Rip-Roarin' Ragtime

Released by Folkways Records in 1977, Rip-Roarin' Ragtime is a significant archival contribution by music historian David A. Jasen. The record emerged during a period of renewed academic and public interest in the ragtime revival, aiming to preserve the authentic piano styles of the early 20th century. Jasen, an expert on the genre, curated the selection to showcase the syncopated complexity that defined the era, ensuring that the technical nuances of the compositions remained accessible to a new generation of listeners.

The album serves as a definitive document of the ragtime tradition, with Jasen providing both the performances and detailed historical notes. The design and presentation reflect the label's mission of documenting world musical cultures and American folk traditions through high-fidelity field and studio recordings. It was received by musicologists and enthusiasts as a faithful technical exploration of the medium, standing as a primary reference work that stripped away the sanitized arrangements often found in popular contemporary interpretations of the time.