SCOTT JOPLIN: BETHENA – A CONCERT WALTZ
Here is my tribute to Scott Joplin’s ragtime for KJSB: an arrangement of his hauntingly beautiful concert waltz Bethena, written in 1906. Scott Joplin traveled to Chicago for the World’s Columbian Exposition (Chicago World’s Fair) in 1893. There he shared his ragtime music with welcoming audiences and soaked in the sounds of early jazz played…
Chicago’s Jazz Legacy: Tea For Two and Bethena Arrangements
The Knights are back for spring semester with two of my new arrangements of wonderful classic jazz tunes. Both tunes have Chicago connections. The first, Tea For Two (1924) by Caesar/Youmans, became the hit song for the musical No, No, Nanette. The musical was in Chicago on its pre-broadway wrong, sans its main hit, when…
Winter Semester Wrap-up
KJSB played two successful holiday gigs this semester. We were honored to be invited back to The Breakers at Edgewater Beach, and we also played the Holiday Fair at Chicago Waldorf School. Our sets this winter featured a new holiday tune — Jingle Bell Rock, as well as a hot-jazz-inspired version of The Rollings Stones’…
