Richard Zimmerman
Richard Zimmerman, who will be performing in the Ragtime Tent and speaking and performing at Friday's history conference, has a long list of credits pertaining to this type of music.
Zimmerman, who was born in Charleston, W.Va., has liked band music since he was a kid. He researched the ragtime type of band music because it interested him. ``Ragtime basically makes you feel good. It is a very positive, optimistic music,'' says Zimmerman, who lives in Grass Valley, Calif, an old gold mining town in northern California.
Although ragtime often is thought of as piano music it also was published for bands and orchestras, Zimmerman notes. The music was written by young people at the turn of the century.
The music reflects the optimistic mood and affects the audience. ``Audiences are very responsive. You realize you're making them feel good.''
He notes that all the first blues that were published were ragtime. The first blues song, ``Long Lost Blues,'' was published in 1911.
He is coming straight to Danville from Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Mo., where he has performed and acted as musical director for 17 years. He is the only person who has recorded Scott Joplin's complete works, a feat he accomplished in 1974.
He has participated in the Old Town Music Hall Ragtime Festival, in El Segundo, Calif., for 20 years. He has captured the title of Champion Ragtime Performer of the World by taking first place at the All-American Ragtime Music Festival in Strasburg, Pa., in both 1987 and 1988. His accomplishments were rewarded when he received the Scott Joplin Award for achievement in Ragtime in Sedalia, Mo., in 1991, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from International Ragtime from the Jazztime Foundation in Alexandria Bay, N.Y., in 1995.
This year marks some milestones for ragtime music. It is the centennial of the first piano rag. The ``Mississippi Rag'' was published in 1897.
This also is the 30th anniversary of The Maple Leaf Club, an organization of ragtime fans all over the world. For 25 years, Zimmerman has edited the bi-monthly newsleter The Rag Times.
He was engaged by a major record company to co-produce``A Century of Ragtime.'' On these two CDs is the whole history of ragtime. A person can really hear all the different styles of ragtime by top ragtime artists today, including Zimmerman.