S O U N D I N G S, Vol. VI

VOLUME VI: Jan Hamilton Douglas, Ragtime Pianist, Sedalia, Missouri

Among the many big names at this year's Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival - held, as always, in Sedalia, where Joplin composed "The Maple Leaf Rag" - was St. Louis musician Jan Hamilton Douglas. I sat down for a chat with Douglas after one of his performances, and found that after more than 20 years in the ragtime world - performing, arranging and composing classic piano rags - he has some stories to tell.

On Eating Crow:

"A friend of mine (during college at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale), who is one of the finest jazz bassists I've ever known and who was at that time a Ph.D. candidate in music ed., was teaching a course called 'Evolutions of Jazz.' I signed up for the class because I knew it was going to be an easy 'A,' and I knew it was going to be fun, too.

" I ran into the teacher one day in the hall and he said, 'I have people come in and demonstrate different kinds of music, and I don't have anyone to play Joplin. So, I was wondering if you would learn three or four Joplin pieces to play for the class.' And I was like, 'Sure, who's that?' And he said, 'Well, it looks like you'll earn your 'A' after all....

"The weekend before I was to play for something like five sections of this class I took a friend of mine up to Chicago. There was some sort of gathering of the clan, and he needed to be there. On Saturday we drove into Chicago proper and went down to the Loop and into the big Carl Fischer store. I finally found this folio called '57 Ragtime Jazz Classic Hits,' and I whipped open the table of contents and, sure enough, there were some pieces by this Joplin person - whoever he was. I didn't recognize any of the titles, and some part of my mind said, 'You've never heard of any of this music...- but I was in a hurry. So, I ran up and paid for it, and off we went.

"On Sunday afternoon - bear in mind that I was supposed to play for class the next day - I thought I'd better run over the Joplin stuff a couple of times so I wouldn't be sight-reading in front of the class. And I sat down at the piano and opened the book up to a piece called 'The Entertainer.' By the time I got through the introduction every knuckle on both of my hands was busted. I thought, 'My God! What is this!?' That's how I got started playing ragtime. Obviously, I had to go back and eat some serious crow."

On Playing at the First Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival:

"Late in '73 or early in '74 I got a letter from here in town to be a 'top-liner' - that's what they were called in those days - at the first Scott Joplin Festival. And, thank you very much, I was a top-liner on a program with Max Morath and Bob Darch and Dick Zimmerman and Eubie Blake. I was on a program with Eubie Blake!!! I knew I had absolutely no business being on that program. But I was. It was like going from being the wolf child to being dropped straight in the center of Times Square! "

Hear Douglas play a bit of Joplin's "New Rag" in the Lily Queen Tent on the Sedalia Court House lawn:

On Meeting Eubie Blake:

" I was in Toronto when I first met Eubie. This probably was in '73. It was getting close to time for me to go up and play. All of a sudden there was a big stir at the door, and in walks Eubie. Just at the time that he sort of got settled, somebody whisked me up and introduced me to him. It was time for me to play, and I could have died. I could have died. I wanted to play the piano that evening about as much as I wanted to stick my hands into a nuclear furnace, but I had no choice. So, I played and everybody clapped and then somebody else played. And then later on in the evening Eubie pulled me aside and said, 'Son, I just wanted to tell you that you play like the old masters.' Eubie said that. Eubie said that."

Sight | Soundings



Among the many big names at this year's Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival - held, as always, in Sedalia, where Joplin composed "The Maple Leaf Rag" - was St. Louis musician Jan Hamilton Douglas. I sat down for a chat with Douglas after one of his performances, and found that after more than 20 years in the ragtime world - performing, arranging and composing classic piano rags - he has some stories to tell.

On Eating Crow: "A friend of mine (during college at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale), who is one of the finest jazz bassists I've ever known and who was at that time a Ph.D. candidate in music ed., was teaching a course called 'Evolutions of Jazz.' I signed up for the class because I knew it was going to be an easy 'A,' and I knew it was going to be fun, too. " I ran into the teacher one day in the hall and he said, 'I have people come in and demonstrate different kinds of music, and I don't have anyone to play Joplin. So, I was wondering if you would learn three or four Joplin pieces to play for the class.' And I was like, 'Sure, who's that?' And he said, 'Well, it looks like you'll earn your 'A' after all.... "The weekend before I was to play for something like five sections of this class I took a friend of mine up to Chicago. There was some sort of gathering of the clan, and he needed to be there. On Saturday we drove into Chicago proper and went down to the Loop and into the big Carl Fischer store. I finally found this folio called '57 Ragtime Jazz Classic Hits,' and I whipped open the table of contents and, sure enough, there were some pieces by this Joplin person - whoever he was. I didn't recognize any of the titles, and some part of my mind said, 'You've never heard of any of this music...- but I was in a hurry. So, I ran up and paid for it, and off we went. "On Sunday afternoon - bear in mind that I was supposed to play for class the next day - I thought I'd better run over the Joplin stuff a couple of times so I wouldn't be sight-reading in front of the class. And I sat down at the piano and opened the book up to a piece called 'The Entertainer.' By the time I got through the introduction every knuckle on both of my hands was busted. I thought, 'My God! What is this!?' That's how I got started playing ragtime. Obviously, I had to go back and eat some serious crow." On Playing at the First Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival: "Late in '73 or early in '74 I got a letter from here in town to be a 'top-liner' - that's what they were called in those days - at the first Scott Joplin Festival. And, thank you very much, I was a top-liner on a program with Max Morath and Bob Darch and Dick Zimmerman and Eubie Blake. I was on a program with Eubie Blake!!! I knew I had absolutely no business being on that program. But I was. It was like going from being the wolf child to being dropped straight in the center of Times Square! "
Hear Douglas play a bit of Joplin's "New Rag" in the Lily Queen Tent on the Sedalia Court House lawn:
On Meeting Eubie Blake: " I was in Toronto when I first met Eubie. This probably was in '73. It was getting close to time for me to go up and play. All of a sudden there was a big stir at the door, and in walks Eubie. Just at the time that he sort of got settled, somebody whisked me up and introduced me to him. It was time for me to play, and I could have died. I could have died. I wanted to play the piano that evening about as much as I wanted to stick my hands into a nuclear furnace, but I had no choice. So, I played and everybody clapped and then somebody else played. And then later on in the evening Eubie pulled me aside and said, 'Son, I just wanted to tell you that you play like the old masters.' Eubie said that. Eubie said that."