Scott Kirby

Scott Kirby's street performances that have graced every year of the festival reveal that he's a serious student of boogiewoogie, blues and ragtime.

When the movie ``The Sting'' came along in 1975, 10-year-old Kirby was intrigued by the music called ragtime. He continued to study classical music for 17 years, performing the works of Beethoven and Chopin. Eventually, he rediscovered ragtime and set about learning Scott Joplin's complex compositions.

In 1988, after obtaining his English degree from Ohio State University, the Urbana, Ohio, native packed up and moved to New Orleans. He sold his car, bought a piano, and found himself playing on the streets of the French Quarter during the day and in the clubs at night.

His classical piano training has enabled him to bring a greater depth and feeling to Joplin's music. He recorded the complete syncopated piano works of Joplin on four compact discs over a period of four years on the New Hampshire label, Greener Pastures. During this time, he also made his debut at all of the major ragtime festivals in the United States, in addition to festivals in Norway, Belgium, France and Hungary.

Subsequent recording projects covered a wide spectrum of American traditional musics, including classic ragtime, Eastern ragtime, stride, blues, tango and terra verde (a contemporary cousin of ragtime consisting of much Pan-American material, however, that falls outside the boundaries of ragtime).

In addition to giving concerts, Kirby contributes to American music through composition. A proponent of terra verde, he is dedicated to building up on the legacies of Scott Joplin, Louis Moreau Gottschalk and others by fusing elements of traditional American musics into a contemporary, romantic, syncopated piano style.