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Joseph Lamb: A Study in Classic Ragtime

Joseph Lamb
Joseph Lamb: A Study in Classic Ragtime

Joseph Lamb (1887–1960) is considered one of the three great composers of ragtime, along with Scott Joplin and James Scott. Between 1908 and 1919, while living in Montclair, New Jersey, and working in a New York City fabric house, Joe Lamb composed some of the most brilliant ragtime tunes published in America. However, he never released a recording until this one, made in his Brooklyn living room on an upright Knabe piano only a year prior to his death.

Lamb, like the other great ragtime composers, considered improvisation to be a trick of “low-class” players. He played the rags on this recording not from memory, but from the written music he had composed years earlier, to be sure of playing every note he had written.

The liner notes describe Lamb’s development as a ragtime composer, as well as a brief biography.

Track Listing

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101
Cottontail Rag Joseph Lamb 03:14
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102
Excelsior Rag Joseph Lamb 03:02
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103
Cleopatra Rag Joseph Lamb 03:18
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104
The Meeting with Scott Joplin Joseph Lamb 03:16
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105
Sensation - A Rag Joseph Lamb 02:43
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106
Arthur Marshall, Artie Mathews, James Scott Joseph Lamb 00:50
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107
Topliner Rag Joseph Lamb 03:19
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201
The Alaskan Rag Joseph Lamb 03:17
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202
The Composition of "Nightingale" Joseph Lamb 01:46
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203
The Ragtime Nightingale Joseph Lamb 03:38
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204
American Beauty Rag Joseph Lamb 03:30
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205
The Naming of Contentment Joseph Lamb 02:26
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206
Contentment Rag Joseph Lamb 02:51
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207
Patricia Rag Joseph Lamb 03:29