Continued: CD Reviews

Topsy Chapman contributes her superb, smoky contralto to "Home Sweet Home" and "My Man" and joins with Detroit Brooks for "He Touched Me" and "Just a Little While to Stay Here." Her large presence fits neatly into the band and expands their lyrical horizons. Her dramatic work in musical theater translates into passionate vocal solos, especially on "Home Sweet Home" and "He Touched Me." The more jubilant "Just a Little While" is solidly in a jazz vein, but Chapman and Brooks color it as churchy spiritual singing, too.

High points for me, in terms of cohesive performances on the CD were "What's the Use," a neglected pop masterpiece, "Hot Sausage Rag," a kind of ragtime romp by trumpeter John Brunious, Jr., and "Big Chief Battle Axe." But there are solos and ensemble moments on all these numbers that are highly pleasing and remind us that this kind of music, whose demise is constantly predicted, seems to be as durable and eternal as the phoenix bird of ancient myth, always popping up reborn in the oddest places at the oddest of times. Kudos to Kellin and crew for keeping the faith so energetically!

To order, visit www.jazzology.com or contact GHB Records, 61 French Market Pl., New Orleans, LA 70116, (504) 525-5000.

SUE KELLER: A/K/A CHARLES JOHNSON. (H.V. Recording, HVR 0501) 62:19 min.
Hester on Parade; Belle of Havana; Doc Brown's Cakewalk; A Black Smoke; Iola; All the Money; Beedle-Um-Bo; Powder Rag; Pansy Blossoms; Tobasco; Silver King; Wedding of the Fairies; Lady Slippers; Cloud Kisser; Melody Rag; Peanuts; Sweetness; Blue Goose Rag; Starlight; Monkey Biznez.

SUE KELLER: A LITTLE LOST LAMB. (H.V. Recording HVR 0502) 57:50 min.
Jersey Rag; Chasin' the Chippies; Greased Lightning Rag; Mignonne; Gee, Kid! But I Like You; Lorne Scots on Parade; Rapid Transit; I Want to Be a Birdman; Red Feather; Ragged Rapids Rag; Walper House Rag; My Queen of Zanzibar; Beehive Rag; Joe Lamb's Old Rag; Ragtime Special; Spanish Fly; I'll Follow the Crowd to Coney; Alaskan Rag.

SUE KELLER: MY REINDEER DON'T LIKE TO FLY. (H.V. Recording HVR 2617) 58:07 min.
Here Comes Santa Claus; Where Are You, Christmas?; Christmas Is Coming; My Reindeer Don't Like to Fly; I'll Be Home for Christmas; Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree; Little Bar in Bethlehem; Gesu Bambino; Jing-a-Ling; River; Cool Yule; Christmas Time Is Here; I Wanna Spend Christmas on Maui; Snowbound; Santa Baby; Where Is the Boy?; The Man with the Bag.

SUE KELLER: WILD WOMEN DON'T HAVE THE BLUES (H.V. Recording HVR 1035) 55:58 min.
Am I Blue; Wild Women; Yo' Mama Blues; Ole Miss Blues; Walkin' After Midnight; Long-Time Man; Crazy; My Baby's Hot for Me; Backwater Blues; Cow Cow Boogie; Booglie Wooglie Piggy; Snakey Blues; Yellow Dog Blues; Beale Street Mama; Wolverine Blues.

Reviewed by Bill Mitchell

These four engaging CDs showcase the talents of one of today's eminent ragtime pianist/entertainers. As well as performing internationally, Sue Keller has been featured at the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Mo., and the West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento, Calif. She has made TV appearances as a prize-winning Jeopardy contestant. (She was one of the challengers of all-time champion Ken Jennings.) Of particular interest to ragophiles will be two of her recent CDs, A Little Lost Lamb, and a/k/a Charles Johnson, honoring two great composers of ragtime's golden era.

Joseph F. Lamb (1887-1960), composer of classics such as "Ragtime Nightingale," "Top Liner Rag," and "American Beauty," was an enigma to Rudy Blesh and Harriet Janis when they were doing research for their seminal book, They All Played Ragtime (1950). No one seemed to know anything about the man. There was a theory that the Lamb rags were written by Joplin under a pseudonym, but Blesh and Janis were unconvinced, and their search for Lamb was ended when they tracked him down in Brooklyn, N.Y. through a telephone directory search. Lamb was amazed to discover that after all these years there was a resurgence of interest in ragtime, but he himself had never lost interest in the music and had a goodly number of completed and uncompleted rags and novelties in his piano bench. A folio of some of these was published in 1964 as Ragtime Treasures, but there remained some unused material. Then, in 2002, the composer's daughter gave Sue Keller a stack of newly discovered pieces, some of which Keller published in a folio through her Ragtime Press under the title of A Little Lost Lamb. These have been recorded on the CD of the same name.

I had read about a few of these previously unpublished rags in Rags and Ragtime, by Tichenor and Jasen, but had never heard them until I received the new CD to review. It was exciting to hear Sue Keller's tasteful readings of them. The earliest listed of Lamb's efforts is "Mignonne" (1901). He was only 14 at the time that he composed this charming, melodic waltz. The earliest of his rags appears to be "Walper House Rag" (1903). It is a frisky cakewalk. "Lorne Scots on Parade" (1904) is a creditable march. Lamb wrote a few songs along the way. "Gee, Kid, But I Like You" (1909) and "I Want to Be a Birdman" (1913) are sung by Sue Keller. The composer's daughter, Patricia Lamb Conn, joins Ms. Keller for a vocal duet performance on "I'll Follow the Crowd to Coney" (1913). "Red Feather" (1906) was Lamb's contribution to the craze for Indian songs that followed the success of Neil Moret's "Hiawatha." "Ragged Rapids Rag" (1905) is not as turbulent as the title might suggest. (How about that title for a tongue-twister? Try saying it three times fast). Two of the 18 numbers rank with the very best of Lamb: "Beehive Rag" (1959) is nothing short of majestic, and "Alaskan Rag" (1959) is also a dignified major work. They are both difficult to play, but Ms. Keller interprets them with sensitivity and plays them masterfully. Her chops are top-notch.

July 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

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