Carnegie Hall in November 1969. However, in Australia Atwell became a popular national treasure and gave performances clear through to 1978, ostensibly in her mid-to-late sixties. Winifred Atwell is important in the overall ragtime legacy for not only adapting a music that was native to the U.S. and spreading it throughout the world, but for her tenacity in remaining as viable performer despite certain racial and gender stigmas of the time. The fact remains that she could outplay most of the performers recording during that same time period, and we do have that part of her legacy still available to us.

Big Tiny Little: [Click for partial Wiki bio]

Born: Dudley Richard Little, Jr., August 31, 1930 - March 3, 2010
Labels: Coral, Brunswick
Information: Originally known as Tiny Little, Jr., he started working in the 1945 playing country music with dance bands, but also took the time to both learn and perform other musical styles as well. Since his father was somewhat well known as a dance band leader, Tiny had an edge with learning both the repertoire and the necessary protocols for performing in various venues. They led to both recording and fame in the mid-1950s, including a stint on the Lawrence Welk television show from 1956 to 1960. While Lou Busch, Johnny Maddox and others were performing ragtime on records and seeing great success, Little was the first to play it nearly weekly on the popular growing medium of television, important at a time when there was little competition from similar shows (two stations only in many markets) and no cable or satellite dilution. He also acquired the "Big Tiny" nickname during that time, distinguishing him from his namesake father. During the 1960s, Tiny spent time on many popular variety TV shows, while touring at the same time. By the end of the decade he had settled into what became his most popular venue, other than the later Lawrence Welk revival shows. Slowly developing a finely-honed band, Tiny worked in the casinos in Nevada, alternating between Las Vegas, Carson City and Lake Tahoe. He continued to draw fans and make new ones into the 21st century. He was also one of the only artists who had the tenacity and talent to adapt Christmas songs into ragtime format for a CD recording. Tiny brought friendliness, fun and familiarity to ragtime. He was just as enthusiastic about the musicians he worked with as he was for the music, and played all manner of styles, adapting to what the audience wanted to hear. His role in the 1950s was to bring this music to an audience that may have spent less time buying records or listening to radio, perhaps spurring the sales of other artists in addition to himself.

Del Wood: [Click for complete bio]

Born: Polly Adelaide Hendricks, February 22, 1920 - October 3, 1989
Labels: Tennessee/Republic Records, Decca Records, RCA Victor, Mercury Records, Ranwood, Compose, Lion and Lamb
Information: A native and lifetime resident of Nashville, Wood was surrounded by the influences of early country music and the remaining vestiges of ragtime, particularly through the guitar pickers. In spite of her parent's best efforts to encourage a direction towards classical music, the environment in Nashville, plus the early local programming on radio, convinced the young lady that she wanted to play piano in the honky-tonk style. Her dream goal was the Grand Ole Opry, something she would eventually realize in her early 30s. Shortening her married name (Adelaide Hazelwood) to something easier to remember (and intentionally non-gender specific), Del started banging around in bands and honky-tonk joints in her 20s. After a decade of building repertoire and reputation, she spent some time as a staff pianist at WLBJ in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was there that she was heard playing Down Yonder, which led to a gig with a recording group called Hugh `Baby' Jarrett and his Dixieliners. This led to the first of many recording sessions for the Tennessee label starting in 1951. Down Yonder soon became a national hit in both the Country and Pop categories in Billboard, and is considered to be the first million-selling record by a female artist. This success was turned into appearances on the Opry, which led to an eventual full-time gig with them in 1953 that fulfilled her dream, and two years later, a contract with RCA Victor Records. While nothing else that she recorded had the same success as Down Yonder had, her offerings over the next decade were frequent and consistent. Del gained the title "Queen of the Ragtime Pianists", sometimes shared with junior fellow plunker Jo Ann Castle. While the recordings after the late 1960s were infrequent at best, her appearances on the Grand Ole Opry continued literally until just before her death in 1989. Wood was important in that she not only exemplified many of the possible connotations of the honky-tonk label, mixing country with pop music in an old-time piano style, but for the audiences she brought to both forms of music through her crossover pieces. She also made it clear that a woman's place was.. well... wherever she wanted to be, making a good living in a male-dominated genre. Her forceful playing was equal or superior to many of her contemporaries, and her considerable output showed great innovation at times, and consistency at the very least at all times.

"Poppa" John Gordy:

Born: John Thomas Gordy, October 20, 1904 - February 5, 1961
Labels: Bullet Records, RCA Victor
Information: Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised primarily in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, with some time based in Little Rock, Gordy had a fascination with the piano but did not make it a career for many years. He spent much of his childhood focusing attention on ragtime and New Orleans' style jazz. His brother Chester played trumpet, so there was some additional talent in the family. In his twenties he literally followed a traditional jazz band around the country, making friends with the piano player, and occasionally sharing the seat. Gordy eventually became a fine rhythm player in both jazz and country bands of the 1930s to mid-1940s, working at hotels and even for high school dances, where there was work. He also played on a few recordings, many of which he did not receive credit so we can only guess about them. When Jim Bulleit founded his progressive Nashville label Bullet Records in 1946, Gordy came along for the ride as a session pianist for future famed artists such as Chet Atkins and Homer and Jethro (possibly including some WSM Grand Ole Opry broadcasts, since that was the studio they used), and was based in Nashville for the rest of his life. From late 1948 to 1949, John recorded twelve sides for Bullet that would be among the last for that label. He became known as "Poppa" John during this period, and his signature Salty Dog Rag was soon covered by many country artists. Then for a time, Del Wood held the Nashville spotlight. At the urging of Atkins, Gordy, Wood and other artists migrated to RCA Victor in 1954 and 1955, once RCA set up a high tech studio in Nashville to supplant the antiquated and inadequate studios that existed up to that point in the Music City. A number of his sides with his quintet or sextet (depending on the date) were integrated into a 1955 LP, and he recorded a second LP in 1957. A final compilation was released some time after his death in 1961. (It should be noted that for his limited fame as a very competent musician, his son, John Gordy Jr., became a celebrity in his own right as a prominent member of the offensive line for the Detroit Lions from 1957-1967, as well as a professional bowler in the off season.) Poppa John's style was an important link between the down home Nashville style and the more sophisticated near-jazz arrangements of Lou Busch, and like other artists such as Marvin Ash or Paul Lingle, he was woefully under-recorded.

"Knocky" Parker:

Born: John William Parker, Jr., August 8, 1918 - September 3, 1986
Labels: Progressive, Audiophile, Euphonic, Jazzology, GHB
Information: Parker spent most of his early life in Palmer, Texas. The son of an Alabama-born farmer, he would take to the piano at an early age, eventually learning both ragtime and western styles. While only 17, he would briefly play with a small Texas swing band, The Wanderers. John attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth after high school, and while there performed often with the Light Crust Doughboys, a Bob Wills style swing band. Having been part of the National Guard, Parker served in World War II. His 1942 enlistment record showed him at 22 as a musician, although he would become an English teacher following the war. He taught for a time at Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro, Kentucky, but by 1948 had relocated to New York City where he was both a solo pianist and session player. Among those Parker, who had acquired the nickname of Knocky, performed with were traditional jazz and ragtime bandleader Tony Parenti and clarinetist Omer Simeon. Later in the 1950s and into the 1960s he would work with trumpeter Doc Evans. Knocky's first commercial recording in 1950 was of New Orleans Jazz, working with pianist Dick Wellstood. By the late 1950s he was recording ragtime and blues for the Audiophile label of San Antonio, Texas. In 1960 Parker recorded the known complete piano works of Scott Joplin (more were found following these sessions) as well as those of Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton. This was followed up by the known (at the time) complete works of composer James Scott in 1962. He appeared at many of the early ragtime festivals of the 1960s and 1970s, including the annual event at the Goldenrod Showboat in Saint Louis, Missouri. Another set of recordings was for the Golden Treasury of Ragtime series on the Audiophile label in the early 1970s. Knocky spent part of the 1960s into the 1970s based in the Los Angeles, California, area, later moving to Tampa, Florida, where he would live out his life teaching English at the University of South Florida, while still recording ragtime and traditional jazz on the side. A scholar in the field of silent cinema, he would often accompany films that he showed in the classrooms or lecture halls. Knocky Parker's last recording project was a concert with blues singer "Big" Joe Turner in 1985, which earned him a Grammy nomination the following year. He died in Florida in 1986 at age 68, leaving behind a moderate but important recorded legacy of piano ragtime and associated genres.

Fritz Schulz-Reichel: [Click for partial bio]

Born: Fritz Schulz-Reichel, July 4, 1912 - February 14, 1990
Pseudonyms: Otto der Schrage, Crazy Otto
Labels: Decca Records, Polydor, MGM
Information: A native of Germany, Schulz-Reichel was born into a rich musical heritage. Hia father was a classical pianist of note, so it was natural that Fritz took up piano at the age of six. But in spite of his father's best efforts, within a couple of years the boy was emulating and integrating the popular music styles of the coming jazz age into his classical performances in a unique way - keeping rhythm with the right hand while playing melodically with the left. When he finally became a jazz performer in his twenties, it was in the vein of Victor Borge, integrating jazz and popular music using humorous improvisations or classical quotations. Schulz-Reichel spent much of the time before and after World War II performing in hot spots in Berlin and Paris, becoming an honorary member of the "Hot Club" of France for his "Le Jazz Hot" improvisations. He also wrote a few pop songs popular in parts of Europe. When the honky-tonk era was underway in the early 1950s, Fritz took on the name and persona of Otto der Schrage, loosely translated into English as either Slanted Otto or Crazy Otto, and embarked on a series of records for Decca in both Germany and the U.S. Many of these featured medleys of popular ragtime/old-time songs, one of which became known as the Crazy Otto Medley consisting of Lou Busch's Ivory Rag and other pieces better known to Europeans. While the name became associated in the U.S. with Johnny Maddox who included the medley on an early album of his, Schulz-Reichel used it for a series of albums throughout the 1950s and 1960s, bringing American ragtime and popular music to fortunate Europeans, as well as giving a continental slant to the music for Americans. He was also featured in a 1957 film appearance as Otto der Schrage in a short of the same name, and provided scores for selected 1950s German films. While Fritz did some recording with a prepared piano, for recorded or live performance he often used a device of his invention called the Tipsy Wire Box, which electronically altered a perfectly fine miked piano signal into a rinky-tink sounding instrument. His work was well covered by other European and American musicians for many years, and he maintained a revered status with many fans up through his death in 1990, well after the second ragtime revival had subsided. His popularity on two continents helped to make ragtime truly international in its appeal.

Gladys Mills: [Click for Wiki bio]

Born: Gladys Jordan, August 29, 1918 - February 24, 1978
Labels: Parlophone Records, Capitol Records
Information: Gladys Jordan Mills, known on several party-themed piano records as Mrs. Mills, was a life-long resident of London, England. She was inspired by a an uncle who played the harp, and her mother who fostered her interest in music and got her lessons, although they reportedly ended when she was all of seven-years-old. Playing more or less as an amateur bar pianist during and after World War II, she was married to Bert Mills in 1947, and they lived in Loughton, Essex, near London, for the remainder of her life. Working a day job for the Paymaster General of London, she continued to tickle the ivories evenings and weekends, earning extra coin and developing a love for ragtime and stride piano styles, particularly applied to popular songs from both the UK and the US. Honky-tonk and similar piano styles were fairly popular in England during the 1950s, most of having been imported from America, so she had a lot of material to learn from. Mrs. Mills was already 43-years-old when she was "discovered" playing for a dance at an Essex golf club, and soon signed to a recording contract in 1961. Rising to popularity in 1962, just ahead of the Beatles, who also recorded at the same Abbey Road studio and were well aware of her (they sometimes used her honky-tonk piano), Gladys' popularity was largely throughout the United Kingdom and parts of Canada and Australia, with only limited exposure and distribution in the United States. For the next decade she cut several popular tracks on some two-dozen LPs, while also appearing frequently on British radio and television. Gladys faded from view by the mid-1970s both due to waning popularity of her musical style and personal health issues. She died of a heart attack at 59, but her legacy lived on in re-releases of records, and later CDs, into the 21st century.

"Ragtime Bob" Darch:

Born: Robert Darch, March 31, 1920 - October 20, 2002
Labels: StereOddities, Hapi Skratch
Information: Bob Darch was born to immigrant parents in Warren, Michigan, just as the first ragtime era was winding down. For World War II, and in fact four days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the United States Army. At that time he was listed as a musician or music teacher. He entertained off and on during his stint in the Army, much of it spent in Alaska. After the war Bob became a truly itinerant pianist, traveling around the United States and Canada with his noteworthy and massive five pedal Cornish Upright Saloon Grand Piano. From the late 1940s into the 1950s Bob was based in Virginia City, Nevada, where he performed regularly. He briefly formed his own publishing company to issue his own original ragtime compositions, including Delta Saloon Rag, A Comstock Disturbance A Sawdust Corner Delight, Calico Queens, and his widely circulated Opera House Rag which commemorated the famous Piper's Opera House. That particular sheet shows that it was compmosed "By Robert R. Darch, arranged by Joseph F. Lamb." By that time Bob, curious about the original sources of ragtime music as laid out in the 1950 book They All Played Ragtime, had sought out many of the ragtime pioneers, both performers and composers, including Lamb. In addition to his own career, Darch tirelessly promoted the music and its originators, arranging for concerts all over the United States and into Canada. His most ambitious legacy was the Golden Reunion in Ragtime of 1962, which yielded both a record and a radio show featuring Eubie Blake, Joe Jordan and Arthur Marshall. Bob and his various pianos traveled all around the globe, and he sent many of his fans and friends (including this author) post cards with various greetings, or notes of upcoming events. He managed to interview many of the pioneers as well, resulting in articles, and even revived (in part) a lost James Scott work, Calliope Rag (rearranged as a full rag by this author), which appeared in the third and fourth editions of They All Played Ragtime. Bob loved to perform, but he loved to present just as much, and often just stood to the side to let others shine. He was one of the main attractions at the first of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festivals held in Sedalia, Missouri, and many similar events following that, even forming his own in Alexandria Bay, New York. The author was present at and performed for his last gig in his secondary home of Springfield, Missouri, just a few weeks before he died. Bob has a magnificent yet simple resting place in Sedalia, which is visited wistfully by his colleagues each June during the festival, where they raise a glass of Old Crow Bourbon (his favorite), pouring him a taste of it as well. He would not have had it any other way!